Free finance class a hit at Salem State

The university last week began a five-part financial literacy workshop aimed at giving students practical skills in areas ranging from saving and investing to maintaining good credit ratings.

Salem State officials say the program, free and open to all undergraduates, may be only the second of its kind at a Massachusetts public college or university. And they said it is distinct because students were involved in planning and funding it.

Angel Donahue-Rodriguez, the student member of Salem Salem’s board of trustees, and Dorothy R. Siden, chairwoman of the economics department, are jointly heading the program. The Student Government Association donated $3,500 to help fund the course, which has four more sessions, in March and April.

“I think it’s in the best interests of our society to make sure all students — and everyone — is financially educated, not just with their jobs, but managing their income all the time,’’ said Donahue-Rodriguez, a junior from Salem.

Known as SMART (Save More. Act Responsibly. Thrive), the workshop is being taught by faculty from Salem State’s eco nomics department and its Bertolon School of Business.

Students who complete all five sessions of the noncredit course will earn a certificate and entry into a raffle for four $250 gift certificates to the Salem State bookstore.

Donahue-Rodriguez said he came up with the idea of a campus financial literacy course last summer as a result of conversations with his father.

“He’s always emphasized finances in our family. He helped me open up a Roth IRA account last summer. I started doing some homework on it and I found out that a lot of kids my generation — and a lot of other generations — don’t know how to do their finances properly,’’ he said.

“I did a little more research and found out the reason we got into the recession was that people were doing more risky business than they should have. I’m not even an economics or business major — I’m a criminal justice major . . . But it piqued my interest,’’ he said.

When Donahue-Rodriguez brought his proposal for a workshop to Salem State president Patricia Meservey, she endorsed the idea and referred him to Siden, who coincidentally had been thinking along the same lines. The two met and agreed to collaborate in developing one.

Siden said her interest in the idea stemmed from her work as director of Salem State’s Center for Economic Education, which provides workshops for K-12 teachers on incorporating economics into their curriculum. She also recently helped reinvigorate the nonprofit Massachusetts Council on Economic Education, which oversees the Salem State center and a similar center at Bridgewater State University.

Aware that Bridgewater State has held financial literacy workshops for its undergraduates the last several years, Siden thought Salem State should do so as well.

“In state universities like Salem State, many of our students are already handling their own budgets and funding their own college education,’’ she said. “They have a lot of knowledge but they are thirsting for more knowledge.’’

Her department offers a course in the economics of personal finance, but Siden said as a full course it is difficult for many students to fit into their schedules.

The SMART class is more easily accessible to students campuswide as a noncredit course that meets at early morning times before most regular classes begin.

Rick Moylan, president of the Student Government Association, said his executive board was happy to OK funding for the program when Donahue-Rodriguez made the request in December.

“I instantly fell in love with the idea because I consider it very important,’’ he said. In college, “We learn about the basics, math, history, all that sort of thing. But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty stuff of wanting to function in the job place and everything like that, you have to learn that stuff,’’ he said.

Organizers are thrilled with the interest so far. Fifty students signed up for the workshop’s first session and 45 turned out.

While the Student Government Association publicized the program, “We really didn’t have to throw in too many resources because there was such a demand’’ for it, Moylan said.

Based on the interest, Siden and Moylan said they expect the university will offer the program again next academic year.