On Monday, March 20, five teams of Residential Business Community members came together for the MSUFCU Financial Literacy Case Competition, during which they presented strategies to educate college students on benefits and pitfalls to using credit cards.
Winners of the MSUFCU Financial Literacy Competition walked away with $1,200 in prize winnings.
While each of the five teams directed their cases toward the audience of freshmen students, their presentations applied to students of any age who are considering opening a credit card for the first time.
The six to eight minute presentations ranged from discussing the differences between debit, credit, and loyalty cards to understanding APR’s and FICO credit scores. Following each presentation, judges Kathy Petroni, Broad College of Business associate dean for undergraduate programs, and Whitney Anderson-Harrell, vice president of sales and financial education at MSUFCU, conducted a Q&A segment for each team.
“I was pleased to see our students learning more about the benefits and pitfalls of credit cards,” says Petroni. “It was particularly nice having Whitney as a fellow judge who took the opportunity to clarify and expand on some of the issues raised by the students. Her expertise was appreciated.”
The event, which was sponsored by the Broad College of Business, Residential Business, Community, and MSU Federal Credit Union Dean’s Choice Award, awarded $2,500 in scholarship money among the top three teams.
In first place, taking home $1,200 in scholarship winnings, was Beth Allen (BA Marketing ’19) and William Talbot (BA Accounting ’18). In second place, winning $800 in scholarship money, was Charlie Bonser (BA Supply Chain ’19), Jesse Jeppesen (BA Marketing ’18), and Augustus Shewchuck (BA Business Admit ’19). Austin Rieck (BA Supply Chain ’19) took home the third place scholarship award of $500.
