College of Human Ecology students help families navigate their finances

Making the grade in course means meeting client needs

Students enrolled in an innovative College of Human Ecology course are gaining real-world experience as they walk volunteer clients through a comprehensive financial plan.

The course, Family Resource Management 660, is part of a family financial management option within the financial planning program. The program was developed by the college five years ago to meet a rapidly growing demand for financial planners.

Sherman Hanna, a professor of consumer and textile sciences who teaches the course, said an already high demand for financial planners is expected to increase dramatically as baby boomers approach retirement.

"Life is getting more complicated," Hanna said. "It used to be you could retire on a pension and not worry about it. Now people are managing their own portfolios, some will live 40 years in retirement, and we have more wealth."

Hanna said the response to the course has been overwhelming, with 82 students currently developing comprehensive financial plans for clients. Students select a client from family, friends or faculty and staff during the first week of class. They then spend the second week of class gathering financial data on their client.

"Some practicing financial planners attempt to short-circuit the process by simply handing the client a questionnaire to fill out. We encourage our students to actually study the client's financial documents," Hanna said.

Information gathered from clients includes copies of income tax and W2 forms and recent pay stubs; balances on all bank and retirement accounts and loans; a list of current employer benefits, child care and medical expenses; and total estimated household expenses for the current year and a projection for the next year.

Hanna said some clients' finances are neatly organized, while others present quite a challenge.

"What I tell my students at the beginning of the quarter is that in some cases they're going to have to be like Sherlock Holmes," he said.

Weekly homework assignments based on the data compiled will lead to a complete financial plan for the client presented at the end of the quarter. Along the way, students taking the course offer the client advice in areas such as setting financial and retirement goals; most efficient uses of an income tax refund; and investment, insurance and estate planning.

"Students like the investment exercise, primarily because many of them already have part-time jobs at investment firms such as Merrill Lynch, so that's been the glamour area," Hanna said. "But to me, the retirement planning is the most interesting because that is something that most people don't get involved in. It's a fairly complex thing to do."

Kevin Doll, a teaching assistant for Hanna this year, took the course a year ago. His goal is to become a certified financial planner after completing graduate school because he likes working with money and wants to help families.

"The two main reasons families break up are sex and money. I can't do anything about the one, but I can help families with their financial problems," Doll said.

He said the class taught him how to deal with unorganized people; that drawing up a financial plan required much time and patience; and that motivation has to come from the planner.

Hanna said most students taking the course want to be financial planners. Career opportunities range from a fee-only financial planner -- servicing clients with incomes over $100,000 -- to selling retirement accounts through insurance companies.

As the field develops, people will go to a comprehensive financial planner (CFP) for financial planning just like they go to a certified public accountant (CPA) for accounting, Hanna said. To pave the way, Ohio State students who complete undergraduate work in family financial management are eligible to take the national Certified Financial Planner (CFP) examination. In October 1999, the college's financial planning program became registered with the CFP Board of Examiners.

The seed for a family financial management option was planted at Ohio State in 1994. A committee of faculty and representatives from the financial services industry developed a curriculum that parallels that of the CFP program.

It includes courses in family financial management, consumer problems, accounting, finance, computer-assisted problem solving, communication of ideas and attitudes, micro- and macroeconomic theories, investments, insurance, real estate, marketing, statistics, and data analysis for business. The curriculum, some of which is taught in the Fisher College of Business, must meet 106 technical elements to qualify for CFP registration.

Faculty or staff interested in volunteering as a "client" for the course should contact Hanna at 292-4584 or hanna.1@osu.edu.

The identity of the family and all financial data will remain confidential except to Hanna, the student and the graduate student supervising the case.

UNITS installing high-tech payphones on campus

Ohio State is getting into the payphone business. UNITS (University Network Integrated Telecommunications System) made the decision to internalize this service after conducting product research and feasibility studies over the past two years.

The goal is to provide campus customers with better-quality payphones that offer enhanced capabilities such as data jacks, and eliminating service problems with the current contract provider.

According to Ed Quinn, UNITS manager for business planning, Ohio State had to meet stringent legal and operational requirements set by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and the Federal Communications Commission to become a payphone provider. Some of the requirements include compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and providing access to 911 emergency service, 411 information and toll-free calls from the phones. UNITS sought final approval from the PUCO, which was granted in the fall.

The new payphones are customized with Ohio State's name and colors and accept U.S. coins and MasterCard and Visa credit cards. Internet connectivity is available through the phone's data jack. The phones feature a digital display for customizable text messages in English and Spanish, and audio assistance in both languages.

For added campus safety, the first of 10 programmable speed dial buttons on every payphone are programmed for emergency 911 calling that automatically rings to the University Police Department. The remaining one-touch buttons will be used for business purposes.

UNITS technicians are installing, programming and maintaining the new payphones, and placed the first phone in the Jones Graduate Tower lobby in January. They will continue deploying phones through 2001; plans call for installation of 104 University payphones. The removal and replacement of each payphone is being coordinated with the outgoing service provider.

Interim director

Chief Information Officer Ilee Rhimes Jr. has named Bob Corbin as the interim director of UNITS. Corbin has been the assistant director since 1997 and with UNITS for the past 15 years.

Corbin succeeds Gregory J. Ashe, who accepted a position with CIGNA Health Care Corp., effective March 1. Ashe, who has been with UNITS for 12 years and the director since 1992, is heading up CIGNA's Midwest Claims and Inquiries Center in Columbus.

"We appreciate the dedication and leadership that Greg provided during his tenure. He will be missed," Rhimes said. "However, he is leaving a UNITS management team in place that will be able to continue moving the department forward."

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