Resident Advisors As Financial Coaches

Background: Resident Advisors (RAs) in University Housing act as leaders and support systems for other residents. They play a crucial role in fostering a safe, inclusive, and developmental environment. They also address concerns related to mental and emotional health, provide referrals to appropriate resources, and ensure students have a supportive environment to thrive academically and personally. However, even as many college students are taking on new and additional financial responsibilities, often for the first time, RAs have traditionally not included a focus on helping residents manage their financial concerns or build their financial capabilities. In addition, working with students residing in residential halls has not been a typical focus of financial social work, and presents as a potentially new practice opportunity. This paper reports on the development, implementation and the impact of a pilot program that expands the role and responsibility of resident advisors to include a focus on addressing the financial health of their residents.

Method. In this pilot program, developed and implemented in partnership with staff from Residential Life, half of the RAs at a regional comprehensive university were purposively selected to be in the intervention group serving the residential halls that either has the greatest student diversity, or has the greatest financial need. To prepare for their role, the selected RAs participated in eight 1-hour workshops on personal finance and on the fundamentals of basic financial coaching. These workshops were incorporated into the regular trainings that the RAs received between October 2024 and Feb 2025. After the training, RAs in the intervention group were expected to incorporate the “money talk” in their interactions with residents, as well as develop and organize activities that improve the overall financial health of students. In addition, where appropriate, RAs were to act as financial coaches to their residents. In this mixed methods study, the financial capability outcomes, e.g. financial knowledge, self-efficacy, and well-being, for the RAs and their residents in the intervention group were compared against those in the comparison group using a post-intervention design. A pre-post intervention design was also adopted to evaluate changes among RAs in the intervention group. Qualitative data collection methods include interviews with Residential Life staff members and focus groups with the RAs in the intervention group.

Results. Preliminary findings indicate that while there was broad agreement across Residential Life staff, Hall staff, and RAs on the importance of, and the need to, work on the financial well-being of students, there were also reservations and concerns, for example, expanding the workload and scope of responsibilities of RAs. Nevertheless, the trainings were perceived to be relevant and helpful to the RAs. In addition, intervention group RAs reported improvements in financial knowledge and well-being, and greater confidence in their ability to work with residents on personal finance. The outcomes of the pilot will be discussed and lessons learned will guide the development of interventions to increase the financial capabilities of college students, especially in residential settings.