One of the ways we’re working towards our mission of better financial wellbeing for young people everywhere is by providing university and college support staff with resources and training sessions about student financial wellbeing.
With this in mind, these blogs and downloads for staff each focus on a different area related to students and money. The topics – also covered during our most recent CPD-accredited staff training sessions – range from supporting student victims and survivors of economic abuse to helping estranged students with their student finance application, and raising awareness among students of different types of fraud and the dangers of cryptocurrency.
Recognising and responding to economic abuse
To help support staff know how to recognise and respond to student victims and survivors of economic abuse, an Economic Abuse Specialist from the charity Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) explains:
- The difference between economic abuse and financial abuse and how they are interwoven with other types of abuse and examples of economic abuse students may experience
- Tips for talking to students about economic abuse
- Where to go and where to signpost students to for further support
Supporting estranged students with student finance
There’s a specific process estranged students need to follow when applying for student finance. To help you support students with this, experts Lynne Condell and Susan Mueller take a detailed look at it in this blog. They cover:
- 5 ways to identify estranged students within your university or college
- The definition of an ‘independent student’ according to student support regulations
- Proving estrangement for SFE/SFW and helping those who can’t evidence their situation
- Ways to contact SFE for help and guidance
- Wider financial wellbeing support for estranged students
5 types of fraud that students are particularly vulnerable to
Due to the increase in online learning, some students are experiencing less day-to-day contact with their peers and the staff at their university or college. The problem is that these are the people who are most likely to recognise if a student has fallen victim to fraud.
To help support staff raise awareness among students, Alex, an Intelligence Analyst within the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau at the City of London Police, explains the types of fraud they may be most vulnerable to as well as:
- Ways students can protect themselves against these scams
- Advice for support staff to offer
- How to report financial crime and further resources to signpost students to
Supporting students with: Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency continues to grow in popularity, yet with 72% of students saying they lack knowledge about it, there’s the potential for young people to get involved without really understanding the risks and at the expense of their financial wellbeing.
We have a couple of cryptocurrency resources for support staff, to help you feel equipped to have conversations with students about it. First, check out this blog for:
- Info on what cryptocurrency is and the different types of crypto
- How young people are trying to make money from it
- The financial risks for students
- How to spot crypto trading in a bank statement
- Suggestions to make sure students who use cryptocurrency are doing so safely
Second, you can download a copy of the free staff crypto factsheet too.
We also have a factsheet for you to share with students here.
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