Every day, people make somewhere between six to 10 "money decisions." According to Amy Nelson, a financial specialist at the University of Nevada, Reno, many of these decisions go unguided.

"We want students, alumni and faculty to know that there's a place they can go to get help, before it's too late," Nelson said.

Nevada Money Mentors is a service on campus that offers financial literacy education through services such as:

• One-on-one confidential financial coaching sessions are open to students, alumni and faculty

• Workshops, presentations and in-class sessions available on financial topics such as budgeting, credit, debt management, negotiating salaries and more

• Free online access to SALT, an online tool to help students, alumni and faculty gain the knowledge they need to take control of their finances and track their student loans

As a certified financial coach, Nelson currently coaches over 20 students across all majors and ages in one-on-one sessions.

Each session is driven by the student's financial goals and how she can help guide them. By definition a financial coach does not provide expertise on their clients' financial issues, but offers tools, encouragement and monitoring throughout the process of self-directed behavior change.

She hopes to expand the financial coaching services by offering an online appointment scheduling platform and more "money awareness" events.

According to a 2015 survey of college students from the American Institute of CPAs, 99 percent of respondents said that developing their money management skills is "extremely" or "very" important to them and 84 percent said they were "extremely" or "very" interested in learning how to make better financial decisions.

Nelson offered examples of students she has worked with and how they have improved in managing their money.
"In terms of the budget, it's awesome because I know exactly where every dollar is going and I am keeping track of receipts," one student said.

Nelson also gives the following example, a student at the University of Nevada, Reno who is having trouble paying for his living expenses. He walks into Nelson's office for one-on-one financial coaching with a goal to move out on his own for the first time, but every month he comes up short on cash.

With Nelson's guidance and resources provided through the Nevada Money Mentor Program, he implements creative solutions in his personal budget, such as making coffee himself rather than buying it every day.

"These simple changes are an eye-opener, and in this case, it helped him become more conscious of his own spending habits."

With Nelson's guidance and the resources provided through the Nevada Money Mentors program, Doe could soon be paying for his living expenses rather than spending it all on name-brand items.

"Around 80 percent of parents think their kids learn finance in school, but around 90 percent of kids say they learned finance from their parents," Nelson said. "I think we need to break the taboo on talking about money so that we can increase student's financial literacy."

"Our campus is setting itself apart from the norm by taking on a leadership role in higher education," said Tim Wolfe, director of Financial Aid and Scholarships. "Providing a program to our students can help them become financially literate during college and beyond."

To learn more about Nevada Money Mentors, contact Amy Nelson at amynelson@unr.edu.