As Financial Literacy Month 2023 draws to a close, the Help! Managing Your Money on Campus program has reached and surpassed an exciting attendance milestone. More than 15,000 students have attended Help! workshops since our first session in the fall of 2020, and the total continues to grow weekly.

We are excited and proud of this accomplishment, not only because it represents the impact of CFEE’s work within the educational community but, more importantly, because it shows us just how many post-secondary students are ready to take their financial future into their own hands and prepare for what comes next.

When asked about the development, journey, and success of the Help! program, CFEE CEO Gary Rabbior, had this to say:

“CFEE has a long history of helping Canadians build a successful financial future - youth, parents, seniors, newcomers, and others. However, over all our years, we have never focused one of our programs on post-secondary students. With all of the financial decisions and challenges facing youth in colleges and universities across Canada, we knew it was time to change that. 

“We did some brainstorming and consultations and landed on the “Help! Managing Your Money on Campus” program - a series of workshops and webinars offered to students on campuses from coast to coast to coast. We drew on consultations with hundreds of students to identify the topics and issues of greatest interest and develop eight presentations focusing on those topics. We had no idea that the program would elicit the interest and engagement that it has. 

“Over the last year, the program has spread to where it is now offered on almost 40 college and university campuses - and, in this last year alone, we have conducted over 150 sessions. The program has now reached over 15,000 students. 

“One feature of the program is that students on campus are trained to deliver the sessions. This peer-to-peer approach has proven to be extremely popular. 

“We are delighted with the incredible success of the “Help!” program. Our only challenge now is keeping up with the demand - a great challenge to have!”

The Help! Managing Your Money on Campus program now exists as a series of 10 virtual or hybrid workshops, covering topics that range from the basics of budgeting, spending, and saving to investing in alternative asset classes, personal income taxes, buying your first home, and the future of work. These workshops are delivered by current students and recent graduates, offering a peer-to-peer approach that makes both the topics and the material feel more relatable.

Student feedback in our post-workshop surveys over the last three years shows that:

            99.24% of student attendees found value in attending the workshop.

            99.22% of student attendees were interested in attending future Help! workshops.

These incredible satisfaction numbers represent but one of the many ways the Help! program has benefited the post-secondary community across Canada.