MORGANTOWN – WVU celebrated a new partnership with California-based financial firm Robinhood on Wednesday – a partnership that will offer a financial education program for student-athletes.
The celebration took place at the Hartley Club in the Puskar Center, overlooking Mountaineer Field. University and Robinhood officials, student-athletes and assorted dignitaries explained the program and offered comments.
Naomi Boyd, an associate dean in the Chambers College, said the program is the culmination of a 10-year exploratory effort that was spurred by a conversation about the need for student-athletes to gain financial literacy – because more than 85% of professional athletes go bankrupt.
“Today marks the end of that exploratory process and the beginning of an opportunity to create Mountaineers who will engage in truly an educational experience that will transcend the walls of WVU and launch them into their careers,” she said.
The program, in partnership with Robinhood, will make financial education coursework available for every WVU student-athlete. It will be required for all of those on scholarships and optional for those who are not. Components of the program will integrated into freshman seminar so that all students will receive some financial education starting in the 2022-2023 school year.
WVU president Gordon Gee said, “This is great thing to do.” This is the first such program for any Division I school in the country.
“We want to have this as a signature of greatness for who we are as an institution – that we care enough about our student-athletes, that we care enough about their achievement,” he said. “This opportunity for them and for us is something that we greatly appreciate.”
Part of the build-up to this program was offering financial literacy coursework through the Chambers college. Freshman athlete Hammond Russel IV said he’s greatly appreciated the class.
“This course has helped me prepare for the future,” he said. It’s boosted his confidence and taught him about budgeting, investing, planning and money management.
Dan Gallagher, Robinhood chief legal officer, said the program arose from the company’s desire to engage in outreach by creating an external affairs team a year and a half ago.
“It’s just amazing to be here in Morgantown,” he said, noting he spent two years working for what was Mylan at its corporate headquarters at Southpointe.
It’s good timing, he said, to launch this program in conjunction with Financial Literacy Month.
“We’re not just some Silicon Valley upstart,” he said. “We’re not just out to make a buck. We really care.” This will serve as a blueprint for other programs. “It can be and should be a point of pride for all of you.”
Former WVU quarterback and athletics director Oliver Luck said, “It’s a great partnership between academia and industry.”
He’s addressing the need in a different manner. He co-founded the Country Roads Trust to help WVU athletes capitalize on what amounts to the deregulation of college sports by allowing college athletes to profit off of their NIL – their name, image and likeness.
There are 500,000 student-athletes who are essentially independent contractors and need to understand this topic, he said. “It’s great to see this will be a template for many other universities.”
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