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Presenters: Kathryn Davidson, Philanthropy Director, Lakehead University and Josh Levac, Associate Registrar - Student Awards and Financial Aid, Lakehead University

Description: Removing financial barriers for students can help the recruitment and retention of students at any institution. Post-secondary Students Awards and Financial Aid offices play an integral role in helping to deliver funding to help alleviate financial barriers experienced by some students. One major component is the solicitation of funding from donors to help establish scholarships, bursaries and awards. In many cases the responsible departments are silos, understanding only their work, and the lack of communication can result in frustrated employees and donors. Over the past 7 years, Lakehead University has started to break down our interoffice barriers, communicate, and develop an internal methodology that can help other siloed institutions to develop synergies and create an open dialogue and understanding of processes.

Learning Objectives:

• Demonstration of best practice in procedures and communication between departments
• Development of Student Financial Aid Policy
• Demonstration of benefits to students and donors when silos are broken down

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Presenters: Erin Hetherington, Director, Program Policy Division, Jasmine Somogyvari, Manager, Business Transformation Team, Jaouad Haqhaqi,Manager, Program Integrity and Repayment Division

Description: The presentation will highlight key trends in federal student financial assistance, and provide updates on the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program, Financial Literacy and Service Modernization.

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Presenter: Kevin Cochran, Co-Founder/President, Enriched Academy

Description: Students are looking at a future with much promise but also great uncertainty in our post-Covid world. Preparing students to meet the financial challenges and responsibilities they will face is critical for lifelong success after school.

Enriched Academy, Canada’s leader in personal finance education, is on a mission to make financial freedom accessible to everyone through an inspiring, entertaining, and engaging platform of online resources and virtual training sessions. The reliable, straightforward advice provided by Enriched is completely unbiased and has already helped over 200,000 individual Canadians create a better financial future. Enriched Academy also supports many prominent Canadian organizations and corporations with their programs including Alberta Education, the National Police Federation, and the Canadian Football League Players? Association.

This session will give participants an overview of what thousands of students across the country are learning and how this unique, entertaining and engaging approach to financial education inspires students to action and sets them up for lifelong success.

Join us for a fun and inspiring information session that will cover key financial topics that students need to know, including:

• Popular money myths and how they hold us back
• Pros and cons of credit cards and how to properly use them
• Top student spending mistakes and how to avoid them
• Good debt vs bad debt
• Consequences of student loan default and top strategies to pay off your loan effectively
• The basics of investing and how to get started

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Facilitator: Suzanne Tyson, Managing Director, Flywire and Founder, HigherEdPoints.com

Description: Financing education was a challenge for students and families long before the global COVID pandemic came along. As we emerge from the pandemic, its economic impact will continue to linger for both students and institutions.

Given how important international students are to both Canadian post-secondary institutions and our economy, expanding support for this cohort of students is critical.

This interactive session will discuss challenges, highlight best practices and showcase information gathered directly from international students who are, or intend to start, studying in Canada.

Using Flywire’s Passport to Education research study as the foundation, this session will engage participants in an interactive discussion about current attitudes of international students and their pursuit of post-secondary education. Attitudes toward studying internationally, online vs in-person learning  and challenges with funding will be covered with attendees invited to share their campus' support initiatives–both through the pandemic and those planned for the 2022-23 academic year.

Join us and walk away with lots of new ideas for ways to better support your international students before, during, and after their studies at your institution.