Waterloo Banking Project

Our survey is now closed and exams are finished. Now it is time to catch up on communications and analyze the survey data.

After we launched the survey we sent out a media release to try to inform more people about our vision and to attract more respondents to the survey.

This is what we sent out:

5 April 2010

Waterloo students launch financial services project

A new banking initiative by students for students aims to save students money at a time when tuition is steadily climbing and trust in the banking sector is at an unprecedented low. Waterloo students have started a project to explore the founding of a student-run credit union to help students better manage their money.

The group, called Waterloo Banking Project, is dedicated to developing financial services that better meet students needs, offering student staff valuable experience, and educating students about contolling their personal finances.

“Students often fight things like tuition increases with little impact,” said Ryan Chen-Wing, a 3rd year of economics and history student at UW and one of the project’s leaders. “If we can work on helping students manage their money more wisely and offer services that make financial sense, we might be able to make a real difference.”

The volunteers working on the project envision a setup such as the student-run credit unions at some universities in the United States, including Georgetown University and the University of Pennsylvania, or the high school student caisses in Quebec. They may end up working with an established credit union to realize their goals but want to analyze their survey data first.

“Credit unions are about people in a community co-operating to help each other. That is what we are trying to achieve,” said Abhilash Jayakumar, who is a 3rd year mechatronics student and organized the
survey.

The group wants to know what financial services are lacking for students. To that end, they’re launching a survey and giving out an Apple iPad in hopes of hearing from as many students as they can.

Current students, who are registered in Waterloo Region, at University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Conestoga College are invited to fill out the survey and enter to win the Apple iPad.

Alumni, staff, and other people connected with those schools are also invited to respond to the survey, but will not be eligible for the prize.

Read more about the project or find a link to the survey at the group’s project blog: WaterlooBanking.com

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