KENNESAW, Ga. - For many senior student-athletes, life beyond the field or court is fast approaching. With dreams of professional sports, careers in their chosen fields, or simply navigating adulthood, one thing is clear: financial literacy will be a key player in their success. That's why the Student-Athlete Success Services (SASS) invited Eric Smith to speak to the senior and graduate student-athletes. He presented the upcoming graduates with a class designed to teach the fundamentals of saving, investing, and planning for the future.

Eric Smith is a financial literacy coach who designs The Money Game programs for students that teach them about credit, retirement planning, the basics of investing, avoiding identity theft, budgeting, and other imperative skills. He has also worked with the NBA, NFL, and NCAA to ensure athletes are properly prepared for their financial future.

The session was tailored to highlight the importance of building smart money habits early. Whether it's preparing for potential earnings from professional contracts, stretching their first paycheck, investing properly, or finding practical ways to save, the students left the meeting equipped with tools to tackle their financial futures with confidence.

For the majority of students, saving money for their future can be daunting. Alyssa Angelo, a senior lacrosse standout who attended the class, attributed Smith's class to helping her launch her saving habits on the right track.

"Many of us left the class more eager to learn and research more ways to get started, whether that be opening a savings account, a Roth IRA, or start investing with the helpful apps that we were introduced to, like Acorns," said Angelo. "Or even just downloading some browser apps to help save us money in our everyday online spending, like Honey. I wish it was something we were taught more in schools as a whole."



Additionally, Delaney Heard, a senior on the men's basketball team who also attended the class, emphasized the necessity for students to be well versed in financial literacy.

"After you graduate, a majority of students will be left with student loans that need to be paid off, and they need to know how to negotiate contracts with employers in maximizing paying off their loans as well as setting up their retirement plans," said Heard. "Financial literacy needs to be emphasized more in all college institutions regardless of if they are a business or finance major."

Megan Stoltzfus, Director of Student-Athlete Development, helped coordinate Smith's visit to campus.

"I think Eric is by far one of the best speakers I've ever worked with. Financial literacy can be a very dry and boring topic and can easily go over the heads of young adults, but he found a way to keep our student-athletes engaged the entire session," stated Stoltzfus. "In my three years of doing student-athlete development programming at Kennesaw State, I don't think I had that many students stay to ask questions or desire contact information to follow up with a speaker. My goal is to have him speak with our athletes every year, every semester – budget permitting, especially in this new age of NIL and revenue sharing."

The students also took a survey after the class. Some of their responses are as follows:

What did you like?

"I learned something I never knew about financial literacy."

"This was very informative about things I wasn't aware of that is going to benefit me now and later!"

"Need this at every school!"

"I've learned how I can make my money in the future grow starting now."

For these athletes, the lesson was about more than numbers—it was about empowering themselves to take control of their post-graduation lives, and set themselves up in future endeavors.