At Portland State, Financial Literacy Now Includes an Actual Investment Account

At Portland State University, 43% of students are the first in their family to attend college. Many are also managing their finances on their own for the first time - budgeting, credit cards, loan debt - without anyone at home who's been through it before. A new initiative launching this fall is designed to close that gap, and it's doing it with more than a lecture: Students will walk away with real, funded investment accounts of their own.

The PSU Financial Wellness & Literacy Initiative, housed in The School of Business, is a university-wide effort to make financial literacy a standard part of getting a PSU degree. It's being made possible by a grant from the newly launched OnPoint Community Credit Union Foundation, marking one of the very first investments in the foundation's history.

How the Program Works

The centerpiece of the program is a 10-week, 4-credit course open to all undergraduates, built on PSU's existing personal finance curriculum and revised specifically for this initiative. It skips textbook economics and goes straight to the things students actually need to navigate: budgeting, how credit and debt work, how interest compounds, and the basics of investing: stocks, bonds, mutual funds and index funds, with a close look at low-cost S&P 500 index funds as a long-term wealth-building tool.

What makes the program stand out is what happens next. Instead of stopping at theory, financial coaches walk students step by step through opening an IRA or Roth IRA. And students who finish the course with a C- or better receive a completion grant - expected to range from $100 to $500 - specifically meant to seed that new account with real money. OnPoint is the lead partner helping make that hands-on piece possible.

"Financial literacy is not just about learning how to budget or avoid debt; it's about empowerment and closing the wealth gap," said Qing Hu, Dean of the PSU School of Business. "Many of our students come from backgrounds where systemic barriers have locked families out of the traditional financial system. By providing hands-on guidance to open and seed IRAs/Roth IRAs, we aren't just preparing students for their first jobs - we are helping them build wealth from the moment they step onto our campus."

A First-of-Its-Kind Partner

PSU's initiative is one of six grants in the OnPoint Community Credit Union Foundation's first-ever funding round, announced July 8, 2026, alongside organizations like Family Access Network, the Oregon Community Foundation, and Western Oregon University's teacher scholarship program. All of the grants address similar goals around education and financial opportunity in Oregon and southwest Washington. Being included in that inaugural class is a signal of how closely PSU's approach aligned with what the foundation was built to support.

"This work is rooted in OnPoint Community Credit Union's beginning, when 16 schoolteachers came together to create a safe place to save their money and provide low-cost loans to other teachers and their families," said Tim Clevenger, executive director of the OnPoint Community Credit Union Foundation. "The foundation carries this legacy forward by investing in critical areas to create financial opportunity and stability across Oregon and southwest Washington."

A Regional Investment

PSU already ranks No. 1 in Oregon for social mobility. In addition, roughly 70% of PSU alumni stay and build their careers in the greater Portland area - so the financial habits students form now don't stay on campus, they follow graduates straight into the local economy. It's also why the program isn't staying at its current size. The School of Business plans to grow it year over year, reaching as many as 2,250 students annually by its third year, and eventually extending the same financial education into Oregon high schools and community organizations.

Hu sees the initiative as something bigger than a single course. It's meant to normalize talking about money, and build a campus culture where financial know-how is just part of the student experience.

"Our students are the future leaders, entrepreneurs, and workforce of Portland," Hu said. "Through this partnership with the OnPoint Foundation, we are ensuring that when a PSU student graduates, they leave with both a world-class degree and the financial confidence to thrive in the modern economy. We are incredibly grateful for the support we have received, which allows us to remove barriers and build a scalable model of financial equity that will resonate for generations."

FIN218 - starting in the fall.

Want to learn more about the impact behind this partnership? Watch this KGW feature highlighting the OnPoint Community Credit Union Foundation's community work.