While most of the classes offered at Iowa State are specific to a chosen career path, one class has the potential to benefit all 36,001 students.

The half semester Human Development Family Studies 183 class is a one-credit, pass/fail class that focuses on many different aspects of money. This includes student debt, loans, making a budget and planning a will.

“This is education I can use,” said Jon Fox, director of the Financial Counseling Clinic at Iowa State. 


Fox said this class could help every ISU student, because for a lot of students, it is the first time they learn about post-college financial life.

The class is taught in two manners. One section is taught in-class and in-person, while the other is an online gaming version of the same material.

“It has a leaderboard built into it, and when you do enough activities, you pass the course,” Fox said.

The goal is to not only pass the course but also truly learn and understand financial responsibility. 

“We want to get students to do more than just the minimum,” said Jeanna Nation, lecturer in human development and family studies who is in charge of teaching the course. “With the game version, I think we can.”

Both Fox and Nation are interested in teaching students life skills and helping them retain that knowledge past the end of the semester. They also want to find out if a gaming version of the class will help motivate students to put more effort into the class.

HDFS 183 is not a major-specific course, so any ISU student can take it.

“Per year in [HDFS] 183, between 800 and 1,000 students go through it. But I know more than 1 in 30 could use the help.” Fox said.

The Financial Counseling Clinic also helps students and families with financial issues.

The clinic has been around since 1986, and Fox said it is the oldest of its kind in this country.

The Financial Counseling Clinic is free for families and students to receive advice and information about debt and finances.

The meetings are supervised by staff, but ISU students are the ones who do the counseling. The clinic is focused on teaching students how to work with clients, as well as aiding the ones who come in for help.

“If a student takes HDFS 283 and HDFS 49, they can start meeting with clients,” Nation said in regard to how a person could get involved with counseling. “Anybody going to work in a service industry can benefit from doing this. The communication skills you learn are very valuable.”

The HDFS 183 course opens for registration Monday.