Meeting Them Where They Are: The Impact of Zillennial Advisors on DePaul’s Student Community
As a student affairs professional, I am always looking for new ways to sustain a healthy campus community, and I have found many of these on the Marketplace floor at NACA Live. I am here at DePaul University to equip students with the tools they need to succeed – both during their time at university and beyond. That’s why, when I met Zillennial Advisors at NACA Live 2024, I knew I had found a great asset and partner in building necessary skills for students who may not have access to robust financial literacy resources otherwise.
DePaul University’s Loop Campus is home to a diverse student population including international students, business students, first-gen students, and others from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines. Many of these students, and I’d even go as far as say most students, face challenges when it comes to financial education and independence, making it crucial to find resources that can help fill the gap between what they learn in the classroom and what they need to know in their day to day.
Addressing the Diverse Needs of Busy Students
When we first met Zillennial Advisors at NACA Live, we recognized their potential to meet the needs of our student body. Navigating the U.S. financial system can be a daunting prospect, especially for our international students who may be facing new norms. From understanding credit scores to managing loans, the financial landscape is often intimidating and confusing. Even for those most “in the know”, our business students, often lack the practical tools to manage their personal finances outside the classroom despite learning about economics and finance within the classroom.
All of our students lead busy lives, and maintaining engagement at our Loop Campus specifically is very tricky as few students live nearby. We were concerned that the lengthy sessions offered by Zillennial Advisors would lead to low turnout. However, the Advisors were able to customize their curriculum to offer bite-sized hour-long sessions with lower stakes to facilitate our needs. Rather than overwhelming lengthy seminars that took the whole day, our students could attend between classes. This made it much easier for our students to attend without feeling like they were sacrificing time from their already busy lives.
A Sense of Belonging
The Zillennial Advisors’ take on financial education was modern, approachable, and spoken in the language of today’s generation of college students. They used relatable real-world examples, interactive activities, and digital re digital resources that made complex financial topics, such as budgeting, investing, and student loans, feel accessible.
For many students, financial stress can be isolating. Whether it’s worrying about student loans, living expenses, or the pressure of saving for the future, financial instability or uncertainty can create a sense of anxiety and disconnection. The Advisors fostered a sense of community and camaraderie with students. They broke the complex down into the simple without being patronizing. They created a space where students felt supported, empowered, and less alone. They felt like the peer mentor, rather than the professor. And in fact, they actually provide internship opportunities for current students to facilitate future programming.
Alizeh Ahmed, a DePaul student who attended the Zillennial Advisors’ event, shared her personal experience in a reflection that I found quite motivating for future work in this area. She noted that the event was “transformative,” not just in the financial knowledge they gained, but in how she felt about her financial future. “The speakers broke down complex money management concepts into practical advice on budgeting, investing, and planning for the future,” she said. “It was a wake-up call about how urgent financial education is for Gen Z.”
Alizeh was so inspired by the event that they reached out to Zillennial Advisors and, eventually, secured an internship with the organization. Through this experience, she not only gained practical skills in personal finance but also contributed to projects aimed at improving financial literacy for other young adults. She notes, “in this internship, I’m not only learning about finance but also contributing to initiatives that promote financial literacy among young people. It’s exciting to see how the organization adapts traditional financial wisdom to meet modern challenges, ensuring that we, as Gen Z, are well-prepared for the future.”
This kind of hands-on, real-world learning is what makes programs like Zillennial Advisors so powerful—they don’t just teach students about finances, they connect them to career opportunities and a broader community of like-minded individuals who are equally passionate about financial empowerment.
Meeting Students Where They Are
As a university that prioritizes preparing students for life beyond graduation, we know that financial literacy is an essential skill that impacts students’ long-term success. Today’s students, particularly those in their early 20s, face an increasingly complex and harrowing financial landscape. Especially in our current economic climate, having basic tools for financial survival is absolutely essential for post college success. From managing student debt to planning for retirement, navigating taxes, and investing wisely, there’s a lot to learn. By partnering with Zillennial Advisors, we’re ensuring that our students aren’t just learning financial theory—they’re gaining the hands-on skills and knowledge needed to navigate the world post-college with well-earned confidence.
The partnership between DePaul University and Zillennial Advisors underscores the importance of finding resources that meet students where they are – resources that not only address their current needs but also contribute to their future success. Resources that provide steppingstones to future careers as well as empowering current students to empower future students, creating healthy cycles of learning and motivation.
As we continue to work toward creating a more inclusive, supportive, and empowering campus environment, programs like those offered by the Zillennial Advisors are essential. They help our students, like Alizeh and so many others, feel more connected to the DePaul Community through a sense of security afforded to them by equipping them with the tools they need to succeed in an increasingly complex world. These are also the types of unique, forward-looking organizations that find their platform through NACA Live, and it is important to their growth and success that we support and encourage these kinds of businesses and organizations to ever improve our students’ campus experience.
