Peer-to-peer financial coaching and education organization Badger$ense will soon see a major expansion in its programming, thanks to a new partnership with Schwab Advisor Services™ and Charles Schwab Foundation.
Housed within the UW–Madison School of Human Ecology, Badger$ense works to equip students with practical, hands-on knowledge in financial literacy, helping empower them to make informed decisions throughout their lives and promote financial well-being. Personal Finance students serve as peer coaches and provide one-on-one guidance to other students, allowing them to practice skills that prepare them for successful financial planning careers.
Funding from Charles Schwab Foundation will enable more Personal Finance students to get involved with Badger$ense and become peer coaches, increasing access to this transformative opportunity.
“Expanding our capacity to support peer coaching will mean even more experiential learning opportunities for our students, helping them hone their soft skills and apply course content,” says Lindsay Dritsas, Personal Finance instructor and teaching administrator. “Badger$ense empowers students to be leaders, and by doing so, they position themselves for many professional pathways.”
As part of the funding from Charles Schwab Foundation, Dritsas will receive dedicated support to serve as Badger$ense’s director.
The partnership will also open doors for students in the form of career opportunities, as Schwab Advisor Services™ works closely with Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firms that want to hire early-career professionals.
With a greater number of peer coaches, Badger$ense will be able to expand its reach across campus, with the goal of serving up to 500 students each year. This would be both in the form of peer coaching and on-campus workshops on topics like savings, credit and investing.
Recent Personal Finance alumna Alexis Swaney ‘26 says being a peer coach set her apart from other students who applied for similar jobs after graduation.
“The hands-on learning from Badger$ense has solidified my confidence in my Personal Finance major,” Swaney says. “By working as a peer financial coach, I know I’m on a career path that I’m genuinely excited about.”
Created in 2014, Badger$ense (formerly called the Financial Life Skills program) was originally two 1-credit courses that focused on financial literacy, with Personal Finance students serving as peer educators in the classroom. Because the courses were extremely popular and quickly filled each semester, many students were unable to enroll.
Amid COVID-19 restrictions, the two courses later merged into one online course, Consumer Science 111. Enrollment quickly soared to 500 students each semester, making it more difficult to incorporate peer educators. This led to a shift in focus toward developing the current peer coaching program to provide students with individualized support.
Badger$ense has been recognized for its impact on student financial well-being, including with the Governor’s Financial Literacy Award.
Schwab Advisor Services™ and Charles Schwab Foundation have partnered with other universities to fund peer coaching programs, including UW–Green Bay, University of Delaware, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Texas Tech University.