Xavier University of Louisiana is striving to teach students financial literacy in more ways than one.
The HBCU has partnered with Circle Internet Financial to launch their pilot program, Circle U: Digital Financial Literacy. A press release stated the program launched last September and has already impacted the lives of close to 60 business students. Dr. Shael Wolfson, an assistant professor at Xavier’s Business Administration and Economics department, believes the program is important due to the evolving ways of money.
“At Xavier, we believe in providing students with access to a wide range of content to help them make sound decisions personally and professionally as they develop into distinguished young professionals,” Wolfson said.
“We are excited to share this content with more
students as we move out of the pilot phase.”The program has spread through four other historically black colleges and universities. According to the press release, the curriculum targets underserved and marginalized communities, providing knowledge on concepts that include “the evolution of money, Bitcoin and blockchain technology, Ethereum and tokenization, layers and interoperability, Web3 and applications, policy and regulation; and a Web3 tutorial.”
With a larger rollout to additional institutions expected for this spring, VP of Circle Impact at Circle, Mercina Tillemann Perez, feels partnering with HBCUs shines a light on the financial future. “Expanding access to digital financial literacy is a key element of our mission to realize a financial future that is more inclusive than the past,” Perez said to Business Insider.
“Launching Circle U in partnership with these esteemed academic institutions is a step toward helping to provide equitable access to education that can equip students with the necessary knowledge to become sophisticated actors and builders in this industry.”The program is free and participants who complete the program will be eligible to apply early for internships and jobs with Circle.