For Amanda Wolf, junior in LAS, learning about money management started when her parents began giving her an allowance in third grade. When Wolf was 17, she worked at Subway and McDonald’s and saved up her money so she could transfer to the University.

“I worked pretty much full time,” Wolf said. “I saved a lot, and so I don’t buy things I don’t need.”

Wolf said that though she already had plenty of experience with managing her finances, she found that she wasn’t as well prepared as she thought after transferring to the University.

“You really have to get a feel of how much things cost,” Wolf said. “I was amazed at how fast money went away. When you’re on your own, you don’t realize that you’ve taken your parents for granted until you need to buy things on your own. I had to buy a chair and more little odds and ends. It added up quick.”

Unlike Wolf, who had to learn how to handle her money through experience, students at the University now have the opportunity to attend seminars that will help them manage their finances.

The University and TCF Bank will be offering them to all students as part of their new partnership.

“Branch managers and staff work closely with student customers,” Megan Biggam, vice president of marketing for TCF Bank, said. “The idea came from our interactions with them. We heard a lot of the same questions.”

Biggam said Jeremy Hunt, TCF bank manager for the Urbana-Champaign branch in the Illini Union Bookstore, 809 S. Wright St., will be leading the sessions with a University official who has yet to be appointed.

“The seminars are still in the process of being organized and reviewed,” Biggam said.

Details concerning dates and times for the seminars are still being finalized with the University.

The program will cover managing student finances, banking terms, budgeting, establishing credit history, how to properly use a credit card and ID protection.

“These topics came out of conversations with student customers and hearing the questions they are asking,” Biggam said.

The information given to students during the seminars are from industry sources and information, Biggam said, like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve Web site.

“We have a training group that puts the information into a form best presented to students,” she said.

TCF Bank has been offering management seminars to college campuses for three years and Biggam said that she has positive expectations for those that will be given at the University.

“Based on other relationships we’ve had with universities, it’s been very effective,” Biggam said. “We’ve seen students walk away and effectively manage their finances.”