By Andrea Martino

Julie Scott with her family.

Some people are aware of the particular financial hardships U.S. military families face, but few outside the military actually feel it. It’s tempting to read the headlines and say, “It’s not about us.”

That is not the case with two of the nation’s longstanding and most reputable names in consumer finance and higher education. Household International and UMUC have partnered to help U.S. military families better manage their personal finances. Now, the Household International Military Financial Education Center, hosted on UMUC’s Web site, offers military personnel and their families easy access to a wealth of information and guidance on everything from establishing checking accounts to planning for retirement.

The Need

Even on U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant Julie Scott’s limited pay, she puts $800 a month into retirement accounts for herself and her triplets.

“I do okay,” says Scott. “Our pay in the military seems small but we have a lot taken care of.” When Scott’s daughter Jaelyn was born in Germany with a hole in her heart and had to be flown stateside for surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia when she was one month old, it did not cost Scott and her husband a dime.

“I thank God for that,” Scott said. “Still, it’s tough sometimes to think of what it costs to raise my children. A trip for four to the movies is about $50. They shouldn’t be penalized because they’re triplets, but I just can’t afford to take them very often.

“Some service members just have no idea they should be managing their money,” she continued, “and if they do realize it they might not know how to go about it. There are a lot of people in the military on food stamps.

“The military offers financial planning services, but by the time people go to them it’s usually too late. . . . Anything that can help educate us about the financial reality of real life expenses is a godsend,” she said of the new education center. “The sooner military families realize they must manage their finances, the better.”

Reality check

When Scott was stationed on Osan Air Base in Korea last September, her children were able to move with her. But consider the military family that not only suffers the absence of a loved one who is deployed, but the added stress that comes when the spouse who is left behind has little or no experience in managing the family finances. Or the reservists and National Guard members whose extended deployments can mean long-term pay cuts.

Because of UMUC’s longtime relationship with the military, many at the University believe it is about us, and these stories put a face on the great need that military families have to learn better financial management strategies. Household International is especially committed to military families, having donated $2 million—the largest gift in the University’s history—to establish the Household International Military Financial Education Center on UMUC’s Web site and to help fund scholarships for military personnel and their dependents.

“People often say that UMUC is quite remarkable because of our history of service to the U.S. military,” said UMUC President Gerald Heeger. “But I would suggest that it is our military students and their families who are remarkable, for they manage very complex lives and achieve significant goals during quite extraordinary circumstances, such as being deployed several times throughout their course of study.

“I am often humbled when I congratulate service members who cross our commencement stage each year,” said Heeger. “We at UMUC are most pleased to provide this resource to the U.S. military community through the great generosity of Household. We had the easy part.

“We simply called on our business faculty and asked them to consider themselves recruited,” said Heeger, smiling. “But everyone here is always eager to go above and beyond for the military. The Household International Military Financial Education Center is a textbook case.”

The resulting site is both an important public relations and marketing tool for UMUC. Not only does it provide an excellent resource for our more than 57,000 current military students and their families, but it brings thousands of prospective military students to UMUC’s Web site, as well.

“Both Household and UMUC have a history of service to the military and are very sensitive to the special needs of U.S. military families,” said William F. Aldinger, chairman and CEO of HSBC North America Holdings Inc., parent company of Household International, the nation’s oldest consumer-finance company. “The added strain of deployment for so many military families should not cause them unnecessary financial burden. We hope that the Household International Military Financial Education Center will help relieve the stress of U.S. military families, who unfortunately must ‘do more with less’ when they already give so much to our country.”

The $2 million Household donation included $500,000 earmarked to establish the Household International Military Family Scholarship Fund at UMUC.

“It is critical that we remove barriers military families face in pursuing a college education. If both spouses wish to pursue a career they should be able to do so,” Aldinger continued. “We are proud that Household can help service members and their spouses fulfill their dreams of education.”

In a 1999 Department of Defense survey of active-duty service members, 57 percent of respondents ranked managing expenses and bills as their greatest concern. Last year’s Army Family Action Plan Conference determined that personal financial concerns were the top priority for soldiers and their families.

The new Household International Military Financial Education Center is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to anyone with Internet access and offers a wealth of information about personal finance for both service members and civilians. A range of financial planning topics address saving money, basic budgeting skills, establishing and managing credit cards, understanding investments, insurance options, and managing estates. Financial planning for typical life events—such as getting married, having a child, buying a car or new home, and planning for retirement—are included as well.