Game Plan – the comprehensive intuitive mobile-first learning management system built by student-athletes for student-athletes – announced an expanded sponsorship with Wells Fargo – its exclusive provider of financial education curriculum since 2015. Through this expanded sponsorship, Game Plan will be offering free financial education to all 1,200 collegiate athletic departments – including those at 107 HBCUs, courtesy of Wells Fargo.
This announcement came ahead of August 2024, when the NCAA board of directors began requiring all Division 1 colleges to provide student-athletes with life skills development, including financial education, and ensures that collegiate athletic departments can help student-athletes navigate the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) era. As a part of this expansion, Wells Fargo is investing in updating its current financial education program available on the Game Plan app with engaging courses on budgeting & saving, credit management, planning for the future, and more, along with offering one-on-one advice and planning sessions with bankers to empower collegiate student-athletes to capitalize on their NIL earning potential.
“The financial expertise that Wells Fargo has brought to university athletic departments and student-athletes through our platform for more than eight years now has been invaluable,” said Mike Banville, CEO at Game Plan. “With the NCAA life skills mandate implemented in August and at a time when student-athletes stand to gain more than ever through NIL, this is the perfect time to offer this enhanced financial education program.”
Gigi Dixon, head of External Engagement for Diverse Segments, Representation, and Inclusion at Wells Fargo, added, “Empowering financial success is core to who we are at Wells Fargo as The Bank of Doing. Student-athletes are expected to juggle classes, games, practices, meetings, and other commitments. The greatest advantage Game Plan provides is housing all of the content critical to their life skills development in one easy-to-access efficient digital platform. We’re looking forward to updating our financial education curriculum and meeting university athletic departments and student-athletes where they are to ensure that higher education institutions meet guidelines and individuals can navigate this increasingly complex landscape to its maximum benefit.”
Harry Stinson III, MS-SA, Interim Vice President of Institutional Advancement & Executive Director of the Lincoln University Foundation, Director of Athletic & Recreational Services at Lincoln University, offered, “Wells Fargo has provided our students with financial education workshops that have elevated their ability to manage their finances in a new way. The workshops are short, yet detailed, and provide insight into the complexity of managing finances and prepares our students for their future success. From learning about taxes, owning your own business, renting versus buying, and understanding credit, our students are in position to think critically and strategically regarding their future and this program within the Game Plan platform is a game changer for us.”
To-date, more than 875 athletic organizations have placed their trust in Game Plan, and within the duration of the Wells Fargo sponsorship, student-athletes on the Game Plan platform have successfully finished over 48,000 Wells Fargo Financial Education courses.