Leticia Gradington is known for more than being the program director of Student Money Management at the University of Kansas. Her engaging, humorous speaking style leaves a lasting impression on students.
“She is so great,” said sophomore Maggie Kovach. “She just seems genuinely dedicated to our individual situations and she is so fun to listen to.”
Gradington said she is happy with the success she has observed in her 19 years of running Student Money Management, but she is still trying to expand the influence of her department.
“The students that come in here a lot and really subscribe to our program do so well afterwards,” Gradington said. “I think this university doesn’t do nearly enough to teach students about financial literacy even though we make it easy to spend all of your money here.”
Gradington has taken it upon herself, as the longtime director of this department, to branch out to as many other departments as possible and use her time in the best way to serve the highest number of students. Gradington said she will try anything from having Financial Comedian Speaker Colin Ryan perform stand-up to doing joint events with Kansas State University’s Powercat Financial.
“A lot of people seemed confused that I would work with Kansas State,” Gradington said. “I understand the rivalry, but this is about helping both of our student bodies become smarter with their dollars and I think we can each learn from each other to do that.”
Gradington said putting students in a position to have complete control of their financial situations as soon as they can is what drives her to work hard. She said students need to be taught to stop living in a spending cycle and start living in a saving cycle.
“It’s plain and simple,” Gradington said. “Life needs to be about more than just paying the bills until you die.”
Gradington also practices what she preaches in her own life. She said, for example, baby showers in her family are highly organized affairs with financial responsibility in mind. After delegating necessities such as strollers and cribs to grandparents, other family members are encouraged to put money in an envelope which was deposited in a large glass bowl. Then, Gradington would use her financial knowledge to create a much better gift than redundant onesies or bibs.
“I would take all of the envelopes and count the money,” Gradington said. “Then, I take that money and put it all into a 529 savings plan for the baby. When that baby gets to be 21 years old, that $2,000 that we might have collected might be enough to pay for its education by then.”
She drives cars as long as they stay running and never trades them in. When she sees a new dress, she talks herself out of buying something she has plenty of already. She has her own financial advising business but still works for the University every day, and she isn’t slowing down in her mission to help spread her message.
“We are going to take the University by storm in the 2020 school year,” Gradington said. “I have a lot of stuff in store to make our department as widely reached as ever so we can reach more students than before. It will be a fun year for us.”
