Texan Smart is a financial education center that provides support and guidance to Tarleton Students. We help students understand their financial situations and explore various options and resources. Our goal is to ensure each student who walks into our office has the tools they need to succeed in the future.  

Texan Smart was originally implemented in August 2021. Since then, they have recently opened an office located in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center room 12 on the Tarleton State University’s Stephenville campus. There they provide finance-focused workshops and peer-to-peer coaching appointments, both designed to develop students’ positive financial practices and money management knowledge.

“Within the next six months we intend to increase our peer financial coaching visits, create a podcast, as well as launch a SMART Borrowing campaign that aims to educate students on how to use student loans efficiently. In addition, we want to increase our awareness across campus by having one event per week and increase our social media outreach,” Texan Smart financial director, Juan Gallardo said.

 Aside from providing students with financial coaching, Texan Smart hopes to eliminate students financial stress.

“Our five year plan is to increase financial knowledge among Tarleton students, influence the amount of student loan debt a Tarleton student takes, and decrease the financial stress that impacts our students,” Gallardo said.  

The Texan Smart team currently consists of students who are not financial advisers, but peer financial coaches trained to guide other students on their personal finance matters. There will be seven peer financial coaches available for students to meet and plan with.

 Currently, Texan Smart provides students access to WhichWay which is a financial education platform that covers topics pertinent to college student success. They also offer peer financial coaching via Zoom and are on our way to develop podcasts and increase their social media interest. 

Texan Smart uses their social media to provide financial planning tips to be successful in college.  

For more information about Texan Smart and its various resources, visit www.tarleton.edu/qep/index.html or follow them on Instagram @texansmart.