To get ideas for new products and services to offer Gen Y, Truliant Federal Credit Union went straight to the source.The Winston-Salem, N.C., credit union held a Truliant Financial Fair in partnership with Forsyth Technical Community College. As part of the fair, students had the opportunity to create a product or service for the credit union. For first place, Truliant offered a prize of $3,000, and for second place, it offered $1,500.The first-place winning idea was from Kayla Hall for a book buy-back program that would allow students to get a loan to pay for things such as tuition and school books, and at the end of the semester, when they sell their books back, the proceeds would go directly to paying off the loan.Marketing and Graphics Coordinator Kelly Minor said that the credit union is currently doing further research to determine how to make the program work for the credit union and students."My experience with the fair was mentally challenging and thought provoking," Hall said. "I enjoyed having an opportunity to express my creativity and learn more about developing programs at the same time. I asked myself questions such as 'who will this benefit' and 'how will it work' and generated answers accordingly. Also, I believe in my idea, which made for a more interesting journey."The second-place idea came from Linda Burnette for debit card education. Burnette got the idea from her experience with her own teenagers, who never learned about how and when debit cards should be used.Burnette's idea was to implement an educational brochure program to help ensure that all teens getting a debit card are equipped with the proper knowledge.Minor said that the credit union will be moving forward very shortly with the debit card education program.In the future, Truliant will be looking to potentially partner with Forsyth Tech again and other schools for the financial fair."The school we partnered with, Forsyth Tech, has a broad range of students, including those just out of high school, as well as those starting new careers, so they were the perfect partner for this pilot program. This was a fantastic opportunity for all parties involved," Minor said.In addition to the fair, Truliant handed out membership information to students and faculty at the school on several occasions.–[email protected]

Apple FCU Builds Student DepositsWith a Feed the Pig Contest

Apple Federal Credit Union held a save-off competition among all its student-run branches in Prince William County, Va.The winner, Osbourn Park High School, defeated its rival Stonewall Jackson High school by almost $1,500.The contest was designed to promote saving for the future by having each school compete to secure the most deposits from students and faculty through its Apple FCU student-run branch.The "Feed the Pig" competition was part of the national campaign sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.In total, the six participating schools saved nearly $30,700. Osbourn Park school saved $9,023."I found the contest very successful," said Kathleen Riddle, credit union liaison for the student-run branch. "The staff that participated were really into it. They were very competitive and wanted to win. We achieved more staff involvement as a result of this competition, which is good. The administration was also very supportive of our efforts. They let me send all-staff reminders and congratulations throughout the contest and were very supportive of anything I needed."Faculty at Osbourn Park used the in-school branch instead of a local branch to make deposits, withdraw cash and even make an auto loan payment, which contributed to the school's win. Also, the school's moderate cognitive impairments students banded together to open an Apple account that would house funds for their end-of-year class party.–[email protected]