Along with a $35 million expansion project uniting the two buildings and a School of Liberal Arts management minor, Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business is instituting financial “how-to” classes for non-business majors, starting July 1. With business classes being beneficial in various industries, not just the business sector, these new classes both connect the business school to the rest of campus and allow non-business school students to learn the basics of finance and economics to benefit them in their future endeavors.

The business school has often seemed separate from the rest of Tulane. These course offerings allow students who might not otherwise have access to a basic education in finance to better understand something that affects their everyday lives. Now all students will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of personal finance and the economic system we live in.

The program will begin with a class in financial literacy, taught by economics professor Toni Weiss. Larry Schloss, who graduated Tulane in 1976, is the main donor for this new initiative. The program is starting with just one course but will, hopefully, add more as time goes on. An easy way to integrate this program with the Tulane community would be to advertise it more to the student body since, up until this point, it has not been. More classes that appeal to students of all majors, such as marketing, would also be beneficial in its applicability in all career fields.

A business degree is not needed in order to be successful, but a background and understanding of the basics will benefit students in the future. These classes should focus on decision-making and competencies in the everyday lives of students.

This new initiative by the business school is a great move and, in time, will only grow to be bigger and better, hopefully resulting in an all-encompassing cross-major program. Tulane is making great strides in giving students the opportunity to build real-world skills.