How K-State’s Powercat Financial empowers students to achieve financial success
By Ashley Pauls
K-State Alumni Association
When Kate Mielitz ’18 started working on her doctorate at K-State in 2014, she already
had a passion for financial planning and helping others gain confidence managing money.
Mix that with a heavy dose of purple pride, and now Mielitz is back on campus, a decade
later, guiding students to financial success through her work as executive director
of the Powercat Financial counseling and education program.
“I loved it,” Mielitz said of her K-State learning experience. “I've been bleeding
purple since I got my acceptance letter on my birthday. I wanted to be a Powercat
Financial counselor when I was working on my Ph.D. [online], because I was already
an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC®), but they didn't have the virtual option
at that time, so I wasn't able to. I really think, and I have for many, many years,
that this is one of the best programs that a university can offer.”
Powercat Financial provides K-State students with free financial education and counseling
services, covering topics such as budgeting, saving, credit, student loan repayment,
and transitioning to the workplace after graduation.
“Powercat Financial is Kansas State University's commitment to financial well-being
for all Kansas State students,” Mielitz said. “We help students navigate what it means
to utilize money as young and emerging adults.”
One of the features that makes Powercat Financial unique is that it employs students
as trained peer counselors, offering them an opportunity to serve as leaders and advocate
for their fellow classmates. Powercat Financial also partners closely with other campus
organizations, such as the Office of Student Financial Assistance and the Career Center,
to answer student questions.
“Kansas State University has been leading in the field of peer financial counseling
for a number of years,” Mielitz said. “Powercat Financial will celebrate 16 years
of supporting K-State students in January. It started as a volunteer organization
and then moved into a paid opportunity for students to become student employees.”
Understanding your options
Mielitz started working at K-State in July 2024, but was a proud Wildcat fan for many
years prior.
“My husband is credited with finding it for me,” she said of the K-State doctorate
program. “He was active duty at the time, and had what was called CQ duty — a 24-hour
duty — and he had to stay awake the whole time.
“We have a daughter, and so he would brush Barbie's hair and brush ponies’ tails and
make sure all the snarls were out and still [needed] stuff to do,” she chuckles. “Well,
he likes to look for opportunities, and he has been so helpful, and he found the K-State
program.”
Mielitz was immediately impressed by the online personal financial planning program,
which she found to be just as rigorous as an in-person experience. When a position
opened on campus 10 years later, she saw it as the perfect opportunity.
Mielitz said that Powercat Financial’s goal is to meet students wherever they are
at in terms of their financial planning journey. According to findings from the 2024
National College Health Assessment, finances are the second highest cause of stress
for K-State students.
“How do we serve people? How do we listen?” Mielitz asks. “How do we decrease shame
when it comes to talking about money?”
One misconception students may have about Powercat Financial, that Mielitz has witnessed,
is the perception that they will be pressured to take on more student loans.
“We're never going to do that,” Mielitz said. “We want to help you figure out what
your options are. We want to help figure out what resources you have available to
you, and maybe that is the only option that you have, but we're gonna have a much
more thorough conversation before that. We don't push anybody towards anything. We
let them know what their options are. We help them understand the cost of those options.”
Mielitz said that the organization’s hope is to continue to spread awareness so that
more students learn the benefits of having a financial plan throughout their years
of college, and how this can set them up for success as they transition into a full-time
career.
“Over the past two years, almost three, we’ve been pretty consistent hitting almost
40% of the K-State family,” she said. “As part of that, we had 1,032 one-on-one appointments
in the 2024 fall semester and this fall exceeded that by more than 25%.”
A lifetime of confidence
Powercat Financial offers services at four locations across campus, including their
main office on the third floor of the K-State Student Union. They also meet with students
in Hale Library; have a peer counselor on site at Trotter Hall for vet med students;
and then offer hours to support student-athletes in the evenings twice a week at the
Vanier Football Complex. Additionally, they offer virtual appointments for students
with K-State Online, and the Salina and Olathe campuses.
More recently, Powercat Financial has expanded its services to conduct financial education
workshops in for-credit classrooms.
“We will take timely and relevant financial education into courses of study, and all
of that is led by our peer counselors as well,” Mielitz said.
Last spring, Powercat Financial also engaged with the College of Engineering, for
a beta test of assigning a peer counselor meeting as part of transfer students’ “welcome
to K-State” experience.
“They found that the feedback was so positive and the time was so well spent, that
with their record breaking class of 800 for their freshman class, those students were
all assigned to come in this fall,” Mielitz said. “They really found that this is
meaningful. We've got data to back it up.”
Powercat Financial is looking into partnering with other colleges on similar programs,
making a lifetime of difference for the students it serves.
“I spoke with somebody who works for the Kansas Bankers Association who met with Powercat
Financial a couple of years ago, before he graduated; he's still using the budget
form,” Mielitz said. “We do provide resources that can be used in an ongoing format,
so that students, once they graduate, can refer back to or can duplicate and recreate
in their own way. We're talking about educating and working with students on budgeting
and counseling and credit and understanding job offers and benefits packages, and
a lot of those foundational things that help make our lives better.”
Learn more about the work of Powercat Financial and how to support the program.