THE Cambridge Connection - Episode 24

Right? We have a lot of troubling things that we’re dealing with. The economy’s obviously seemingly going the wrong way. We’ve got countries that are at war. So I want to take a minute.

I spoke with a friend of mine. His name is Gordon Corsetti and he has a website called Mentally Agile. com and on there, there are some tools and I got into some conversations with friends today about self care. Very important. Huge.

Huge. Very important. And especially in times when we’re talking about debt stress and the link to mental health problems. Right? We’ve had MHA on here talking about that.

So I want to take a minute for our listeners while we’re dealing with all these things and gas is going up and groceries and everything, there’s some things that we can do with self care. Number one for working professionals, schedule breaks. And what does that mean? That means stepping away from everything that you’re doing and taking some time to just take a few minutes and make sure you’re doing all right. Number two, care for your eyes.

Why is care for your eyes important, Tina? Well, we all need to see. We stare at our phones all day long. We stare at our computers all day long. We stare at our iPads, our tablets all day long.

And unfortunately, our eyes are extremely important and it puts a great strain on our eyes when we’re looking at these things all day, so you got to take time. Number three, get balanced. What does that mean? We’re in a crazy world being pulled in all different directions. You’ve got to take time to make sure that you are grounded, that you are secure.

Number four, this one was huge for me because I do this sometimes, but not enough, is enjoy your commute. If you still have one. If you still have one, good call. But we are traveling now. Obviously, the world’s been unlocked again from the pandemic, so you’re going to be traveling somewhere.

Right. So if you’re commuting, you can take that time to educate yourself with some of these podcasts that are out, one being The Cambridge Connection. Important to take that time when you can to use that either to entertain yourself if music is the thing that makes you happy, fine. Yeah, I’m the person in the car that you would look over at screaming, you know, top of my lungs the lyrics of the song with the windows up bouncing around. Wow.

Yeah, that’s me. Do you log out the window, flapping the gums with the saliva? No, I have the granddaughter in the in the back saying, no, not turn it down. Well, at least so you’re taking full advantage of your commute. Oh, absolutely.

Awesome. So number four is legs up the wall, which is a yoga pose. Interesting. So I would think any yoga pose, if you took time out to do one just to kind of take a minute to be mindful and peaceful. That’s a good idea.

Gordon, have you ever tried a yoga pose? I have actually. You did it? I can’t say it was graceful or perfect, but it was a try and I’ve done it a few times. Okay.

I’ve also played Twister just for the record. So that’s the secret. That is. You’ve tried Twister and then you start there. That’s where you do your yoga workout.

Duly noted. All right. Try it. Number five is develop a work shutdown ritual. Huge.

At the end of the day, when you are done working, you got to leave work at work. So important. Not just for self-care, for your family, for everyone around you. You’ve got to give time to yourself. For years, I have said that.

I am a true believer of shutting it down. You punch out, let’s move on. And this is the same thing with your finances too. Even if you’re working on a plan or you’re stressed out because you’re overburdened with debt, you have to step away from it to be clear. If you’re constantly stuck in it and stressed out and focusing on it, you may not be clear on what solutions are.

I have a great example of that. Just recently, I was at work and an email was sent and it bothered me afterwards. I punched out and I kept talking about it. And then I finally said to myself, what am I doing? I’m not getting paid to think about this email right now.

Introducing student loan guest topic

Exactly. You got to step away for sure. Shut it down. Absolutely. And with that said, we’re going to take a quick break, but we have special guest Sylvia DeHaas Phillips.

She’s the assistant professor and management director at Bay Path. And we’re going to talk to her because we’ve seen all the problems with student loans. We’ve had discussions on this program about student loans. So people are stressed about funding education. Also, you know, what paths can you take to educate yourself?

So she’s going to give us a nice viewpoint from inside a school slash university on some things for people to be aware of and some strategies and things that people can design a career for success. Oh, great. I’m excited to speak with her. She’s going to join us when we get back. So folks, we’re going to take a break.

Sponsor message and scam warning

We’ll be right back. This is Gordon Oliver with The Cambridge Connection. Hi, I’m Christopher Viale, president of Cambridge Credit Counseling. Have you been receiving possible scammer phone calls or emails about your student loans, your mortgage or rent, or any other calls suggesting they’re about money you owe? Before you respond, call us at 1-800-CAMBRIDGE and talk to one of our certified counselors.

There are lots of scammers gaining illegal access to credit reports these days, and it can be difficult to separate the scammers from legitimate services like ours, where the counseling is truly free and where we work with you to create a plan to pay down your debt safely and responsibly. Call 1-800-CAMBRIDGE today to find out how we can help you. 1-800-CAMBRIDGE. Welcome back, everyone. This is The Cambridge Connection.

Nonprofit careers and Bay Path interview

Gordon Oliver here with my co-pilot, Tina Marie, and it is my privilege to introduce our special guest that we have today. It’s my honor to introduce Sylvia DeHaas-Phillips, who is the assistant professor management director at Bay Path. Welcome, Sylvia. Hi. Hi, Gordon and Tina.

Nice to hear you both. Nice to have you, Sylvia. Thanks for coming or calling. It’s our pleasure. And this is such great information that we’re sharing.

You know, this show is about financial empowerment, financial wellness, financial wisdom, and just getting your perspective from the work that you do for just an amazing school, Bay Path University. We really appreciate you taking the time out. So before we get into the Bay Path part of things, can you tell us a little bit about you and your career? Of course. Happy to do so.

I’ve been at Bay Path for about five and a half years, as you said, as an assistant professor. But I also chair our Department of Graduate Studies in Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy and Strategic Fundraising and Philanthropy as an adjunct faculty member for over a decade, which gave me a lot of terrific insights into Bay Path. And before that, for about 25 years, I was in what I call institutional philanthropy. I actually know the Springfield area pretty well. I worked for the Davis Foundation, the United Way.

I’m based out of Connecticut, worked at the Hartford Foundation, and also did consulting myself in terms of organizational development and governance of nonprofit organizations. It’s been really great. I love teaching. We have such a wonderful array of students, and maybe I’ll get an opportunity to talk about them a little bit as we move forward. That’s awesome.

And we’ll get into this a little bit, but the sponsor of the show, Cambridge Credit Counseling, they do a lot of work. They’re a nonprofit 501c3. They do a lot of work in educating people on public service loan forgiveness. And since you’re working in the nonprofit direction of the careers, graduate education in support of leading and management nonprofit organizations, can you talk about those career opportunities? Absolutely.

I just want to say just something quickly is that I’ve actually done work with Cambridge Credit Counseling when I was at the United Way, and you guys do really, really terrific financial services for the region. That’s awesome. Thank you for that. Again, the way things are going these days with the economy and everything, people are going to need that help more than ever. So we appreciate that.

I want to first start with just something really briefly, is that a lot of people don’t really understand the kind of impact and how large the nonprofit sector really is, or how their lives are touched by them. So if you look in the state of Massachusetts, it’s almost 18% of the workforce is in nonprofits. In Connecticut, where I live, it’s close to 15%. It’s about the third largest employer in our country. And sometimes I like to make sure that people understand that it could be a college.

APATH is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, a hospital, another healthcare, a human service organization, arts and museums. And so the arts sector touches a wide range of people. And it also has a tremendous amount of opportunities for people in terms of employment. There are a wide range of careers. I will sometimes talk to our undergraduates that are in accounting programs or marketing programs, HR degree programs.

These are all careers that you can have in the nonprofit sector. I took a look at a couple of statewide associations, one in Massachusetts and one in Connecticut, to give your listeners an idea of the kind of jobs that are out there even like today for the nonprofits. Would you be interested in hearing about some of those? Yeah, I was wondering what type of opportunities there are for people who do want to work in the nonprofit sector? And additionally, what kind of salary can one expect to earn?

So I saw something about manager of communications, a digital engagement manager, director of marketing and communications, talent management, as I said, marketing, communications, HR, accounting. Nonprofits are what we call public service or public charities, but they are organizations and they need people who understand a lot of the administrative and financial aspects of running the organization. And in terms of salaries, they vary, certainly entry level salaries like they would in any industry would be on the lower end. But if you’re in a mid to senior range in terms of your position, and it depends on the organization, of course, as you would imagine what their resources are. But especially in Western Mass, there’s a lot of large nonprofits.

You can make what I call a pretty good salary. So, for example, if you’re the director or vice president of fundraising for, you know, I would call like a midsize nonprofit, three to five million dollars, you’re going to be making over one hundred thousand dollars a year with experience. And so I think there is a misperception that people only make really low wages. And as I said, certainly entry level jobs are at a lower wage than you would expect for mid and senior career positions. You know, there’s another part of that conversation, too.

I spent some time counseling large groups on the student loan debt problem, and sometimes the strategy exists where it might be a good idea to go work for a public service agency or nonprofit to take advantage of how loan forgiveness works, even if the salary isn’t exactly what you hope for. If you can get a good chunk of your loans forgiven after one hundred and twenty eligible payments, that is a strategy because that debt eats into salary and income. Right. Would be considered income. Absolutely.

That’s absolutely right. And as you mentioned, the public service loan forgiveness program in particular is one that students can look into. Absolutely. And also, you know, the, you know, for Pell students, for students that are low and moderate income that are eligible for Pell grants, there is also opportunities for them to both consolidate and also take out larger loans at lower rates. So, you know, to your point, there’s a lot of opportunities for students.

And the other thing is, is that depending on what institution a student goes to. So, for example, at Bay Path, in our graduate program and nonprofit management and philanthropy and strategic fundraising, we have something called the Trustees Leadership Scholarship Program, which means that a student who is financially eligible and they do need to fill out the federal aid form that you would have to fill out for any kind of loans or assistance or grants, you can get anywhere from five to 15 percent of the tuition reduction. So if someone was pursuing graduate education online, does it help? Yes. Does it walk through that process?

So our admissions team will walk somebody that’s interested in learning more both about the programs, but also about the financial aspects, you know, not just around tuition, but really how to figure out how to connect with our financial services department. And as I said, not every single one of our graduate programs has a scholarship. We happen to have it. And the other thing that we have at Bay Path is that for any student who got their undergraduate degree at Bay Path, I believe that they’re eligible for a 20 or 25 percent reduction in tuition from graduate school. And that’s across the board.

They would contact Bay Path admissions for more information on opportunities and to link them. Yes. All of that said, if people are confused or just they’ve been thinking about it, what what is actually involved in an online degree and how can a student be successful? Online learning is obviously a little bit different than in the classroom. But I have found that certainly as an instructor, I get to know students really well.

And the feedback I get from students is that they get to know each other very well. You have to be self-motivated and organized, which I think you would have to be whether you’re on campus or online. I guess I’m out. And oh, stop. Seriously, though, you know, we have students that come from all kinds of backgrounds.

We had a woman who just graduated within her 70s. She just had a personal goal to finish her master’s degree in nonprofits because she does volunteer work. And so, you know, again, certainly in any kind of graduate program, you have to be well-organized, but you get a lot of support, especially in smaller schools in terms of your academic success. I was going to ask you if you had any other success stories to share. This is very interesting.

Yeah. You know, I thought about a couple of things. You know, I thought about another student who’s been permanently disabled due to a lot of health issues and being able to take the degree. The degree online gave her access, and I think that’s one of the important things for people to understand as well, is that if you have a unique life situation, like this particular student or others, most of our students are working full-time, many of them have family responsibilities, the online education gives them a lot of access. We do what we call asynchronous learning, which means that you don’t have to show up at a certain time, and that means if you’re a career person, a family person, have responsibilities in your life, you can engage in the class when you have time to do it.

Online learning and student support

If you’re just joining us, this is The Cambridge Connection. This is Gordon Oliver and Tina Marie, my co-pilot here with Sylvia DeHaas Phillips. The pandemic, while there was so much negativity, some positive things have come out of it too, because people have now gotten used to working virtually, which I think may help stimulate online learning, because for a little while it felt like online learning, there was a stigma to it. The degree wasn’t the same as one if you attended physically. So I think some of this virtual behavior that we’ve gotten into is actually going to be a plus for online learning.

I think that’s an excellent point in terms of people’s comfort level and the quality that they’re going to get. I know for us, we have offered classes on campus and online. It’s exactly the same course, same curriculum, same requirements. But I think if people don’t really understand that it’s still a very academically rigorous process when you’re in graduate school. And so you can get a really great education.

And honestly, like I said, I’ve been teaching as an adjunct first and now full-time department chair at Bay Path for over a decade. I started teaching probably 12 years ago online. We’ve been doing it for a long time. Do you find since the pandemic that individuals are more successful or a little bit more focused now? You know, actually, I’m finding that students are dealing with a lot more complication.

Sure. So that’s where the online learning can be helpful as well. You know, if you think about it, if you’re, you know, a man or a woman who’s got children at home that you’ve had to support in, you know, home-based learning during, you know, during the height of the pandemic, it makes it more challenging. But I do think the online learning has really been helpful to them so that they didn’t have to take a break from their studies. And like I said, we provide a lot of support to our students.

Our graduate students all have advisors. We check in with our students on a regular basis in each class, et cetera. And we do something, which I’m sure you guys do a lot for work as well, is, you know, we do weekly Zoom meetings with our sessions and our students, and we just try to find ways to connect with them over and above just the class itself. Yeah, I mean, that’s important. Again, mentality has changed quite a bit too as a result of the pandemic.

A lot of pros, a lot of cons. So we have to be cognizant of that and do everything we can to make sure that people are checked in. Right? Exactly. Exactly.

Bay Path program information and wrap up

So you want to make sure that people are getting the support that they need to be successful. All right. So we could talk to you forever. This is important information, education, especially when it comes to people shifting gears, changing their financial situation, getting educated, adding to their degree are all important things and part of a potential strategy. So before we let you go, can you please tell our listeners where they can find information about Bay Path, where they can go if they’re interested in an online degree, and any additional information that you feel would be helpful?

Yes, absolutely. edu, B-A-Y-P-A-T-H dot edu. And you’ll see all the array of programs that we have at both the undergraduate and graduate level. If you’re interested in a graduate degree in nonprofit management and philanthropy or strategic fundraising, it’s very easy to find on our website. And we also have contact information for everyone in terms of who they should connect with if they’re interested in a particular program.

Yeah. One of the things that a lot of people sometimes ask me is, do you really need to get a graduate degree to advance? I will say in our sector, I can’t speak to the for-profit business sector. And the answer is, in most cases, students have told us that if they want to advance their careers and move into management positions, it really helps them to have the degree. So we try to make sure that we help students make decisions.

Because I’ll be honest with you, sometimes I’ll talk to a student, and maybe what they really want is a degree in counseling or a degree in social work. I happen to have it at MSW. I know what that degree is about. So we want to make sure that we talk to students that it’s a good match for them in terms of their career aspirations. Well, we are out of time, unfortunately.

And the information that you’ve given us today is just tremendous. The nonprofit sector needs help, needs great employees for the great work that many of these organizations do. And we appreciate that you’ve dedicated yourself to help stimulate and motivate people to get involved in that sector. Thank you. And it was great talking to both of you.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Same to you. Thanks for joining us, Sylvia. We appreciate it. We’ll be right back with the Cambridge Credit Success Moment.

Cambridge success story email

This is Gordon Oliver with The Cambridge Connection. Bay Path University’s mission is to provide relevant and career-focused education. Bay Path’s graduate degrees in nonprofit management and strategic fundraising provide students with a greater understanding of the nonprofit sector and valuable business knowledge and management skills that will make them an effective leader in a nonprofit organization. Reimagine possibility. edu slash nonprofit programs.

Courses begin in June. Apply today. Welcome back, everyone. This is The Cambridge Connection. Here with my co-pilot, Tina Marie.

Tina Marie, that interview with Sylvia just really shared some great information about how people can try and advance their career, especially if they’re trying to get more income in an area in the nonprofit sector where people have a misconception where those opportunities might not exist. I agree. Much needed information for those individuals. And it was really nice having her and enlightening us in a lot of different ways. It was nice hearing some success stories from Bay Path.

I’ve got something for you, Gordon. I bet you do. This is The Cambridge Credit Success Moment. Give it to us, Tina Marie. So as we all know, I work for Cambridge Credit Counseling.

And recently an email came in, and I just couldn’t wait to share this on the air. So this is an email from an actual client named Selena that Cambridge received at the end of February. And it starts off, hi, Tim. Tim was her counselor’s name. Hi, Tim.

My final payment with Cambridge Credit Counseling just went through, and I am so thrilled to be debt-free. Thank you, in all caps, for helping me make this dream come true. Four years ago, I was in a crisis, and I had nowhere to turn. My sister had helped me out of debt a few years back, and I knew this time I had to handle it on my own. I got myself into this mess, and I had to get myself out.

My debt was mostly a product of going out to restaurants in NYC, traveling, and telling myself that I’ll deal with the credit card issues eventually. Then in early 2018, later, arrived, as I couldn’t even pay the minimums, and I knew that I was at a crisis point. I found Cambridge Credit Counseling online, and I picked you because you’re based in Massachusetts, my hometown, go Sox, and that’s what she wrote, just by the way. And I sent an inquiry email to see if anyone could help. You contacted me and talked me through the program.

85 on the 23rd of the month, and I began to live on real money, no more credit. I thought I was staring down the barrel of four years of no fun, and I accepted that. But the four years were not torture. It was a program I was on, and I had an advisor. I felt like I wasn’t all alone dealing with this.

I had a company helping me through, and I knew exactly how much I had and owed and all of that. Things were clear, calm, planned out, and that brought me a lot of peace. When you introduced the new Cambridge Credit Counseling online dashboard, I checked it regularly to watch the ticket show and the percentage of the debt I had paid down. It felt so good to watch it cruise over the 80 percent area, then 90 percent, and now almost completely done, debt free. Just wanted to send you a thank you note, Tim, and everyone else at Cambridge Credit Counseling.

We made it through four years to me, and this actually feels like a graduation. Thank you so much for helping me get my finances in order. Sincerely, Selena E. We talk about progress, right? A lot of times they use that metaphor that you’re on this treadmill, right?

You feel like you’re just getting nowhere. Like the hamster on the wheel. Exactly. Yes. Absolutely.

You’re getting nowhere because you’re making minimums, and the majority of it’s being eaten by interest. Mm-hmm. It gets harder and harder to run. Just look at the explanation of how Selena felt throughout the time, especially when technology caught up a little bit, there was more resources to see progress. That’s where, when we talk to people and they’re stuck, the worst thing that you could do is seek counseling.

The worst you’re going to do is do a budget, see where you’re at, see what your action plan is or your solutions are, and then make a decision. Whether or not that’s a debt management program or changing your habits or your ways, it’s all about having a plan. You have to commend Selena and people like Selena, who do look at things and take responsibility. This was, unfortunately, irresponsible spending. Admitted.

Admitted. It’s not uncommon. It’s not that uncommon. Not only did she take advantage of this great program, she watched it. Selena was able to be active in her participation within the program.

She was able to monitor all the activity and see the light at the end of the tunnel. That is so rewarding for our consumers these days. I truly enjoy success stories. We know this show is not doom and gloom. We have to bring some things that are negative, but it is all about trying to get to a place like this where we’re seeing in writing from a person how their life has changed.

You know, Gordon, I used to coach soccer and I used to tell my girls when they lost, well, if you never lost, you wouldn’t know how good it felt to win. That’s right. And this is exactly a perfect example. Absolutely. Well, Tina, we’re out of time and before we close up the show, I obviously have been sharing quotes and I want to give you one to leave this show today.

Closing thoughts and show credits

I feel the reason we’re all here, our purpose of being, is to help others find their little piece of happiness in heaven right here on earth. Ken Poirot. I’d like to give a huge thank you to our producers, Leah and Lisa. As you see, we have great experts coming on this show and we have great experts on the horizon. m.

com, click listen live, or you can find us as a podcast where you listen to your favorite shows. And once again, we want you to be part of the conversation. com and if you have some debt troubles and you need to speak to a counselor, feel free to call 1-800-CAMBRIDGE. Hey all, it’s Tina Marie and you might know me as Gordon Oliver’s co-pilot for The Cambridge Connection every Saturday morning. What you might not know is that I’ve known Gordie for a really long time and as a certified credit counselor at Cambridge Credit Counseling for over 20 years, I am thrilled to join Gordie every week to share and chat about real people with real financial problems, along with many success stories both myself and all of the counselors at Cambridge Credit have been a part of.

We know it takes a village of support and inspiration if someone is struggling financially, so it’s nice to know if that person is you, that you’re not alone out there. 30am right here on WHMP for The Cambridge Connection because Gordie and I, we are here to help you have a better relationship with your money and hopefully make you smile. Right Gordie? Couldn’t have said it better myself, Tina Marie.