Shane Lischin ’26
Contributor

Loomis Chaffee’s Financial Revolution

Finance is a subject that remains shrouded in mystery for many individuals until they venture into the realms of higher education or the professional world. However, at Loomis Chaffee, the tides are changing as the school places a renewed emphasis on financial planning and education. This year, with Director of Financial Literacy Dr. Fisher, the newly created Financial Literacy program is setting off on a mission to change the financial unawareness of teens.
“Right now we’re in a pilot program where students volunteered to participate in it, and in that program, students have various opportunities to earn a currency that we call Pelicoin by learning about important financial literacy topics like taxes, budgeting, investing or any number of different topics,” Dr. Fisher said. Students can then spend these Pelicoin in various ways, such as gift cards, or other prizes.
In the future, Dr. Fisher sees the program remaining optional to students of varying grade levels.
“I want to keep the program optional, but make it enticing enough that everybody wants to do it,” she said. “I’m hoping that by giving everyone a little bit of Pelicoin, they’ll want to engage at some level and see the interesting things that they can buy with it and therefore desire to earn more Pelicoin.”
According to Dr. Fisher, it is also important that financial literacy be woven into the academic curricula.
“I already see the math department integrating it in several of their classes,” she said. “They actually teach people about budgeting and about compound interest…It’s also going to get integrated into the ninth and tenth grade seminars.”
In addition to the Financial Literacy program hosted on the October 2 Pelican Day, the junior class received a talk from Mr. Richard Esposito, Loomis Chaffee’s Chief Financial Officer, in order to further inform them on issues related to financial literacy and the financial state of the school.
“The school continues to focus on and prioritize the important areas that further the school’s mission such as academic and extracurricular programming, student health and wellness, faculty and staff salaries and benefits, financial aid, sustainability, and community, to name a few,” said Mr. Esposito.
“One of the goals of the Board of Trustees has been to focus on affordability,” he added. “As such, Loomis has had the lowest average tuition increase over the last 9 years among 15 of our peer schools.”
Mr. Esposito emphasized Loomis’s commitment to innovative and responsible stewardship.
“A good example of this is the school’s solar array,” he suggested, “a student-led initiative with strong Trustee support that will benefit the school in numerous ways.”
Loomis is nurturing a generation of financially savvy individuals, equipping them to navigate the complexities of the modern financial landscape. By instilling a strong foundation of financial literacy, the school focuses on empowering students to make informed decisions and meaningful contributions to society in their futures—and the future at Loomis Chaffee is optimistic as students embrace the opportunities offered by an enriched financial education.