Norwich Students Participated in 2023 International Free Money Day

Each year on September 15th, people head out into their communities to celebrate Free Money Day by giving away two notes or coins at a time, asking recipients to pass one on. Norwich University students participated in Free Money Day for the second year. 

Handing out free money provides an opportunity for students to consider their own relationship with money and uncovers “hidden” forms of economic activity, such as sharing and gifting, showing that a more generous world is possible.

“We participate in economic activities every day, but rarely do we consider our acts of sharing and gifting ‘economic’” says economics professor, Jacki Strenio. “I want to give my students a chance to become more comfortable discussing economic ideas with their peers, while also allowing them to experience the feeling of giving money away.”

Free Money Day also allows students to engage with their peers, expand their comfort with gifting and receiving, and ultimately spark conversations about the role of money in society, ways they already participate in the sharing economy, and even broader considerations like what type of economic changes they’d like to see in their community. 

Students in Professors Duouguih’s and Strenio’s Principles of Microeconomics classes reported that the event went pretty smoothly and that it felt good to give money away. Students mentioned that Free Money Day sparked a lot of discussion because it’s uncommon to find people giving money away. While students reported that some people didn’t want to take the money, or didn’t think it was “legit”, they said that most people were happy and thankful to receive money, and continue to pass it on.

* * *

Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu

Media contact:

Marcus Popiolek
VP Marketing and Communications +
AVP Enrollment Services, College of Graduate and Continuing Studies
mpopiole@norwich.edu 
Follow us on Twitter @norwichnews