Meet the NFL player and Penn professor teaching the basics when it comes to finance

Students often wish their schools offered courses that prepared them for aspects of adult life like paying taxes, saving for retirement, and investing.

NFL linebacker and Penn alumnus Brandon Copeland’s course at his alma mater, Life 101, does just this with a curriculum centered on empowering and teaching students to become financially literate.

The class, formally titled “Urban Financial Literacy: Pedagogy and Practice,” is co-taught by Brian Peterson, the director of Penn’s Makuu: The Black Cultural Center.

Copeland helped Penn capture three Ivy League titles and made first-team All-Ivy from 2010-12. Copeland, 31, has played for five teams throughout his nine-year NFL career. After playing in 16 games with the Atlanta Falcons in 2021, Copeland appeared in three games with the Baltimore Ravens this season and was released in October.

Copeland knew who Peterson was as an undergraduate, but they did not officially meet until Copeland’s five-year college reunion in 2018. With the initial plans for the course already in mind, Copeland approached Peterson hoping to pick his brain and understand what Penn administration looked for in a course proposal.

The next day, Copeland and Peterson jointly crafted a 12-page Google document. The two designed the course to emphasize self-development and include exercises designed to build self-confidence.

The essence of Life 101 is equipping students with the knowledge and tools needed to make prudent financial decisions when purchasing a house, taking out a loan, paying taxes, and retiring.

“One thing that I really respect [in Brandon] is his presence in the class,” Peterson said. “He really wanted to be hands-on, in design, in lecture, and inviting people that he had access to to become speakers.”

The final exam consists of teaching a high schooler who is brought to Penn’s campus for a tour and lesson from the course’s students.

“Even though the class was probably between 50 and a 100 people, he got to know most everyone’s name,” said Emmanuel Dodson, a senior who took the course during the pandemic. “He was super personable and made class fun and immediately relevant to our own lives. I felt like financial stability wasn’t unachievable.”

Life 101 also has been transformed into an online format, and the course has more than 60,000 students enrolled across the country.

“When you’re talking about money, delivery is everything,” Copeland said. “Having real and in-depth conversations about money can be either inviting and personable and encouraging to you or something that is demeaning and detrimental to your financial journey.”

Added Peterson: “His life lessons — he weaves those into the class, so it really makes it a relatable experience for the students, and we do get a lot of student-athletes. He’s someone who has sat in the same classroom as them and is now giving time to make sure that they know how to manage their money.”

Copeland has a variety of other pursuits off the field as well. In 2018, he co-founded Beyond the Basics, which seeks to help children realize their full potential. Copeland also is a recipient of the Alan Page Community Service Award in 2020 when he played for the New York Jets and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for sports in 2021 while he was a member of the New England Patriots.

Copeland recently said he has become fascinated with the idea of creating a community from the ground up. With his latest project in the works, he hopes that he and his partners can help set a new standard for how people feel in their own communities.