Technology giant Robinhood’s financial education initiative, Money Drills, has grown its academic reach this fall, launching at four new universities and expanding its presence to 15 campuses nationwide.
The program — open to all students and designed with athletes in mind — has added the University of Delaware, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania State University, and Stanford University to its roster.
The expansion marks the next step in Robinhood’s mission to help college students, especially athletes, gain practical financial skills that can last beyond graduation.
Money Drills courses, offer graduation credit, teach students the fundamentals of budgeting, saving, investing, credit management and navigating NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) income with guidance from university professors.
Among the highlights of this year’s Robinhood Money Drills Summit was the participation of former NFL quarterback, four-time Super Bowl champion Joe Montana and a lineup of retired athletes now working to champion financial literacy, including Maryland native Brandon Copeland and Montgomery County, Md. native Jelani Jenkins. The program also included opening remarks by U.S. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03) and virtual remarks from U.S. Congresswoman Young Kim (CA-40).
“My job is not only to help identify the right schools, but also to get the schools excited, get the students excited,” Copeland told our Kelsey Nicole Nelson, producer, reporter and host of Listen With KNN here on Fox Sports Radio, during an interview at the 2025 Money Drills Summit. “A lot of the time, people are afraid to talk about money, which is a part of the issue and the problem.”
Nelson was among the group of invited D.C. media and professors present at the event.
Copeland, a former NFL linebacker who played ten seasons with six different teams, now leads workshops as part of the Money Drills experience.
“The beautiful thing about Money Drills, for one, is that it’s an open door for anyone to be able to walk into, whether you’re an athlete or not,” Copeland said. “For two, a lot of the professors and Robinhood are making this a conversation. The Money Drills program is more of a tool or a resource program to educate you on how to own your finances, how to own your career and how to own your trajectory.”
Copeland knows firsthand how quickly a career can change. After bouncing between six NFL teams over ten seasons, he said financial uncertainty pushed him to take control of his own future — a lesson he now passes on to student-athletes.
“I got financially literate early on during my career,” Copeland said. “I played for ten years, six different teams, which means for me, I got fired a lot. But ultimately that taught me very quickly, ‘hey I cannot depend on the NFL to feed me.’”
For former NFL linebacker and DMV native Jelani Jenkins, who played from 2013 to 2018, the lessons behind Money Drills hit close to home.
“I didn’t grow up with a lot of financial talk, I kind of had to learn it on the fly,” Jenkins said. “But, for me I got more confident in this space, around 2018, when I was getting into my retirement phase. I started taking it more seriously and asking a lot more questions so that I felt empowered and would no longer have to let those in my circle do all of those things for me.”
Jenkins is part of the Pro Athlete Community (PAC), which has teamed up with Robinhood to extend Money Drills-style education to professional athletes through courses offered at the University of Miami.
“As a former athlete, who has been in that world of making money fast and having a lot of individuals coming to talk to me on how to protect my money and protect my finances. Money Drills definitely feels like something I am passionate about, especially with this new world that a lot of the younger athletes are stepping into,” Jenkins said.
For veteran athletes, the message resonates deeply. Todd Rucci — a former New England Patriots lineman who battled in Super Bowl XXXI — knows how quickly success can come and how crucial it is to be prepared off the field.
“There’s an immediacy with having access to financial literacy; it’s impacting young athletes right now,” NFL veteran Todd Rucci said. “Robinhood cares and they are willing to support the growth of financial literacy, so it’s exciting to be a part of that movement.”
With NIL deals and new revenue-sharing models reshaping college sports, the timing of Robinhood’s financial literacy push is critical.
Robinhood’s partnership with organizations like Stanford University Athletics and collaboration with PAC signal its growing investment in helping both college and professional athletes secure their financial futures. For Robinhood, Money Drills isn’t just about the numbers; it’s about changing the culture around money, one campus at a time.
