Utah State University - Family Life Center - Hfc in Logan, UT

Utah State University's Housing and Financial Counseling (HFC) center operates under the Sorenson Legacy Foundation Center for Clinical Excellence within the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. The program follows a national counseling and educational model approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, positioning it as a legitimate, accredited resource rather than a commercial enterprise. HFC explicitly focuses on empowerment through education and promoting individual dignity, which distinguishes it from for-profit financial services.

The center provides both group workshops and one-on-one counseling sessions covering mortgage default, loss mitigation, reverse mortgages, rental counseling, budgeting, credit management, debt reduction, risk management, and savings strategies. Two primary workshops are offered: the Home Buyer Education Workshop (free, 8-hour sessions covering budgeting, credit, mortgage products, closing costs, and borrower obligations with rotating professional presenters including realtors and mortgage lenders) and the Clearing Financial Hurdles Workshop (two-hour interactive sessions at $15 early registration or $30 at the door). Individual sessions for money management counseling cost $15 per session, while reverse mortgage counseling sessions are $150. Both workshops and counseling are specifically available to Cache, Box Elder, and Rich county residents in Utah and Southern Idaho.

What distinguishes HFC is its university affiliation, HUD approval status, and explicitly non-profit mission focused on dignity and empowerment rather than profit extraction. The center maintains extended hours (8:30 am–8:30 pm Monday-Thursday, 8:30 am–4:30 pm Friday) and offers certificates of completion from the Home Buyer Education Workshop that may qualify participants for first-time homebuyer financial assistance programs. The program design reflects best practices in housing counseling by combining educational workshops with personalized counseling.

The primary limitation is geographic restriction—services are only available to residents of Cache, Box Elder, and Rich counties, making this unavailable to most of Utah and completely inaccessible to Southern Idaho residents outside the service area. While workshops are affordable, the one-on-one counseling fees ($15-$150 per session) may present barriers for the lowest-income households. Additionally, reverse mortgage counseling at $150 per session is notably higher than the money management counseling rate, potentially limiting access for seniors on fixed incomes despite this being a vulnerable population for high-cost lending.