Finney received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in Women's Studies and Politics. As a student at Rutgers, she was a member of the Rutgers College Student Government, Rutgers College Honors Program, The USA Today All Academic team, and a James Dickson Carr Scholar. She was also voted by her graduating class to receive the class of 1998 Alumni Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Community Service. During her junior year, Finney was a Washington Center Washington Fellow and interned at the White House as well as with the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN).