Students simply aren’t given enough resources for financial responsibility in college.
FICO score. 401K. For some college students, these words are just terms used to describe their future financial situations. For others, they’re a bunch of gibberish. After graduating college, these terms will become everyday lingo, so why aren’t more students more aware of what these terms mean prior to being thrown into the “real world?”
The answer is simple: these terms aren’t being taught to college students. Some students don’t know how important the terms are until they’re head over heels with crippling debt and bills. It isn’t their fault; they’re simply unprepared. Most majors don’t require students to take classes that introduce them to the basics of finance. Unless students are studying something like business or accounting, it isn’t even a commonly recommended course.
There is an unrealistic amount of responsibility put on college students. They’re expected to understand what is happening with their student loans and what they will do to pay them off soon. Upon graduation, students are expected to quickly find a job and build their lives to later become parents and have mortgages. For many of these students, it’s a hard hit when these expectations becomes a reality.
Some say these subjects should be taught earlier on, such as in high school. Though it does make sense to introduce people to the ideas early on, these ideas aren’t really pertinent until college. This is the point in people’s lives where the pressure hits and the race to adulthood begins, considering a lot of students graduate in debt.
According to LendEDU, approximately 40 percent of students graduating from the University will be in debt and will owe an average of $24,509. A fraction of this would be would be paid monthly for however long it takes the individual to be debt free. However, without the proper guidance, many won’t understand the importance of paying these amounts, leading to high interest rates and an even deeper pool of debt.
Many schools just like our University offer services like the Cale P. & Katherine Smith Student Financial Management Center. However, it’s pointless to have these services if students are unaware of the resource. It is not a service commonly known on campus, therefore it isn’t helping many at all. The only way something like this would be productive is if they advertised it as openly as they do Middleton Library or the Student Union dining options.
If colleges would simply require students to take financial courses, there would be a significant increase in financial awareness and a decrease in financial ignorance. In the end, it’s up to the universities to implement such ideas.
Chantelle Baker is a 20-year-old communication studies senior from Waipahu, Hawaii.
Editor’s note: The column originally identified the Cale P. & Katherine Smith Student Financial Management Center as just the Student Financial Management Center.