Papers flying everywhere, sounds of fingers striking numbers into calculators frantically and scribbles on anything writable, constant sighs, irritated mutters and stressed words of profanity fill the air as several thousands or perhaps millions of young adults try to figure out their financial budget and everything money related before payments and taxes are due. As Tara Siegel Bernard presents the issue in her New York Times article, “Working Financial Literacy in With the Three R’s”, “Most Americans aren’t fluent in the language of money. Yet we’re expected to make big financial decisions as early as our teens even though most of us receive no formal instruction on financial matters until it was too late”. It is controversial whether or …show more content…
Students in high school are faced with a major life-defining choice; college. One factor in choosing which college to go to is money. Taking out a student loan and creating a debt is something that will affect the student in their future as an adult. Some students also choose to buy cars. Afterward, they must wisely fill up on gas to avoid wasting money. These are two major choices a high schooler must prepare and make during their time as a high schooler or immediately following their leap to adulthood. Overall, high school students, especially seniors need to know the importance of personal finance as it is something that will affect them quickly after high school. The New York Times article by Richard Thaler, titled “Financial Literacy, Beyond the Classroom”, explores the importance of teaching students these ideas in high school. Within the professors Thaler interviews from business schools, Professor John G. Lynch Jr from the University of Colorado highlights the importance of just-in-time education, “Because learning decays quickly, it’s best to provide assistance just before a decision is made”. He adds on to his comment by providing the example of helping seniors in high school understand everything they need to consider before making or not making a loan for college. Understanding how loans are treated and how interest affects them, students will use their knowledge into good use as they see their new learning reflect on them in the near future. At the same time, being educated too late does not benefit the student. This is the problem proposed by Bernard in source 1, “We’re expected to make big financial decisions as early as our teens even though most of us received no formal instruction on financial matters until it
Many people would agree that our country’s young adults have and continue to incur a lifetime of debt by enrolling in college. It’s become an almost acceptable understanding that if you plan to attend college, you might as well expect to graduate with an enormous amount of debt. Robin Wilson, a reporter for the “Chronicle of Higher Education,” and author of “A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely” suggests student loans are very real and can be life altering.
Most people today accept the debt that comes from college. Students consider student loan debt as a “good debt.” They see other students make this mistake but follow their path anyway. Nearly 80% of college-bound students have not projected the total amount of money they will need to graduate college.
Public education could have done a better job promoting what happens at 17 or 18 when graduating. We were briefly advised to go to college or go into the workforce to become employees. As students, we had been told college makes you more money, and that we were all encouraged to apply. I doubted the majority of students took the responsibility to look at costs of college, tuition, and housing and understand the loans and how long it would take to pay them off. It felt that we hadn’t been taught the value of money, only that we needed to make a lot of it. I had been fortunate for working in a bank my high school years that I had understood more than others about loans, rates, mortgages, and credit cards. The financial aspect of life after high school was rarely brought
It is a norm and expectation in society today for students to pursue higher education after graduating from high school. College tuition is on the rise, and a lot of students have difficulty paying for their tuitions. To pay for their tuitions, most students have to take out loans and at the end of four years, those students end up in debt. Student loan debts are at an all time high with so many people graduating from college, and having difficulties finding jobs in their career fields, so they have difficulties paying off their student loans and, they also don’t have a full understanding of the term of the loans and their options if they are unable to repay.
Children of the twenty first century spend nearly 13 years in school, preparing for what is college, one of the only ways to achieve the so-called “American Dream”. College is the best way to start an advanced career and go further than one possibly could if college degrees were not available, allowing people to achieve their view of the American Dream; whether it be large houses, shiny cars, multiple kids, or financial comfort, college is the stepping stone to achieve the American Dream. But all great things come with a price, college dragging along debt. Students who attend college struggle to find ways to pay for it, leading to applying for student loans. These loans a great short term, paying for the schooling at the moment but eventually the money adds up
Although a college education grows more and more expensive every year. People begin to question whether college is a good idea to invest in or not. “As college costs continue to rise, students and their families are looking more carefully at what they are getting for their money. Increasingly, they are finding that the college experience falls short of their expectations”(Cooper. H Mary). Many people believe that the cost of a college degree has outstripped the value of a degree.Studies show that a college degree will increase your earning power. A lot of people say that a college degree now is worth what a high school diploma was wor...
Over the past decade, it has become evident to the students of the United States that in order to attain a well paying job they must seek a higher education. The higher education, usually a college or university, is practically required in order to succeed. To be able to attend these schools and receive a degree in a specific field it means money, and often a lot of it. For students, the need for a degree is strong, but the cost of going to college may stand in the way of a successful future. Each year the expense of college rises, resulting in the need for students to take out loans. Many students expect to immediately get a job after graduation, however, in more recent years the chances for college graduates to get a well paying job isn’t nearly as high as it used to be. Because students can no longer depend on getting a job fresh out of college, it has become harder to repay the loans. Without a steady income, these individuals have gone into debt and frequently default loans. If nothing is done to stop colleges and universities from increasing the cost of attending their school, the amount of time it takes for students to pay off their loans will become longer and longer. The extreme expenses to attend a college or university may leave a student in financial distress: which may ultimately lead to hardship in creating a living for them and affect the country’s economy.
Through my research I hope to explore the consequences of education debt on college graduates’ lives, including career choices, consumption pattern and lifestyle choices. Meanwhile, I want to discuss some feasible alternatives to minimize student loan debt. My intended audience will be the American college students and their families. The other audience I want to reach is those education policymakers. The contribution of this research will be to help students better understanding the consequences of indebtedness and making informed and careful decisions on paying for college. Also, it will raise the awareness of education policymakers, prompting them to improve our existing student loan policy. As a college student, how to finance a higher education is closely related to my personal life. Through the research I hope that I can acquire enough information on the pros and cons of student loan, and other options to minimize the student loan debt, so that I can make careful decision on financing my college education.
We have all heard the saying: “You need to get your priorities straight”. College presents one with an opportune time to get their priorities straight. Students who pay for their own college tend to put school at the top of their list of priorities. On the contrary, those students who do not pay for their college tend to participate in more leisure activities rather than focusing on their education. Financing their own education helps students understand how to prioritize and maintain a constant focus on their
Making improvements on our financial literacy results in a wave of impacts on our economy and the financial health in our society because of responisble behiavior with our finances. These modifications to our behavior are neccesary because it let's us address primary cultural problems, for example over-credits on your purchases, mortgages possibly resulting in debt, dealing with expectations on inflation and also planning on your retirement.
Parents may not feel comfortable enough with their own financial situation to discuss personal finance with their children (Williams, 2009). Additionally, the parents, or other influencers, may not have a full grasp of certain concepts of financial literacy. In an article by Carlin and Robinson (2010) it was noted that “many retirement-age adults lack the financial literacy to understand the basic features of their retirement plans.” Financial literacy through socialization and practice may not be enough for students; whether it be “disadvantaged” youths who often lack a high quality of life at home, or youths whose parents have stable jobs with retirement
Some schools have little money and few teachers and Matthew Yale said, “[T]he Department of Education’s next step is to work with districts and teachers and help them find the money they need” (Bernard 6). It will take parents to start this movement (Bernard 7) because parents have to be willing to give up more money so that their children know what to do with their money. Financial literacy courses can potentially make students overconfident about their skills and make them do even worse (Burns 8). Harvard Business School performed a study where it was concluded that financial literacy courses “weren’t effective in changing people’s financial decisions” (Burns 10). Thaler stated “A new paper by three business school professors … uses a technique called meta-analysis looking at results from 168 scientific studies of effects to teach people to be financially astute, or at least less clueless. The authors’ conclusions are clear: over all, financial education is laudable, but not particularly helpful” (13). The shows that financial literacy courses are good but they are not helping the youth as of now, so the right combination has not been found to teach the youth how to control their
Students should be required to take a personal finance in high school to further there education with financial skills.Many students could benefit from the class if they pay attention.Annamaria Lusardia There are 34 states that include personal finance within there curriculum upsaid“we need to teach the basics of economics and finances so people can make financial decisions in a changing world.” There is only 13 states that require students to take a personal finance course or include the subject in a economics course
Perhaps it was my father who first inspired my thirst for knowledge. A sharecropper in a small Alabama town, he never ceased to emphasize the value of a good education to his eleven children. Unfortunately, I was his only child to graduate from high school. I enrolled in a small local college and pursued my education in the field of Finance. Affer two years, it became apparent that my family's budget could no longer support my education. My thirst, however, lingered on.