Colleges Teach Students How to Pay for School, Manage Money
Several Texas colleges and universities are rolling out new
classes and programs designed to help their students become more
financially-savvy about everything from student loans to personal
finances, reports Pamela Yip, business columnist for The Dallas
Morning News (“Colleges Spending
More Time Teaching Financial Literacy,” Sept. 1, 2008).
At the University of Texas in Arlington,
students may take a course that covers such topics as life and
casualty insurance, taxes, investments, and estate planning. Southern Methodist University
near Dallas offers a personal finance class for students pursuing a
business minor.
And the University of North Texas, in
Denton, has a Student
Money Management Center that provides free financial
consultations to students. Students can talk to trained
professionals about how to research housing options, how to
establish and manage their credit, and how to graduate with a
financial plan to repay their student loans.
North Texas University Unveils Comprehensive Program for All
Students
The north Texas school also launched the Student-to-Student Financial Success Projects on Sept. 2 that uses a
peer-to-peer model of teaching. Students can meet and discuss money
matters with trained students, known as Money Management Mentors, or
go online and take self-paced training models.
“We feel that some students may learn better from another student
who is actually going through a similar situation, or who has
recently gone through similar circumstances,” says Kimberly
Goldsmith, a student coordinator for the project.
While the program is available to all students, it primarily targets
first-generation college students, families with low to moderate
incomes, and other traditionally under-represented students.
Unlike the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University
which offer such classes only at the college level, the University
of North Texas seeks to assist students with financial literacy
before they enter college. The school’s Center for
Economic Education helps elementary and high school teachers
integrate personal finance concepts into their lesson plans.
“One of the things that we have found is that the population has
very little background in basic economics and personal finance,”
said Steven Cobb, director of the center and chairman of the
economics department. “The earlier that we start teaching economics,
the earlier students begin to understand these concepts and the
better the chance that they will be good consumers.”