By Thomas Bright, Marketing and Web Content Writer, ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions.

Today, our nation’s students are faced with an increasing number of financial decisions and are given a decreasing margin for error. Without access to the right kind of information, these students may run into very serious financial problems. As the adults in the room, the parents and educators, we are left to find a solution. An education-based solution, one that teaches financial literacy as an experience and prepares students for all the firsts they will encounter, could be the answer we have been looking for. Read more…

POSTED: April 25, 2013 | BY: Leslie Rasimas | TAGS: Debt, Financial Aid, Financial Literacy, financial literacy month, loans, personal finance, Student Loans, Students

By Christian Ackmann, Economics concentrator at Brown University; Winner of the 2012 National Personal Finance Challenge.

You would be surprised to know the number of college students who don’t know how build their credit history, view their account balances, or even write a check.  College is usually the first time that students acquire independence, yet some students remain dependent on their parents’ financial support and advice.  Proper financial education in high school is necessary to gain financial independence in college.  During my first year of college, I have seen many financial mistakes made by my fellow students.  Here are some of the things I believe every college student should know about personal finance to make intelligent financial decisions.

1.  Credit
When I asked my fellow classmates which financial topics they wished they knew more about, the unanimous answer was credit.  For many college students, credit cards are a thing of mystery.  They are magical pieces of plastic that somehow pay for pizza and gasoline using money from their parents.  The first step to establishing a solid credit history is understanding how credit works.  Once students understand the importance of credit, it can be very helpful to have a credit card in the student’s name (not the parent’s name) to encourage responsibility.  Paying the credit card bill in full each month is an easy way to build a good credit history, not to mention the perks that many cards offer, such as cash back or air miles (which are especially applicable to college students living away from home). Read more…

POSTED: April 20, 2013 | BY: Leslie Rasimas | TAGS: College, credit, Credit Cards, currency exchange, Financial Aid, Financial Literacy, financial literacy month, online banking, parents, personal finance, Saving, Student Loans, Students, taxes

By Meg Favreau, Senior Editor of personal finance blog Wise Bread.

Money is like a cake. When you get that delicious dessert, it can be tempting to eat it all at once. But if you do, you’ll end up with a stomachache, that sugarcoated feeling on your teeth, and perhaps most importantly – no cake for later.

Similarly, if you spend all of your money, you’ll probably end up regretting your splurges – and wishing you had some funds sitting in the bank.

Often, savings strategies are obvious – you set a big piece of cake aside, and it’s there waiting for you. But sometimes, it’s the little things that make that cake disappear. I’m reminded of the time my childhood friend Mike held a cake on his lap while we were driving home. He took fingerful after fingerful of frosting – and when we got home, Mike discovered that he had completely defrosted the cake without realizing it. Read more…

POSTED: February 26, 2013 | BY: Leslie Rasimas | TAGS: America Saves Week, Budget, Credit Cards, personal finance, Saving, Student Loans

James B. O’Neill, director of the University of Delaware’s Center for Economic Education & Entrepreneurship, shared his views on the importance of financial literacy and how we can avoid the ‘personal cliff.’

In his piece for Delaware Online, O’Neill says that many adults “are faced with credit issues starting with simple goods and services and moving to the larger purchases of automobiles and homes.” Read more…

POSTED: February 4, 2013 | BY: Leslie Rasimas | TAGS: 9-12, Councils & Centers, Financial Literacy, personal finance, school program, Student Loans, Students

Diane Ravitch, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst and a research professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She also writes an education blog that is widely read, and sometime closely scrutinized, but the industry.

Today, her blog featured a guest post by Brian Page, award-winning educator, who demonstrates the same passion and drive for education as Ravitch does.

From Page’s post, “I want our children first introduced to complicated financial concepts and contracts by teachers who love them and who are trying to help them, not by someone trying to trick them. Relying on the school of hard knocks should not be an option anymore. It is time a step is added in the ladder to empower future generations to make wise and informed financial choices. Personal Finance should be integrated into every child’s K-12 educational experience, and a course in Personal Finance should be a semester-long high school graduation requirement.”

We couldn’t agree more. Read the full post here, and see what Ravitch has to say on her blog here.

POSTED: January 16, 2013 | BY: Leslie Rasimas | TAGS: Credit Cards, Debt, Financial Aid, Financial Literacy, Lessons, personal finance, Student Loans, Students, teachers

CEE’s Survey of the States was once again utilized as the backbone of support for economic and financial education in our nation’s schools.

In last week’s USA TODAY, Sabina Bharwani and Carrie Sheffield encourage K-12 education in economics and personal finance to prevent the ever-climbing student debt from reaching uncontrollable proportions.

“Teaching personal finance, economics and business in schools is a fundamental task in our hypercompetitive world, yet too few of our schools are on board. In 2011, just 22 states required a high school course in economics and just 14 states required the offering of a course in personal finance, according to research from the Council for Economic Education (CEE). These classes offer a solid foundation for studying our ever-globalizing world and guidance on dealing with tempting credit card offers hitting students’ mail boxes at age 18.”

Read their full column here.

POSTED: January 14, 2013 | BY: Leslie Rasimas | TAGS: economics, Federal Reserve, personal finance, Standards, Student Loans, Survey of the States