2008 Woodie Awards
Workshop Educates about Credit Card Debt
Money Managment
David Grobauskas
Issue date: 8/31/07 Section: College News
- Page 1 of 1
With credit cards offers arriving regularly in the mail, and, sometimes, the desire for things you don't have money to pay for, college students can get into financial trouble. Tracy Early tries to help.
"My goal is to give students some empowering information to kind of build their financial IQ," Early said. "So that they know, when they leave here, some of things they need to focus on."
Early is a contract speaker for "Making It Count," a program presented by Monster.com. He presented Tuesday night "Ultimate Money Skills: Scholars, Dollars, Budgets and Bills," a program done in conjunction with Bank of America by Monster.com. "Making It Count" worked through the Student Organization for Alumni Relations (SOAR), and the Alumni Relations office. The Indiana University Alumni Association also provides its credit cards through Bank of America.
"Ultimate Money Skills" is off the beaten path for SOAR. Usually the organization puts on member exclusive events designed to allow members to network with alumni, or provides service work for the university as the official IUPUI student ambassadors, said SOAR president Natalie Clayton. "Ultimate Money Skills was free to the public.
Only five attended the event, but Early didn't let the turnout dampen his enthusiasm.
"I'm not gonna sit on anyone's lap," he said. "But it'll be intimate."
Early stressed the importance of saving by pointing out a $4, four times a week Starbucks habit, if put into an Individual Retirement Account, could return $100,000 by retirement.
"It's not really how much you save, but when you begin saving," Early said.
Early ran into a problem when he discovered the wrong workbooks had been sent to accompany the presentation.
"This is really throwing me off, but we're gonna make it work," he said.
Audience reaction seemed to indicate it did.
Kuchtar Shanshidov, 20, an exchange student in the United States for only two months said he attended the event to find out more about credit cards. "The presentation was pretty good for me," Shanshidov said.
"It was good information for beginning college students," said Tracie Hughes, 38.
Hughes is the Assistant Director for Student Employment at the IUPUI career center. She attended the event out of personal and professional interest.
"One of the big issues that our students face is that they work too much, typically, and one of the reasons that they do is to pay credit card bills," Hughes said. "And, to live a lifestyle that, maybe, could be more frugal."
Nellie Mae, a subsidiary of Salle Mae, the college loan provider, reported in 2004 76% of college undergraduates had credit cards at the beginning of the year $2,169 was the average outstanding balance. Nellie Mae notes that was the lowest average balance reported since 1998.
In 2006 Nellie Mae reported 92% of graduate students had "at least one credit card," with an average outstanding balance of $8,612. Older graduate students carry more debt. Those in the 30 to 59-age range had $12,593 in credit card debt while 22 to 29 had $6,479.
Some of Early's financial warnings and tips:
• Buying a $68 pair of jeans on a credit card with 22.8 % interest and paying the minimum payment on the card each month will eventually put the jeans total cost at $113.26.
• Poor credit management can affect your credit score, affecting, among other things, what kind of loans you can get, and what interest rate.
"Having a bad credit score is like having a low GPA," Early said.
Early recommended working toward a weekly, and, eventually, annual spending diary so you know how much you're spending on what.
Early's final subject was identity theft. He told students to never give out their Social Security number unless absolutely necessary, and be wary of how much other personal information they give. Three million victims of identity theft are in the 18 to 29-age range, Early said.
"It was really concise," said Rebecca Platt, 17, a high school student taking some classes at IUPUI. "I liked the way that it summarized all the things my parents have been trying to tell me. So I actually got it all in one hour."
More about "Making It Count" can be found at
MakingITCount.com
"My goal is to give students some empowering information to kind of build their financial IQ," Early said. "So that they know, when they leave here, some of things they need to focus on."
Early is a contract speaker for "Making It Count," a program presented by Monster.com. He presented Tuesday night "Ultimate Money Skills: Scholars, Dollars, Budgets and Bills," a program done in conjunction with Bank of America by Monster.com. "Making It Count" worked through the Student Organization for Alumni Relations (SOAR), and the Alumni Relations office. The Indiana University Alumni Association also provides its credit cards through Bank of America.
"Ultimate Money Skills" is off the beaten path for SOAR. Usually the organization puts on member exclusive events designed to allow members to network with alumni, or provides service work for the university as the official IUPUI student ambassadors, said SOAR president Natalie Clayton. "Ultimate Money Skills was free to the public.
Only five attended the event, but Early didn't let the turnout dampen his enthusiasm.
"I'm not gonna sit on anyone's lap," he said. "But it'll be intimate."
Early stressed the importance of saving by pointing out a $4, four times a week Starbucks habit, if put into an Individual Retirement Account, could return $100,000 by retirement.
"It's not really how much you save, but when you begin saving," Early said.
Early ran into a problem when he discovered the wrong workbooks had been sent to accompany the presentation.
"This is really throwing me off, but we're gonna make it work," he said.
Audience reaction seemed to indicate it did.
Kuchtar Shanshidov, 20, an exchange student in the United States for only two months said he attended the event to find out more about credit cards. "The presentation was pretty good for me," Shanshidov said.
"It was good information for beginning college students," said Tracie Hughes, 38.
Hughes is the Assistant Director for Student Employment at the IUPUI career center. She attended the event out of personal and professional interest.
"One of the big issues that our students face is that they work too much, typically, and one of the reasons that they do is to pay credit card bills," Hughes said. "And, to live a lifestyle that, maybe, could be more frugal."
Nellie Mae, a subsidiary of Salle Mae, the college loan provider, reported in 2004 76% of college undergraduates had credit cards at the beginning of the year $2,169 was the average outstanding balance. Nellie Mae notes that was the lowest average balance reported since 1998.
In 2006 Nellie Mae reported 92% of graduate students had "at least one credit card," with an average outstanding balance of $8,612. Older graduate students carry more debt. Those in the 30 to 59-age range had $12,593 in credit card debt while 22 to 29 had $6,479.
Some of Early's financial warnings and tips:
• Buying a $68 pair of jeans on a credit card with 22.8 % interest and paying the minimum payment on the card each month will eventually put the jeans total cost at $113.26.
• Poor credit management can affect your credit score, affecting, among other things, what kind of loans you can get, and what interest rate.
"Having a bad credit score is like having a low GPA," Early said.
Early recommended working toward a weekly, and, eventually, annual spending diary so you know how much you're spending on what.
Early's final subject was identity theft. He told students to never give out their Social Security number unless absolutely necessary, and be wary of how much other personal information they give. Three million victims of identity theft are in the 18 to 29-age range, Early said.
"It was really concise," said Rebecca Platt, 17, a high school student taking some classes at IUPUI. "I liked the way that it summarized all the things my parents have been trying to tell me. So I actually got it all in one hour."
More about "Making It Count" can be found at
MakingITCount.com
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