Teaching teens to manage their finances
Archived article from Dec 7, 2001
By Pam Orel
Teens, even those still in high school, now find it easy to get credit. This is not always good news. "While a wise use of credit cards by young borrowers can create the foundation for a positive credit history," said Brian Rose, director of compliance and student policy concerns, "some students lack the skills needed to use credit cards responsibly and find themselves with more debt than they can handle."
To help young adults achieve financial independence -- and avoid common pitfalls along the way -- Rutgers has developed two new programs.
Rose heads a team that organized RU-FIT (Rutgers Financial Independence Training), a program that brings workshops on personal money management to students in their dorms. Presented through a partnership with the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, the financial workshops are taught by trained financial planners and are geared to small groups of students. Up to 20 workshops are envisioned in the plan, and a Web site is being constructed for students as well.
The RU-FIT initiative grew out of a University Senate report that looked at the proliferation of credit-card vendors on campus and recommended that Rutgers offer workshops for students in managing personal finance.
Another Rutgers program is geared primarily at high school students. Noting that financial education should go beyond dire warnings about debt mismanagement, Barbara O'Neill, interim extension specialist in family resource management and a member of the RU-FIT team, developed a CD-ROM for high school teachers that focuses on credit scams. "Predatory Lending Practices and Credit Rip-Offs," released this fall, gives information on frauds targeting people with modest incomes or limited financial experience.
Funded by a grant from the JPMorgan-Chase Foundation, the presentations explain predatory lending, identity theft, pawnshop loans, rent-to-own and credit-repair scams.
"Predatory lenders target people who may not be able to repay and often charge inflated interest rates and fees," said O'Neill, a family and consumer sciences educator with Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Sussex County. There is no charge for the CD-ROM; under the terms of the grant, preference is given to educators working in northeastern New Jersey counties.
O'Neill and Rita Wood, who is a family and consumer sciences educator with Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Burlington County, also serve as New Jersey representatives to the National Endowment for Financial Education's High School Financial Planning Program, a money management curriculum for high school students.
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