Congressman Barrow hosts financial literacy program

Building student-loan debt alongside escalating credit-card use during college can cause many students to start their financial futures off on the wrong foot.

U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., held a forum on financial literacy this past Monday at West Campus to inform GCSU students and community members about available opportunities for staying financially responsible in Baldwin County.

“The average consumer has about eight credit cards and owes a balance on unsecured debts alone – that’s lines of credit – more than they owe on the balance of two family-sized cars,” said Mary Ussery, director of education for Consumer Credit Counceling Services of Middle Georgia.

Ussary warned students to read the fine print when they apply for credit cards and not fall for the “teaser rate” gimmick, a note in the fine print that the little-to-no interest clause is only for the first few months of spending on the card.

Lacking from the speeches was information for soon-to-be graduates who are thinking about the next stage of their lives, financially.

“I’m graduating in May and I need more info on the big stuff, like a house and a car,” said Patty Maguire, an English and political science major.

Barrow compiled a general guide to staying out of debt to hand out at the forum. The basic guide is also located on Barrow’s Web site, www.careprogram.us/how-care-helps.

While the guide skims over smart budgeting and creditcard usage, students may be most interested in the section on how to most effectively handle student loans.

The guide offers tips such as work-study programs, calculating a budget and sticking to it, and starting to pay interest on any loans while still in school to help save money while still a registered student.

Many of the bullet points covered in the speech were useful for incoming college students. Taking advanced placement classes in high school, moving to a state a year before attending college there to meet the criteria for in-state tuition and living with family when possible will help save money.

Century Bank’s Nancy Buchanan offered a budget list for students who are either just starting college, or who are now finding that their finances are in trouble.

“It’s the same budget that I gave my kids when I they went off to school,” Buchanan said.

Representatives from the GCSU Financial Aid Office, MidSouth Federal Credit Union, Edward Jones and Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Middle Georgia came to the meeting to give their spiel on how their particular institution could help solve individual financial problems.

“We have basically, for decades now, lived in a society where we want it all now, but we want to pay for it at a later date,” Ussary said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 6 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry