"Colleges should provide lessons in mandatory financial literacy courses and financial-aid letters that itemize attendance costs, according to a new report from a federal government commission.
The Financial Literacy and Education Commission — a group including the Treasury Department and the Department of Education — said such best practices are especially important now that Americans have become bogged down in $1.5 trillion in student-loan debt." …
Guess what? Requiring colleges to provide financial literacy courses will result in colleges having to charge students more … leading to increased debt. Hey, why doesn’t the federal government develop a mandatory, online financial literacy course that all borrowers must complete before they can borrow a federal loan? There’s a thought!
This should be a class you take Junior Year in HS
My children did take it in HS. Mandatory in OH
if they want the colleges to really provide “lessons”, let the colleges co-sign the loans! Right now, colleges have a vested interest to get as many students enrolled as they can, even if those students have to incur massive debt to do so. Asking them to counsel students about the evils of borrowing is not in the colleges’ best interests; indeed, just the opposite.
DD is taking “Consumer Ed” right now. Most of it is very useful and timely, as a lot of her friends are getting their first jobs and opening checking accounts. However, a fair portion of the material is not yet relevant, and by the time it becomes relevant, the details will probably have been forgotten. I am all for @kelsmom 's suggestion that an online course must be passed before taking a federal loan.