January 05, 2009
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News: Should CC Industry Leave Students A Loan?
This is a balanced question and requires a balanced answer. Detractors will say that the credit card industry is preying on our college crowd. Proponents will counter with the benefits of preparing our students for ‘life after college'. The real world is just around the corner for most of them. We don't wish our graduating students to be crushed in financial straights when they leave the starting gate of adult life but neither do we wish them to be as shocked as a deer staring into the headlights. In these next few years, credit card education will remain the key focus as Americans struggle just to find any job at all. Most of our college graduates will begin their professional lives by starting out with no good job waiting for them. That means no income, either. The immediate problem becomes one of liquidity. For most adults in our nation, credit cards will play a key roll in providing this liquidity. Many college students will be thrust into this arena shortly after graduation.
So all the hoopla about how the credit card industry is ‘luring our students in', though true, leaves a one-sided connotation. Marketing will always be the theme, be it; ‘Which college?', Which job?', ‘Which career?", etc. We've learned the wisdom of providing excellent counseling in each of these areas. What's missing here is the badly-neglected wisdom of ‘means-full living'. Nothing could be more evident than the fact that the new generations have become ignorant on the importance of living within one's means and responsible handling of credit cards.
Students today are very vulnerable, with our shattered economy. Student loans shrinking, grants more illusive and tuitions skyrocketing are just the beginning. To think, if only financial counseling had been made mandatory years ago, our nation would have been immune from the deplorable conditions we'll be seeing over the next six months. Credit card counseling has become essential in today's society and most Americans forego serious formal education after leaving college. This is the ‘last hurrah' for a captive educat-able segment. We are foolish to send our youth out as adults without financial savvy and just hoping for the best.