How to Prevent Student Debt with Financial Literacy Education
Preventing student debt requires education in financial literacy.
You’ve all heard it by now- student loans in the trillions of dollars. College education costs have been soaring for decades. How are you going to combat the horrific trend? Gaining a firm education in financial literacy is the first step in stopping debt.A strong understanding in financial literacy will help you check and balance your upcoming college years. Short and long term goal setting with concise outcomes will also aid you in bucking the growing national debt trend.
Just as you have to learn accounting or biology, graphic design or chemistry, financial literacy is a learned habit. A habit takes time to learn and implement and then practice over time to become a daily part of life without thinking about. A few students may have taken a financial literacy based course in high school, but as important a course as it is, a financial literacy course is not required learning for high school students. It is up to students or parents to learn or teach. Thus the challenge we face.
Most teens don’t want to learn from mom or dad and many parents don’t feel qualified for numerous reasons. . So how to gap the divide? Mom and Dad, you know you can’t unlearn this financial literacy education. Its the one living, breathing habit that follows us day to day.
Sign up here for our free Goals Journal, the first step to help prevent student debt.
As student debt climbs and climbs, its time to get creative and take on the cost of education with clear goals and a strong understanding of financial literacy.
While your living day to day doing the college thing, life happens. What do I mean by life happening? Your car breaks down and you need to fix asap, the grocery bill was more then you expected, the car need an oil change, a professor asked you to purchase an additional book not on the syllabus… and the list goes on and on.
Life happening are the costs that pop up along life’s journey that are unexpected but require immediate attention. You need your car to get to work, to pay for school, to graduate. A big necessity! How do you juggle that? Were you prepared? Many of you will go to college too far away from mom or dad. They can’t just drop everything to help get your car towed or maybe their budget is tight and you are on your own. How will you cover the expense?
This is where student financial literacy education is crucial. Where do you squeeze money from to pay for life happening?
Parents, preparing and empowering your student for moments like this is the most crucial way to know that your teen is ready to conquer the real world.
Peeps, knowing “you got this” and can handle what life throws at you will set you up for a long road of success. Knowing you can rely on yourself and conquering what sets so many others into a downward struggle is a skill few have.
Having a strong financial literacy education will help you make decisive smart decisions in choosing not only the right school for yourself, but in planning how to navigate the next years to college graduation with as little debt as possible.
Click here for free Goals Journal!
How do you fix the student debt problem? Well we can’t fix the past, but we can make positive changes and moves to prevent new high school graduates from repeating mistakes of generations before them.
Let’s get smart about how we prepare our teens heading off to college. By understanding the short and long term goals that are applied in financial literacy, we will be able to guide students in the most cost effective way to get a higher education with the least amount of cost.
There are great ways to approach higher learning. First and foremost its understanding who you are as an individual and also having a strong awareness of your passions, likes, dislikes and goals in life.
I like starting with goals and dreams. Everyone wants to be successful, but define your idea of success.
What does it mean to you? Lots of money? A big house? A tiny house? World traveler? Entrepreneur? What do you dream of right now at the teen stage in life? What gets you so excited that you don’t want to stop doing for sleep? This is where so many struggle.
I had no idea who I was at the tail end of high school. I had varied interests, and the idea of doing any ONE thing for the rest of my life would dull anyone into fear. And I hardly knew what the world could offer, so I could I possible know what my passion was? Are you struggling with these same unknowns? Join us here and we’ll help you answer those unknowns!
Let the fun begin! Parents, this is where you play yet another integral part into helping guide your student. Peeps, listen up! Parents are your best asset right here. They know you like no one else does in regards to seeing your strengths and weaknesses maybe even better then yourself.
ASK and you’ll get amazing insight! You might be thinking, I thought we’d be talking about financial literacy terms and how to manage my money right about now. Fear not my friends, we are laying the groundwork for preventing student debt. Its about PLANNING! You’re laying a strong foundation; taking a step back to move by leaps and bounds forward.
Join us here and start the student debt prevention process!
For parents, you have your own thoughts, fears and wisdom you’d love to bestow on your kid.
Peeps- LISTEN! Hear it. You are your own individual and you’ll still make up your own mind. Having a mentor and free VALUABLE advice is HUGE! Parents are just that! A true mentor is hard to come by and everyone can give advice, like they give opinions, but you’ll have to know what to reject and accept. Your parents not only want whats best for you and to set you up to succeed, but they’ll gladly help you with any advice you need for FREE!
People want to be told what to do. Look at shows like Suze Ormond, where callers tell her about their financial situation and she says yay or no to an idea they have. SAY WHAT? Your a brilliant human being. Why do you need a complete stranger saying yes or no to guide you? Grab this financial literacy education stuff and run with it!!
Lets talk about how student debt happens.
Most high school students have no idea what they want to major in at 18. What colleges should you even apply to if you haven’t decided a major?
School counselors are so overwhelmed with the number of students they have to see, that college counseling in high school really comes out in about 3 sentences. “ Start looking at colleges in 11th grade. Score well on the SAT. Meet your financial aid and admission deadlines.”
If you need help trying to learn about yourself, they flopped you down in front of a HUGE book of careers with little blurbs on what the job was. You could also take one of those standardized personality tests which then populated some career options. Seriously? You want me to embark on one of the most costly educational endeavors without any long thought into me?
What 17/18 year old high school graduate knows what they want to be when they grow up? And then the frightening statistic about how almost 80% of people don’t even work in the field they graduated in? STOP! Its a freight train headed to disaster.
Let’s slooooow this down to manageable steps. Let’s learn about career planning guides and gain a financial literacy educationto prevent debt, and set ourselves up for success!
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather work less and play more in life. Travel, check out great restaurants, buy nicer cars, have my retirement fund earning early in life… and the list is as long as you make it. A financial literacy education and putting good habits into place early make all this possible. Understanding theory versus reality sets you up to succeed.
Click here for first step of the process- our free Goals Journal!
So many others are in your exact shoes. Bring outside help to the proverbial table. Gain insight on yourself. Give feedback to your friends. Marinade on what you learn about yourself from others. Remember, your setting yourself up to succeed, not struggle.
Peeps, you do have homework to do, but its the best kind because its all about you. Be introspective and take every opportunity to learn what makes you tick. Do you have a part time job now? What is it? Its a great start to learning personality traits and work related skills that you have as well as work place environments that you may like or dislike.
Again, I know you are scratching your head… say what? How is a Goals Journal lending to student debt prevention and financial literacy education? Trust me my peeps, I’ll get you there. We are learning about you, to help you choose a path, all while learning financial literacy education mumbo jumbo along the way.
I want to learn more about you, do you? Comment below as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
