Inside the College of Human Sciences at Texas Tech University, in room 153, is something you need to know about:
Thirty trained student-volunteer counselors and one coordinator are helping provide free-of-charge financial planning assistance to Texas Tech students. The aim behind this move is to help students cut down expenses of academic life and manage their funds in an organised way.
In a time of economic uncertainty it is more important than ever for college students to be money-savvy and avoid pitfalls like debt, overdrawn accounts, and poor credit ratings. These days, when a low credit score can sink a job applicant, it is important to get one’s spending under control as quickly as possible – irresponsible expenditures as a young college student may mar one’s publicly-accessible credit score for years.
Red to Black, with its own webpage on the Texas Tech website, offers a convenient and easy-to-use informative portal for college students, and their parents, to peruse. Students can find ready information on many pertinent financial topics for young adults (such as creating a budget, buying a car, and planning premarital finances) or call or e-mail to schedule an appointment.
Such a service being provided free-of-charge to Tech students is a handy bonus that should be sought by most – college years are often ripe for financial mistakes by young and inexperienced spenders. Students are notorious for landing in debt and going overboard with the credit cards, with the damage taking years, or even decades, to erase.
Unfortunately, many college students today, both at Texas Tech and around the nation, are underprepared for new financial freedom after years of living with parents or guardians. Without parents around to guide them, most students are free to make all sorts of financial mistakes, and many may continue to sink further and further into debt by being in denial about the issue – often fearful of parents’ reactions to learning about the initial mis-spending.
Like Texas Tech, many colleges and universities want to help their students avoid these common financial pitfalls, and with good reason: A student who falls into credit card debt is more likely to be unable to pay tuition and will, therefore, have to leave college. This hurts a university’s bottom line and harms its reputation – schools dislike having a high dropout rate, regardless the cause of the dropout rate.
In other words, students and their parents should not shy away from seeking university-provided financial planning assistance, especially if it’s free – universities have good reason to develop a mutually-beneficial money relationship with its paying clientele. If you’re a local west Texas parent, or any parent or guardian, of a Texas Tech student, please advise him or her to take advantage of the school’s Red to Black personal financial planning service.
You will be glad you did…especially if helping save your student’s credit rating keeps him or her from being denied job opportunities and sent right back home to live on your couch!