Theodore Mintesnot & Matt Johnson
NMC 301 Group Project – ‘Financial’ section
6.3.08
Student Finances: Weaknesses, Strengths, and Solutions
The biggest question of college life for not only students but their entire families is “how are they going to pay for it?” With rising costs of higher education, financial management is an issue that affects everyone attending college, and the cost of a mistake – financially, academically, and emotionally – can be severe.
From a somewhat broad question of “what are students doing to help or hurt themselves” and a greater focus on the financial aspect of that topic, our story has come together rather organically out of our interviews and questionnaires: we asked these questions to as many students and faculty members as we could find. Their answers edified and surprised us.
In Patti Brady-Glassman’s estimate, the most prevalent area of difficulty for students financially is somewhat obvious: finding money. “Not a difficult question, not an easy solution,” the Associate Director of Oregon State’s Financial Aid office said. Brady-Glassman has been working with students and their financial issues for 19 years.
In her experience many students either do not correctly understand the process or don’t contact their offices until they are already in dire financial conditions. “Poor planning” can lead to catastrophe later on, Brady-Glassman said. The office sees its biggest volume the first week, which is often too late for very much to be done as deadlines for various applications to financial aid programs are handled in advance of the academic term.
Financial concerns are becoming a greater issue in no small part because, while costs of higher education rise, the financial aid itself is not increasing. Also difficult is the summer term, as aid is allotted to the main year, with summer being the ‘leftover’. In regards to the new student debt policy, Brady-Glassman noted that federal aid can only be used for the current term and not for debts from past terms.
Many students contribute to their financial issues with their spending habits, without fully grasping the “concept of a budget,” Brady-Glassman said. This can be especially bad for students whom receive aid at the beginning of a term and find themselves very short through the winter break.
Students whom want to support themselves with a job rather than entirely through aid or their parents don’t have it easy, either. Young adults in the 18-24 age bracket with no credit history or work experience can find it exceedingly difficult to find employment, especially in a smaller college town like Corvallis.
In Brady-Glassman’s 19 years of experience in the Financial Aid department she has notice that “students seem to be a lot more stressed out” then before. Rates of student depression are much higher. “…money is a stressful topic” to begin with, so students can go from being upset to either angry or relieved depending on what support they may or may not be eligible for.
Family support has radically changed as well. Parental coddling in terms of finances becomes an issue as well, since it deprives their offspring of responsibility towards their own finances that they necessarily must face, not only in college but life afterwards.
It’s not entirely negative an outlook, however. Returning students meeting deadlines suggest a greater awareness for some. Brady-Glassman said that offering information through the website has helped lower their rate of phone calls, and that the Financial Aid office is “always trying to improve communication.”
As for use of new/social media to help with this goal, Brady-Glassman explained that the Financial Aid office simply lacks the staffing for such an undertaking. However the OSU Admissions Office does have a blog, through which they direct relevant Q+A to the Financial Aid office.
Awareness of the Financial Aid office’s location was not perceived as a problem to Brady-Glassman. Students often don’t come to Financial Aid until they are dire need of its resources, and even then most do not know how much they can or can not be helped. Brady-Glassman pointed out that there are many “misconceptions about aid” arising from anecdotal information of acquaintances. Such information is both confidential and often a very different circumstance for each student, and as such cannot be relied on for a reasonable expectation.
Financial Aid’s primary method of communication is email. Students who don’t check their ONID accounts regularly may miss out on opportunities with a strict time limit, costing them an opportunity for more funds.
Brady-Glassman urged students to become more educated about federal aid because it is very limited. The idea of a mandatory class on how to balance a budget for students is a popular one in theory but not so much in practice. Financial responsibility is a “dry, boring topic,” Brady-Glassman said, and very seldom are students “on the ball”.
When it comes to finances, students are “so hand-held out of high school,” said Brady-Glassman. By sophomore year there is a significant drop-off in students coming in to the Financial Aid office.
Sara L. Bennett, a 22-year-old OSU Accounting senior, is part of the college group Beta Alpha Psi which teaches financial information primarily to high schools as well as some college students. Beta Alpha Psi has worked with Brass Magazine, a locally-operated national publication focusing on financial information for high schoolers and college students. Brass has given the group promotion in their publication. The local chapter even made it to 2nd place in a regional conference of 19 chapters, thanks to help from Brass, whom Bennett called a “great resource.”
Bennett believes the biggest problem is education – when it comes to financial responsibilities most students “have no idea,” she said. On a scale of one to ten, Bennett would rank students’ awareness of their financial aid options as a “4 or 5,” depending on their academic major – an economics student might have an advantage in this regard to a liberal arts student, and so on. When it comes to stress, Bennett also observed that students whom are finally seeking out help are most likely “higher than average” in their stress level.
What students can do about this is to be “proactive,” Bennett said, attending informational presentations, and doing their own research into possible scholarship opportunities.
Bennett noted that one thing students are very aware of is their long-term financial goals, such as their savings, retirement plans, or social security. Even if they don’t know how to accomplish these things many students are aware of them, perhaps from observing their parents’ struggles to meet similar goals of their own.
Bennett, whom has worked continuously through college up to this term, her last before graduation, agrees that starting the job process can be “rough” without any experience, and considers starting a savings account set aside for future goals to be a personal financial success.
She hopes the new student debt policy “will motivate students” to be more aggressive about managing their finances.
Marceline Bamba, 45, is a licensed psychologist and clinical director of OSU’s Counseling and Psychological Services department. For the students whom the Guam-born counselor sees, finances are an issue “more common than not.”
Financial aid problems can lead to credit issues quite quickly. While financial aid is a considerable stressor it is not the only “issue,” Bamba said.
Bamba believes the biggest problem for students is management of funds and lack of aid. Students often try to find jobs during the summer term. Contributing problems might include irresponsibility or online gambling, which can both be quite detrimental to a student budget.
Students, if they are dependent, might be embarrassed to speak to their parents about their financial issues. “Parents are a lot more involved in student’s lives…not just [in] K-12 but college” as well, Bamba said.
Because of this increased level of parental guidance, when students are left to their own devices, they may quickly find themselves out of their depth and without an idea of what to do or even what questions to ask regarding financial management.
Among the students Bamba counsels there is a low awareness of financial options, and a need for information. The counselor insists, however, that students are always “open to hearing” about solutions.
In addition to our main interviews, a questionnaire was distributed via email as well as in print to a number of students. Over 20 responses came back to us with more incoming at the time of this writing.
Concerns that were common among many of these students included credit card debt, the stresses of trying to balance between school and either employment or the job search, and almost unanimously a call for more information and education on financial options.
The rising cost of not only tuition but books, gas, and other expenses of living did not go unnoticed. 22-year-old Brittany White pointed out that “most students are unable to work and attend school full time, while trying to meet their financial needs.”
Accounting major Ben Mathias thought that “most OSU students are actually confused about their financial options.” Biochemistry & Biophysics major Kevin Dunn, 19, disagreed: “I’d say students are pretty aware of their financial options…but most students don’t understand what they do and do not qualify for, and therefore miss out on valid opportunities.”
Surprisingly, many of the students surveyed were not aware of the Financial Aid office’s location or had ever even been there – their exploration of their student aid options often being done exclusively online.
Lily Lin, a 19-year-old Business Administration major, said that “the internet is a great way to spread financial [advice] to students.” The concept of using new technologies to disseminate financial education was one that many students seemed to find very convenient. Carrie Fox, a 35-year-old Accounting major, makes the case that use of social media “can educate people at a much larger rate than just relying on printed material to do it.”
22-year-old Blake Seabough agreed. “Awareness would be the best financial advice.”
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Matthew Johnson is a senior at Oregon State University and is majoring in Liberal Arts with a New Media Communications option. He is 21 years old and comes from the small town of Silverton Oregon.
Theodore Mintesnot is a current student of Oregon State University. He hails from Northeast Portland, his hometown, and currently remains undeclared of an academic major.
Additional Resources:
Financial Aid and Scholarships at OSU
OSU Admissions Blog
Beta Alpha Psi – College of Business OSU
Counseling and Psychological Services at OSU
New student debt policy to go into effect winter 2009
ID card: what no debt really means
OSU discusses debit card option
Billing fee, not yet free
OSU’s Student Finance Page
NYT – Student Loans
College Loans by States Face Fresh Scrutiny
Project on Student Debt
U.S. Aims to Buoy Student-Loan Market
New or Used? – That is the question
Debt Load, Class of 2006
Top 10 Rookie Investment Mistakes
Surviving Credit Card Debt – How to Battle the Big Boys and Come Out Winning!
The Credit Card Trap
Get Real – Real Estate, Real Investment
Overdraft Intervention – Kicking the cost
Save Yourself – Saving strategies with sweet rewards
After Debt – 5 ways to stay debt free
Destination Debt Free – Mapping your way out of debt
Debt Double-Take – The two sides of debt
Buy Instead of Rent and Pay Yourself, Not a Landlord
Dealing with Car Dealers – 5 negotiating tips
Paper Free – Digitizing your dollars
Budgets in Flux – A 411 for irregular incomes
Should College Students Have Credit Cards?
DollarCamp Interviews:Students and Credit Cards
College Students and Credit
MetroMoney: Managing Student Loans: Part 1
Student Loan Rehabilitation and more: Part 2
“Tips to use Credit Cards to Your Advantage”
How to Declare Bankruptcy
