This article largely focuses the ways in which financial stress experienced by student loan borrowers stems from a lack of financial prepardness in high school. Avard discusses the reasons why college students are unprepared, legislation which has attempted to correct this issue, and proposed solutions to resolve the financial stress problem.
Terms:
Debt loads: the amount of debt an individual is carrying at a given time
The Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy: an organization formed in 1995 aimed at improving financial literacy among American youth.
Helpful Quotes:
"...Perhaps universities should regard financial knowledge as being a component to their general education program and require a course in personal finance of all its students" (Avard 1)
"The emphasis in high school curriculum is on preparation for college or on acquiring skills necessary to obtain a job and to earn an income. Very little of the student's studies focus on how to effectively use the income in dealing with financial matters such as bank accounts, investments, mutual funds, mortgages, credit cards, loans, Social Security, insurance and taxes. Only if a student has taken a high school course in consumerism, finance or in economics would he or she be exposed somewhat to every day financial issues while in school" (Avard 1).
"The low level of knowledge will limit their ability to make informed decisions" (Avard 3).
This article is extremely valuable to my argument as it provides insights to the beginnings of financial stress before college even begins. This article will be helpful in enforcing my argument of student loan borrowers as "personal responsibility crusaders" (Hacker) as Avard positions the borrowers in a way in which they are responsible for their own financial literacy, as opposed to holding loan companies accountable for their corrupt practices.
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