Great Tools for Financial Literacy

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Barb

I’ve been using Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers with dd17 for the past 18 months or so, and we’re almost finished. We’ve been having a lot of fun with the projects.

Funny how using Life Prep has been a different experience with each of my children.

Our eldest was very eager to get out on her own, so we emphasized the rent, food and utilities projects over the others. Our son was completely college-minded, so we stuck to more reading and less projects. Dd17 is not in a big hurry to be out on her own, but she’s not sure about college either (she’s already racked up a few credit hours and isn’t sure if she wants to keep going), but she really gets into all of the projects.

She has run a couple of small businesses, so she understands the need to watch your expenses and make prudent choices. She seems to really get into studying how loans work, and how you can save a lot of money by prepaying them.

While working on the projects from the book, she enjoyed playing with some online financial calculators at Bankrate.com. They’re wonderful! I plan on adding mention of them to the next edition of the book when we update it again in a few years.

Beware of College: Now What?

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Barb

So colleges aren’t what they used to be. Does this mean you shouldn’t send your teen to college?

Not at all. What it does mean is that you and your teen must be extremely diligent in the choice of a college, once you determine that he or she is “college material.”

How to define “college material”:

Motivated to attend college, to study hard and to succeed.

Strong enough to handle peer pressure of all kinds.

Interested in a career that requires a college degree and will allow the degree-holder to make enough money to cover the cost of said college experience and then some.

Willing to help pay for college (important for what it says about your child as much as how it will help financially).

If you still think your teen is “college material,” it’s time for due diligence. Check out prospective colleges thoroughly. This includes Christian colleges, some of which are Christian in name only. If you’re going to leave your teen somewhere for four (or more) years, you want it to be a good, safe place, not just a well-known place, right?

Finally, in light of what we’ve considered in these college posts, consider online learning and/or community college for at least part of your child’s college experience. Starting out by studying at home can give your child time to mature further, in order to face the trials and temptations of modern college life with more maturity than he or she had at 18.

One good book for those who are attracted to the benefits of distance learning for college is Accelerated Distance Learning.

Next: College: The Bottom Line

Beware of College, Post #3

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Barb

Many college administrators believe that stopping alcohol and drug abuse is the responsibility of the student, not the college.

A recent study finds that not only is alcohol and drug abuse increasing on college campuses, but a majority of college administrators believe that controlling such abuses is the responsibility of the students, not the college.

That may sound good, especially in light of the idea of personal responsibility, but the truth is that parents send their teens off to college to gain maturity as well as learning. Immaturity and personal responsibility are often mutually exclusive. Ultimately, parents expect that their offspring will be safe at college, and that the college or university to which they’re paying thousands of dollars each year will make sure of that.

How do you find a college where law enforcement and the protection of students are priorities? When you’re visiting colleges with your teen, ask questions about campus safety, as recommended by writer Paul Lloyd Hemphill. The type of response you get should speak volumes.

Next: So colleges aren’t what they used to be. Does this mean you shouldn’t send your teen to college?

Beware of College, Post #2

Posted on May 9, 2009 by Barb

Colleges and universities are more than willing to take your money in order to prepare your child for a career in which he probably won’t be able to find a job.

This article made me so sad because I was once a journalism student. While I don’t believe I was as idealistic as some of the students quoted, I enjoyed every bit of my journalism education, and looked forward to a career in journalism. A lousy economy at the time of my graduation ruined that dream for me back then.

Today, these kids are graduating into a lousy economy and a deteriorating journalism scene (note some of the comments after the article from recent journalism grads who can’t find work). The rise of the Internet and the clear bias of American media have resulted in newspapers dropping like flies. Yes, there are far more writing opportunities online than in print, but they pay less, too. It’s much harder to make a living as a journalist now than it was nearly 30 years ago when I graduated during the Carter years.

Yet the professors quoted in the article let the students believe that “it’s all going to be ok” when they surely know better. Gotta keep those paychecks coming in, I guess. (Same reason so many colleges and universities inflate grades these days, but I digress…..)

The moral of this story? Just because a college offers a specific major does not mean your child will be able to find work after obtaining that degree. Help your child make a wise career choice. Check out specific careers and their predicted futures at www.bls.gov. Most of all, don’t believe the hype of colleges that need to keep a certain number of warm bodies coming through their departments in order to maintain their own employment.

Next up: Many college administrators believe that stopping alcohol and drug abuse is the responsibility of the student, not the college.

Beware of College, Post #1

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Barb

College and university staff sometimes lies to parents in order to push a certain social agenda.

The mother of a Stanford University student is dismayed to learn that her child is living in a “gender neutral” dorm, which means co-ed within the room (i.e. sleeping in the same room as members of the opposite sex).

To make matters worse, university administration not only neglected to inform parents of this possibility in the residential hall info given to parents, but later lied and said it was only going on in four dorms when it was really going on in other dorms, including the dorm this woman’s daughter lives in.

This mom has met with the university’s president but has not found a resolution to this problem. Learn what she did find out (to her dismay) by reading her story.

How could she have avoided this problem? She did thoroughly investigate the university’s residential policies ahead of time, but could not have known that they were misrepresented. Perhaps the only way to really avoid this type of problem would be to avoid secular colleges and find a committed Christian university instead.

Next up,

Colleges and universities are more than willing to take your money in order to prepare your child for a career in which he probably won’t be able to find a job.