Universities Tackle Skyrocketing Student Debt With Comprehensive Financial Literacy Initiatives

The rising cost of tuition at colleges and universities continues to result in significant debt loads for students and, with the limited budget appropriations available for both public and private institutions of higher education, the cost of tuition is widely expected to continue rising.

To address this increasingly troublesome phenomenon, colleges and universities are moving forward with a comprehensive range of solutions to assist students not only with managing their debt, but also with handling their overall personal financial affairs. Many case studies exist to highlight the many avenues being pursued to support college students with their financial health and with planning for their financial futures. One of many examples is the case of Northern Illinois University, which has taken the following steps, among others, to tackle the steeply rising student debt crisis:

• Holding tuition at current rates and focusing on larger enrollment and better retention to achieve financial stability;

• Increasing the range of grants, loans and scholarships available to students through private and public funding sources;

• Developing financial education programs designed for students to learn financial and money management skills so they can become empowered to manage their personal financial affairs to the greatest extent;

• Sharpening the goals and service offerings of the “Financial Cents” program, which enables the University’s Office of Student Academic Success to assist students with their financial objectives; and

• Deepening its involvement with Econ Illinois, which is headquartered at the University and which trains thousands of teachers at the K-12 level to integrate financial literacy concepts into their classrooms.

While the various elements of the financial literacy focus of Northern Illinois University are impressive, an even more remarkable development is the fact that this comprehensive approach to financial education and solving the student debt crisis is currently being espoused by many other colleges and universities. Financial literacy professionals contend that even as certain forces point to a prolonged existence of the student debt problem, the efforts by colleges and universities to provide financial information, tools and resources to students will go a long way towards mitigating the negative impacts of the crisis and, importantly, will help students and college graduates navigate the many challenges of debt and overall money management in the years ahead.