With college students poised to start facing tests of all kinds this fall, parents of college students may want to consider quizzing themselves about their students' financial aptitude.
The InCharge Institute of America Inc., an Orlando, Fla.-based nonprofit group that specializes in credit counseling and personal financial education, has a few questions that might help mitigate any first-semester headaches:
¢ Do you talk openly at home about finances, or did your child take a personal finance class in high school?
¢ Has your student created a monthly expenses budget?
¢ If your student has a credit or debit card, have you discussed spending limits?
¢ Do you and your student know the card's APR?
¢ Have you discussed the negative effects of paying only the minimum balance of credit card debt?
¢ Have you discussed identity theft and its remedies?
¢ Have you discussed the importance of an emergency cash fund?
If you answered yes to these, or to most, all should go relatively smoothly, from a financial perspective. If it's no, however, InCharge says it may be time to sit down with the collegian for a long talk.
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.