Class teaches future graduates financial responsibility

By David Mitchell

College is the best time of your life. So good that many students have a hard time leaving it behind.

Characterized by late nights, wild parties and the occasional visit to the library, the college years are often viewed as a period of liberation from authority and responsibility.

“Coming to college means freedom,” Nathan Wester, a senior marketing major from Fayetteville, said. “It means not having your parents watching your every move. Once you taste that freedom, I can imagine it’s hard to leave behind.”

Brent Edmondson, a senior history major from Peachtree City, shares this belief.

“I’ll graduate in the spring,” Edmondson said, “but I’ll be in Athens most weekends during football season next year. I’m just not ready to say goodbye to college.”

This is a common sentiment among many future and recent graduates.

But, according to Diann Moorman, an assistant professor in the College of Family and Consumer Science at the University of Georgia, this lifestyle comes with a price.

“Most students attend college on their parents’ dime,” Moorman said. “As a result, they don’t learn how to be financially responsible. When they leave school, they are unprepared to deal with all the new responsibilities they will encounter.”

This becomes a much bigger problem when former students attempt to continue living the college lifestyle on their own paycheck. They now have much more money at their disposal and little knowledge of how to manage it.

According to Moorman, this is one of the biggest problems new graduates face when dealing with money.

“[Students] think that now that they have money they can continue their college lifestyle on a regular basis,” Moorman said. “They don’t realize that a few dollars here and there can add up. And then they’re shocked when they can’t pay their credit card bill, and they’re hit with a late fee.”

Moorman’s class, Introduction to Personal Finance, incorporates a number of qualities which she claims will help students make a smoother transition after college and avoid some of these common problems.

According to the UGA Bulletin, the class provides information on cash flow management and consumption expenditures, credit and debt, simple applications of personal income taxes, risk management, property and health insurance and employee benefits.

“We focus on all of those things future graduates will need to know to manage their personal finances,” Moorman said. “I think this is information that students should be required to learn. Not just in college, but in grade school, middle school and high school as well.”

According to Moorman, however, it is the only class of its kind at the University.

Anne Sweaney, a professor in the College of Family and Consumer Science at the University of Georgia and head of Moorman’s department said that there were currently no plans to add sessions of this course but that it would be something they would like to look into.

“Currently we offer two sessions of [the class],” Sweaney said. “We’d love to add more in the future if the budget would allow.”

Wester, as a marketing major, said he would consider taking the class if his schedule allows it.

“I think it’s obviously a useful class,” Wester said. “These are things that you really don’t hear about usually. We take classes on how to find imaginary numbers but we don’t learn about the numbers that are most important.”

Martin Aspin, a recent graduate who also majored in marketing, underscored the importance of the information it provides.

“I totally think this is stuff that should be required,” Aspin said. “I can’t tell you the amount of useful information I gained from taking that class. Everything I learned is stuff that I have to apply now.”

Moorman said that the class has become very popular over the past year, enough to split what was once just one class of 350 people into two of the same amount. She jokes that if the popularity continues to grow, a new venue may be required for the class.

“I think they may just fill up Sanford Stadium and let me teach from midfield,” Moorman said with a smile.

One of her main concerns, Moorman says, is that many people don’t talk about money as much as they should. Parents need to talk to their kids first and foremost, she said, but it shouldn’t stop there.

“Students should talk to each other about it,” Moorman said. “The more we talk, the more prepared we’ll be.”