OUR VIEW: Personal finance education has a place, but it’s not here

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education discussed the possibility of adding financial literacy lessons for college freshmen Thursday during their meeting at the Noble Center in Ardmore.

The course would be similar to the alcohol abuse course students are required to take upon college entry, regent Ron White said.

It would consist mostly of information on how to handle a credit card account and explain interest rates on loans, White said.

“We need to help them understand,” regents secretary Joseph Parker said. “They’re vulnerable. They don’t understand loans.”

When polled, 67 percent of students said they didn’t need more financial information, but institutions see many students making poor financial decisions based on a lack of knowledge, White said.

Oklahoma universities have some type of system to make students more financially conscious, but all are different and tailor to different types of students, said Kermit McMurray, vice chancellor for Student Affairs.

For example, some universities or colleges have more or fewer non-traditional students who are older and may already know about financial responsibilities, McMurray said.

The regents’ goal is to make a model program for state universities and colleges to follow.

College students are more susceptible to financial trouble than other groups, McMurray said.

“Research has shown that some students walk into college with at least two credit cards in their pockets,” McMurray said.

College students are the only known consumers that can get a credit card without proof of a job or the ability to pay it back, he said.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will be working with the President’s Council to implement the program, McMurray said.

“The regents are deeply concerned about the financial consequences of students,” he said. “We want to ensure that institutions are as serious as [the regents] are about this.”