Editorial: Pitt should teach its students financial literacy

Whether you major in engineering or art history, finding a job in today’s market might prove… Whether you major in engineering or art history, finding a job in today’s market might prove discouragingly difficult. Even though recent graduates like to blame the recession for their economic woes, an inadequate understanding of student loans often exacerbates their problems.

Young Invincibles, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, recently surveyed 6,500 undergraduate and graduate students who had taken out student loans. What they discovered was enough to dishearten any economics major: Two-thirds of respondents couldn’t distinguish between private and federal loans, 20 percent didn’t understand their repayment terms and a full 80 percent said they’d obtained some information about loans from their college’s counselors or website.

In an era when unemployment among 16-24-year-olds is at a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Department, and student debt surpasses even credit card debt, financial illiteracy seems particularly dangerous. Without a concerted effort from universities to combat this obliviousness, young peoples’ loan problems will only grow worse. Accordingly, we’d like Pitt to consider offering a financial literacy class.

A semester-long lecture on understanding finances might not help people pay off their debts, but it would clear up a variety of misconceptions. Students need to learn, for instance, that Obama’s newly renovated Income-Based Repayment Plan only applies to federal loans, and that private loans are often riskier than government alternatives. The details of both arrangements could be examined in depth.

A financial literacy class could also address how to spend money responsibly from day to day. If students know to conserve cash for routine errands, they’ll also have less trouble saving enough funds to repay their loans in a timely manner. Cultivating a frugal mentality should be the primary aim of this course.

Countless high schools offer semester-long financial literacy classes — and if the media attention they receive is any indication, they’re resounding successes. It shouldn’t be too difficult for Pitt, a much wealthier institution, to establish a similar program.

Needless to say, college seniors are graduating at a particularly inopportune time, and their bleak employment prospects can’t be attributed solely to their insufficient financial know-how. But as Young Invincibles’ survey demonstrates, our generation bears at least some responsibility for the out-of-control student debt we’ve amassed. Fiscal discussions might put many of us to sleep, but they’re critical for planning the future. If people realize that they could dramatically improve their lifetime earnings with an even moderate knowledge of college loans, a financial literacy class is bound to become popular.