Some college students go through years of school, spending wildly and taking out thousands of dollars in debt, without planning for life after graduation.
Ohio University’s College of Business started a personal finance course last fall semester to teach students how to spend more wisely.
The class is for all students and is intended to better prepare them to budget, save, invest and make smart financial decisions both before and after graduation, said Andy Fodor, chair of the Finance Department.
“I think this is one of the best ways we can prepare students for life and we can save a lot of students from making a lot of mistakes that take years to correct,” Fodor said.
Right now, conversations to make this class a general education requirement — which would mandate all students in the university take the class — are in the very early stages, said Hugh Sherman, dean of the College of Business.
OU’s course was created after a national study showed the importance of a personal finance class for high school students, Fodor said.
Only 14 states, not including Ohio, require a high school personal finance course, according to a study conducted by the Council for Economic Education in 2011.
Last academic year, 238 students took the course, including in the Summer Semester, but 223 took the class Fall Semester during the 2013-14 academic year and 175 were enrolled for next semester by press time, Fodor said.
The class can be taken virtually, which allows the university access to regional campuses, Fodor said.
In Leslie Dunn’s section of the course, students have to turn in a weekly spreadsheet showing what their expenses are.
“If their behavior needs to change, then it does,” said Dunn, a finance coordinator with TechGROWTH Ohio who also teaches part-time in the Finance department.
“I’m trying to get them to develop good habits as far as their finances go.”
While the course requires some math, Dunn and Fodor both said they believe the students’ efforts in the class will be beneficial once they graduate. The class has no prerequisites.
“People have to understand that they should save right away,” Sherman said. “If you were disciplined enough to save from the time you were 25 years old, you could easily get to $2 million by the time you retire.”
dd19571@ohiou.edu
@WillDrabold
