Lake Larsen | Alumnus

The world of finance and fiscal management is a stressful and scary place. Just the thought of budgeting will give many a thousand-yard stare. Because of this, far too many college students walk around playing a sort of Russian roulette with their debit cards. Just spending and spending until bam! You’re overdrafted.

Due to this fact, colleges should be required to give some type of basic “how to be an adult” class for students. As an accountant at a university, I deal with students on a daily basis asking questions about their finances. In and of itself, this is not the issue — I love helping students. However, some of the questions I receive baffle me and honestly upset me with the failure of our education system.

Instead of teaching students how to pay down the principle on their student loans, colleges instead force students to take classes unrelated to their major. Yes, it is important to be a well-rounded student. I also understand the benefits to some of the other courses and how they are advantageous to students. However, it’s kind of hard to focus on being well-rounded and to think of the benefits of some unnecessary class when you have $30,000 in debt with a 450 credit score. But hey, at least I have some random knowledge on a subject that will probably never come up again in my life.

If the goal of lower division core classes is to help students potentially find a hidden talent or help develop basic skills, then why not offer things that have a larger chance of actually helping in a student’s life?

This isn’t to say that students can’t or won’t find passion in one of these subjects. I realize that this is a possibility. However, I think it should be a student’s decision if they want to take these extra classes. In the end, it’s their money. It should be up to them entirely if they want to take extra courses.

Some classes need to be required, and I understand that. So why not add a very basic fiscal management course to the list? The skills students will learn in that class will benefit them for the rest of their lives. I can’t say that same thing is true for some of the other courses they’re forced to take.

If colleges want their students to be successful, give them the tools to do so. In a society where money is power, it’s time to teach students how to become powerful. Because in the words of Pink Floyd, “Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.”

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Contact the author at llarsen13@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton