Want to Become a Millionaire by 65?
Project C.A.S.H. helps college students manage money, avoid debt

“College students are particularly vulnerable to credit card marketing,” says Extension Educator Karen Blass. “They typically live away from their families, have little or no financial training, and receive several credit card offers a week. They don’t have the income to support significant amounts of debt, and sometimes rely on credit cards to cover college costs in addition to their high levels of consumer wants.”

“Although a typical student has received no education about finances or managing debt before arriving at college, studies show more than 80 percent of college students have at least one credit card—most have four or five—and carry an average balance of more than $2,000,” Blass says. “A fifth of them have more than $10,000 in credit card debt and many are paying interest rates as high as 20 percent.”

After seeking and obtaining a grant from the UNH Parents Association in 2001, Blass and several Extension colleagues partnered with UNH Health Services and UNH Residential Life to launch a program aimed at educating UNH students to manage money and debt.

“Project C.A.S.H. provides essential money management skills to college students to enable them to build a foundation for future financial security,” says Blass. “We help them decrease debt (especially credit card debt), increase savings, and become aware of the impact of advertising on their spending habits.”

C.A.S.H. Web site

Since 2001, Project C.A.S.H. (Creating a Savings Habit) has presented workshops to staff and students on money management, distributed literature to students and parents, written articles on money for the student publication The New Hampshire, offered presentations at numerous campus events, trained UNH Health Services Peer Educators in money management, and developed a comprehensive web site.

The innovative site offers a wealth of information in easy-to-read, interactive formats that will prove useful to any teen or young adult who wants to learn more about money management, as well as parents, teachers and youth group leaders.

Site visitors can test their financial literacy (a test 68 percent of high school seniors failed in 2002); learn the three simple rules of money management, and understand the techniques advertisers use to manipulate them to buy products and use more credit.

Even adults can learn a lot from this financial literacy Web site. And if you know an older teen who wants to become a millionaire, encourage him or her to visit the Project C.A.S.H. homepage today.