By Jennifer Bigler
BYU opened one of the nations first college financial counseling centers this fall to create financially savvy students. With the average undergraduate leaving school $18,000 in debt, BYU created the center to assist students with difficult financial decisions.
'Our goal is to help students to finance their education with minimal debt and to help them to develop financial skills and wisdom that will serve them for the rest of their life,' said Todd Martin, director of the Financial Counseling Center at BYU.
'The program is unique,' Martin said. 'It is the only financial aid office in the nation that has established its own personal finance counseling service to address student financial needs. Most universities do not offer this type of counseling, and BYU has received a fair amount of attention within the National Association of Student Financial Administrators for our initiatives in this area. Schools have even contacted us in interest in following our model.'
The center opened this fall to combat BYU students'' increasing debt and financial difficulties.
'One of the top reasons juniors and seniors drop out of BYU are financial problems,' Martin said. 'Utah is No. 1 in the nation for bankruptcies as the availability of easy credit has increased. The debt and bankruptcy problems are not getting better, so our goal is to help BYU students become educated in matters of personal finance.'
Martin said he has seen improvement as less loans have been taken out by students since BYU created a financial counseling service, run by accredited counselors who are ready to assist students with any financial problems.
'I think it is wonderful to work with students and their finances,' said Marilyn Miner, the BYU Financial Aid Ombudsman. 'We have a lot of young men come in who are engaged and are interested in planning out their budgets. We deal with happy things such as engaged couples but we also have sad situations such as credit card debt.'
Miner said she often deals with students who have large amounts of debt who waited too long to receive financial assistance.
'A lot problems students have is that they simply do not plan for the future,' she said. ' Before they know it, they have hit the wall and are drowning in debt. We cannot solve anyone''s problems but we certainly can advise and counsel them on how to remedy them.'
Many students are unaware of the services BYU offers, yet the students, who are aware, see the program as beneficial.
'I really just wanted to learn how to balance my money so that I would not over-spend or go into debt,' said Lezlie Wagner, a 21-year-old marketing student from San Diego. 'The counselors allow you to be in control. They simply assist you in budgeting, and creating a financial plan that works with your life. It really allows you to handle your finances and maintain control of your life while you are in college and for the rest of your life.'
Martin said counselors in the center do not act as parents, but are there to guide students. Counselors will never choose specific actions for the student as they act only as advisers.
The center''s hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mon.-Fri. Martin said students do not need an appointment and advises students to walk in for financial assistance.
Miner advises student to visit the Web site:http://financialaid.byu.edu/counseling.htm for more information.