Sorry, But Financial Literacy Doesn’t Make College More Affordable

Penn State has a new financial literacy program that’s “aimed at helping students make better decisions about budgeting, borrowing and loan repayment.” When Billfold pal Helaine Olen asked the college how the program will help students deal with the rising costs of college, she received the following response from Daad Rizk, Penn State’s financial literacy coordinator:

Financial literacy helps students to treat education as an investment in their future. The real problem is not the rising cost of education, it is in the lack of financial planning and lack of financial literacy skills of making sound financial decisions.

Say what? As I joked with Helaine: Apparently, students just aren’t planning enough to face skyrocketing tuition and fees as state and local financing for higher education declines.

Photo: shidairyproduct

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