Students and financial responsibility
 

I have a really big issue with this. Allow me to explain what the university I attend is doing to aid in causing what could be more financial problems for students.

Students who receive scholarships or financial aid from loans or grants, are now having to pay the full amount of their tuition prior to receiving their money. This is the first semester for this policy. You can not let the payment deadline come and go and have the university automatically disburse the money from your incoming aid account. I guess they got burned, and it's not a big deal, to me at least.

However, this term they also initiated a program whereby students who will receive a refund (because they payed and have aid or scholarships) shall opt to get their money via a debt card. This essentially creates a checking account. As I understand, the reasoning behind the idea was to create a system which enables the student to become financially responsible, ie. have a checking account, etc.. While this could be good for some, it sucks for many b/c they are already capable of managing their finances. The debit card thing is being pushed hard, I mean really hard! I have gotten phone calls almost daily for over three weeks. It's the bank calling to set me up with my new thrifty nifty debit card that I don't want, or need.

So I call the bank up and inquire about interest rates on the account, services charges, etc.. I get nothing but crickets until I ask again. There is not an interest rate for the account. So then I ask about service charges again. Silence. I got nowhere fast, but I kept trying. After 5 minutes or so and no real answers, I thanked them for their time and hung up.

The biggest issue I have is that I can not get a paper check from the university for another 21 days. It's now the 3rd day of school, and if it was any previous semester, I would have already had the check in my account, which accrues interest, and doesn't charge any monthly fees (unless I screw up, and they cover some)

This is where I have a hard time understanding how the university can claim that they were hoping to help students out by creating this debit card refund deal. Yes, I would have had my money by now, but I also would have another account that I don't need. What really gets me is I'm not sure that when I transferred every last red cent out of that account, if would I get hit with some type of closing fee. We all know how banks make money. Fees and charges. Not enough money in there, not keeping it open for 90 days, whatever. Compound that with the aforementioned lack of an interest rate, and it's a no brainer for me. No thanks. However, I bet many do fall into the trap, and it's a damn shame. As if the kids didn't have enough problems with all the credit card companies whoring around campus. It pisses me off, and they pissed off the wrong guy. I will be talking to some people, friends as a matter of fact, who happen to be higher up than the President of the University. She's the one who put this plan into action without any student input, and that's just plain wrong. Making me wait another 21 days, even worse. What started out as a concern, lead to an inquiry. And if I got nowhere, I can't imagine anyone would have.

But this isn't really about me, I'll survive. This is about the other students who signed up for this deal, and who will soon find out that when they don't manage their finances (do they ever?) they will be coughing up more $$ to the banks. Some of the kids probably didn't have much of a choice, they needed the money now. 21 days is an eternity when you are eating ramen noodles 3 times a day. This thread is for them, the ones who don't know wtf just happened, or how much the University profits from the banks when the deal was cut.

I'd really like to hear your opinions.

Seems to me like the bank gets to hold onto TWICE AS MUCH money in the 'debit card' plan. Some creative accountant at the university is probably getting a handsome kickback for coming up with this idea The fees etc. from the actual debit cards are small potatoes compared to the financial power that the bank gets to utilize by holding all the (debt, capital, lending power, I don't know what you call it.)

Anytime someone "offers" something to you, you can bet it ain't because it's in YOUR best interests.

A little "Real World 101" here...

Banks are eager to grab college grads as customers, and they start the grabbing earlier and earlier.

I too think that somebody in the administration got some kind of "bonus" from the bank to set this up. The bank managers are laughing. The small "bonus" to get this started will mean several years of new college grads starting off their careers in debt to them.

It's easy to figure out: this generates revenue for the college, as the college is essentially bringing customers to the bank. Not to mention the college saves money direct depositing the money into an account.

College isn't about kids or education, it's about money. Ultimately they don't give a rat's ass about the kids.

Recently went on a 20 minute rant at work when a coworker who owns a few restaurants (CPA's are business sluts, they'll do anything that makes a buck) was talking about this 'great new program' where the employer simply reloads a debit card with the employees paycheck.

He thinks i need a tinfoil hat; i think the numbers of banks in this world are getting smaller and power is being consolidated and we're all that much closer to the end. IMO what you are seeing is a predatory practice. Let us know when the bastards start extending credit on those cards.

I know what is going on, but do the kids? I'm just an advocate for the little guys on this one. It just also happens to be a little bit personal. I already have one member of the board of regents of the university genuinely interested in hearing my concerns. 5 hours ago I didn't much care, but there wasn't anything in my mail today, and there was another message on the machine.

I don't think it's good public policy. Immediate answers may not be there, but you can bet your sweet a55 I'll get them. This is what my life was when I was around the Leg. Fact finding, silently kill.

I'm not being seriously injured by any means, but if the school doesn't have my money, and I don't have my money, then something isn't right.

The "Inquiry" begins.:D

Great bsns model isn't it! Earn a 2% margin on billions of dollars a month or two at a time....

ADP (the payroll people) follows this same concept I believe.

What about the local media?

A local student newspaper or even the local paper could blow this wide open.

Shifty accounting on the bank/university side. They are gaining interest on all that dough just sitting there for a month.

I get my tuition automatically deducted from my predetermined scholarships and the leftover gets direct deposited into my bank account, usually the week before school starts. I have more scholarships than tuition most of the time, so I get a nice deposit every semester. It's hardly enough to live on though.

I don't need to go there. I never have found the need for the press to aid me in resolving these types of affairs. I have confidence in my ability to get this deal worked out without a big fuss.

Another thing that rubs me the wrong way is there was no way to opt out. Either you do the debit card deal, or wait.

We'll see what happens. ***** rolls downhill, and that would be towards the Pres. of the U.

I'm guessing Chris made that suggestion because of what you said in your OP...

"But this isn't really about me, I'll survive. This is about the other students who signed up for this deal, and who will soon find out that when they don't manage their finances (do they ever?) they will be coughing up more $$ to the banks. Some of the kids probably didn't have much of a choice, they needed the money now."

Good point. However, I'm not after her politically. I really think she had good intentions of helping the students, but just didn't think things through clearly. We will see about that, and if there were ulterior motives (and I definitely can see that there may have been), then they will be exposed. I actually think she has done a tremendous amount of good for the U, with this one issue being the exception. If nothing becomes of the situation (I can't imagine that happening) then it probably will be time to go public. The damage is done. Now it's time to figure out why it was done, quietly.

I was thinking along the same line.

When I went to college I was a mature student; no one told me about student loans? I saved my own cash to put myself through college lock stock 'n barrell. Then once I was there I found out about these student loan thingys. Oh well; then I found out that some of the scholarships only paid if you had a loan? WTF.

So I went and got the biggest loan I could. They gave it to me and I didn't need it cause I had the money. So I used the loan money to start a little business whereby multiplying the loan amount several times. At graduation my scholarships (4) paid half my loan off and I paid off the other half.

Little more Real World 101..... didn't stop there, still going strong! ha, ha.
Lovin' Life!

Rob, there's no doubt that I could be making money with the money right now. Thanks for the 101's, but I figured those things out when I was not going to school in my twenties, maybe earlier than that.

I need to start making money-with-the-money idea right about now.

My school pays me to come here. I worked my ass off in early in life to be able to enjoy that luxury. I have 0 student loans, but would undoubtedly be able to be approved for a large amount. sigh..

I've thought about that too, but 5% interest on a stafford loan sounds kind of steep. I have good credit and zero debt. Actually, I've never had any debt in my life, which might be a bad thing seeing how our financial world seems to revolve around it. It seems the more you owe, the better off you are.

Our student loans were 0% interest! That's why I did it. No interest for 1 year after graduating too. I know they had a ton of problems collecting on these, so they quit doing them a few years after. I was one of the LUCKY ones. Yup, the harder I work, the luckier I get; ha, ha.

I dont want to hijack the thread, and I'm not a thread starter, just a lurker mostly. But if you start a thread about "how to make money"; I'll chime in some of my ideas! There are just so many ways to do it. I'm in love with LAND right now, great way to get rich.

Cheers,

Rob, don't worry about a hijack. I think this thread was pretty much done. Feel free to pile on here, the suggestions are more than welcome. If this thread helps anybody, in any way, then it will have served its purpose.SmileWavy