My Comments: I’m doing my best to stress that going into debt to pay for a college education is a last resort. When you realize there are millions of dollars available in the form of endowment scholarships from virtually every school, then it becomes a question of knowing how to access that money.

The answer is NOT on the internet. You have to know how to speak the language of college admissions offices, how to position yourself favorably with the school you want to attend, and then know how to negotiate with several schools to have them extend financial offers that are favorable to you. It takes time and it takes an effort on the part of the student, but there is real money available if you know how to play the game.

Call me and I’ll share with you how to get started on solving this problem.

Jim Pavia March 4, 2012

College students are drowning in credit card debt. Study after study confirms the dismal state of undergraduates’ financial affairs, yet students continue to spend, remaining in denial or in a weird state of suspended reality about their precarious financial circumstances.

Away from home and experiencing independence for the first time, many students really let loose and spend — not cash, which typically is limited to the balance in a checking or savings account, but with a swipe of a credit card that is easy to obtain and often attached to a credit line in the thousands of dollars.

Although parents worry about the dangers of teenage experimentation with drugs, alcohol and sex, the kids are digging themselves and/or their parents into a financial mess that can be just as damaging in the long run as any of the consequences of the more familiar vices.