For ages, the American dream has been built on obtaining a quality education, earning a credential from a degree-awarding entity and then starting a life full of wealth and opportunity. Or at least that was the dream bestowed upon America’s new dominating workforce: millennials.
Born between 1981 and 1996, during a pop culture boom of multi-million dollar music videos, millennials grew up inundated with a barrage of doctored images of success and sayings like, “It takes money to make money.” These were the messages that influenced their decisions to pay exorbitant tuition prices when choosing their academic and career pathways, ultimately leading many underprepared and fiscally ignorant souls to secure student loans in an effort to reach economic mobility.
The large levels of student debt amassed by many millennials has several causes, including increasing tuition costs and a lack of loan regulation. However, insufficient financial literacy is also partly to blame. Absent from many K-12 curriculums, policymakers and educators should prioritize efforts to teach students of all ages how to wisely manage their personal resources, especially when it comes to spending on education. Furthermore, delaying financial literacy education until students enter college can be and has proven disastrous.