Consumer Credit Counseling helps college students stay out of debt

The main campus of Northeastern State University is nestled in the middle of downtown Tahlequah. More than 6000 college students come to the university to study history, philosophy, and science. Now

Wednesday, November 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The main campus of Northeastern State University is nestled in the middle of downtown Tahlequah. More than 6000 college students come to the university to study history, philosophy, and science. Now N-S-U offers another course entitled College Strategies. Students in this course learn about financial aid, time management as well as study habits. The goal is to help students stay in school, graduate and be successful. In order to do this, the course includes some life lessons.

The day's topic was credit cards. The university asked Consumer Credit Counseling to give the students the straight story on credit. The average debt carried over from month to month on a credit card is $2000.
70 percent of college students have at least one credit card, and many are in debt. The class targeted freshman like Patrick Abshier. He's been getting offers since high school. "My parents always told me I didn't need to get one, and I was probably going to wait until I get out of college,â€ he said. â€œI've had problems paying for college, so I'm going to wait until I get out of college before I even get a credit card."

Consumer Credit Counselingâ€™s Meredith Exline trys to cover the basics in the class. Her goal is to leave a lasting impression. "A better understanding of credit, so that they can realize the significance of understanding the terms and conditions,â€ she explained. â€œThey can learn how to read those, so it won't be costly to them. Hopefully, they'll make good decisions about credit, so they won't end up in a debt situation." This way, when the students do leave the N-S-U campus, they'll be armed with a diploma, and free of credit card debt.

Consumer Credit Counseling also helps people get out of debt. Just call their office in Tulsa at 744-5611.