WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Friday March 28th, 2014 marked the inaugural Summit On Educational Excellence For African Americans.  This PHENOMENAL event was put on by the White House Initiative For Educational Excellence For African Americans.  They partnered with Ebony Magazine (Amy DuBois Barnett) and Morehouse College (Dr. Wilson, President) to bring dynamic thought leaders to Morehouse’s Ray Charles Performing Arts Center for two days of intense conversation about how to close the achievement gap among African American Males.  Just to name a few of the heavy hitters on the panels: Dr. Arlethia Perry-Johnson, Dr. John Eaves, Al Dotson Jr., Jim Shelton, Otha Thorton, and Dr. Ivory Toldson.  There were many more!  The main moderators were Jeff Johnson ( award winning journalist) and David Johns (Executive Director of Initiative) who throughout the conference made sure the panelists gave honest direct answers that would push those of us in the audience toward action!

The topics discussed by various panels were “Challenges and Opportunities Facing Young Men of Color”, “Black Male Success in Higher Education”, “The Benefits of Education and Education Reform”, “College and Career Readiness”, “Cost and Consequence of Gun Violence”, and more.  The reason that I drove five hours down to Atlanta, GA is because after discovering @AfAmEducation on Twitter I have been engaged in their mission of closing the gap for African American Children.  More specifically their priority of increasing the number of African American students who successfully obtain a postsecondary degree, credential, or certificate that leads to a successful career.  The motivation for me traveling all over the country speaking to college students about Financial Literacy is because I know the success that comes with not just getting into college, but crossing the stage at graduation!

The first panel by far was my favorite and the reason that I wrote this blog post.  The first panel should have been titled “This Is Why We Are Here, This Is Our Future!” because on the panel were two high school students Miles Ezeilo (9th grade), Keith Slaughter (10th grade) and three college students Thabiti Stephens, Otha Thorton III, and Joshua Young.  These young men fueled my fire to bring Financial Literacy or more specifically behaving with money into the conversation at the Summit!  Although there was not a panel discussing how money behavior could alleviate or even eliminate a lot of these problems, the first panel brought it front and center.  Morehouse senior Thabiti Stephens who is an entrepreneur himself and the owner of Steps By Stephens a shoe company who donates a portion of its’ sales to help with food insecurity in the Atlanta area actually said the words “Financial Literacy” in one of his comments.  I was already going to ask a question to the panel about the importance of Financial Literacy, but once he said it I understood the need for the subject to be a part of this summit.  This young man along with the other four represent the “dreamers” I speak to across the country.  Students who have ideas that can help others in their community or around the world, but fail to bring those dreams to reality because of financial issues (debt).  Debt or irresponsibility with money could have kept StepsByStephens.com a dream and the money for the food insecure an illusion!  That is why Financial Literacy has to be a part of the conversation when talking about closing the gap and NOT the usual talk about Financial Literacy where people teach students and adults that the credit score is important and a credit card is a tool!  I am talking about showing people how to behave with money.  Showing students and their parents that when you pay off debt you can make money work for you!  When you don't owe the bank money you can save for your child’s college education, you can save for retirement, you can start that business, you can give to that charity that provides quality daycare for low income children, YOU CAN!  Those talented young men were only the beginning.

The next panel consisted of Dr. Perry-Johnson, Dr. Toldson, Dr. Shaun Harper, Dr. Bryant Marks, and Morehouse senior Timothy Spicer Jr. and their task was to discuss “Black Male Success In Higher Education.”  They debunked the common myths about African American male achievement and the true percentage of African American males in college, but what truly caught my attention was a statement made by Dr. Marks.  He said, “what HBCU’s need from alumni is to write checks!”  What made this statement so profound is that first, it’s true, but more importantly the Deputy Director of the White House Initiative On Historically Black Colleges and Universities Dr. Toldson was sitting on the same panel.  The universities that the initiative represents are in dire need for alumni to give back!  Take for example Morris Brown College which is a five minute drive away from Morehouse has at the present time 35 students enrolled and is more that $30 MILLION in debt!  The college is going to have to sell majority of its’ land to stay open!  There is also Bennett College which like Spelman College is an all female HBCU and it is in financial hot water to the point that it had to close one of it’s buildings last Fall.  There are not many all female colleges left, let alone HBCU’s that are all female so it is a situation that needs close attention.  Lastly, there is Howard University and Morgan State University who last Fall seen a drop in students because of changes in the PLUS loans.  Hundreds of students found themselves threatened with dropping out of college because they didn’t have the money to cover the balance they owed.  There were seniors in their last year who had to go home!  These are just a few examples of Higher Ed institutions that are having financial issues and HBCU’s are not alone there are institutions all over the United States going through the same thing.  If Higher Ed institutions want any alum to write a check they should show that alum while they are still in undergrad how to behave with money!  The average student loan debt that a person graduates with is now at $29,000, so these students are grabbing diplomas in red deficit ink!  They go out on their own not understanding delayed gratification which leads to more debt (car loans, house loan, credit cards, etc) and all of a sudden they are up to their eyeballs in debt and have no money to give back to their alma mater who needs it!  I am sure there are plenty of people who have been out of college for over a decade still paying back student loans.  Some critics may say “not everyone graduates with loans.”  They would be right, and I am one of those people!  I graduated debt free and still racked up $48,000 in debt because I didn’t know how to behave with money.  I paid the debt off in 2 1/2 years, but that was lost money for retirement, an emergency fund, or donations to my alma mater South Carolina State University!  An alum who is debt free is an alum who writes checks and writes BIG ONES!  

The last thing that I will touch on from the Summit is the need for more African American male teachers.  A project that Jeff Johnson one of the moderators is the Jeff Johnson Institute For Urban Development which has a goal to recruit and develop 80,000 African American male teachers in 5 years.  Throughout the Summit the same statement was being said “we need more teachers that look like our children especially the male ones.”  The great news is that more and more African American males are going into teaching, but what I fear just like with any other teacher of any race is that the amount of money that they are paid will not keep them in the profession for the long run.  Teachers have an extremely difficult job and they get paid nothing!  I’ve had numerous teachers tell me that they can not get ahead financially because of their salary.  There are groups all over the country fighting for higher teacher pay, but in the meantime show those majoring in education and those who are already teachers how to pay off debt they have and build an eight month emergency fund.  Doing this is not to take the pressure off of lawmakers to do what is right and increase pay, but it is to take the financial burden off that teacher so that they can come to class with a peace of mind and give their best to that student they love to serve!  

I know that this post was much longer than usual, but this event was to important not to show how real Financial Literacy could make a positive impact in majority of the topics discussed.  This Summit was about recognizing the issues, but it also was about ACTION!  My first action was to write this blog post and my next action is to email as many of the over 100 HBCU Presidents to discuss the importance of implementing Financial Literacy (Financial Behavior) at their institutions.  Not just to benefit their undergraduates, but also to benefit their longterm survival!

A special thank you to Dr. Wilson and Morehouse for opening your doors to this event!  A supersize THANK YOU to David Johns and EVERY individual behind the success of the White House Initiative For Educational Excellence For African Americans and @AfAmEducation!

www.Dreamgirlspeaker.com

Silently Suffering

A couple of weeks ago I attended the NACA (National Association For Campus Activities) Conference in Nashville Tennessee.  NACA is where colleges and universities from all around the country come to one place to hire performances for their campus for the upcoming semester while at the same time attending beneficial educational workshops. The campus representatives who attend are mostly students accompanied by an advisor.  This was my first National NACA so 99% of the students and student affair professionals were meeting me for the first time.  Majority of the performances that are for hire at NACA are music acts, magic acts, comedy, lecturers, etc so what I have to offer is completely different and at first not easy to understand. That is why I wear a t-shirt that says “DEBT SUCKS” on it because that is what I am about, I am about showing students that they don’t have to die in debt like so many people before them. They actually can be different from their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc and get out of debt in a few years after graduation.   I did not start off my speaking career talking to college students but I actually started speaking to individuals who were in the average age range of 40-65yrs and the common sentence spoken at the end of my presentation no matter where I was at was “where were you when I was younger?”  It was said to me so much that I decided I need to go to where the people are younger and that is when I started speaking at colleges.  I went to NACA because it is the best way to get in front of a lot of universities and colleges in one place and when you are able to interact with close to 2500 people in a few days you are able to see a disturbing trend.

Students on a daily basis would walk past me, look at my shirt, and say DEBT does SUCK! Then I would speak to them one on one and quickly come to understand that their financial issues ran extremely deep and that they don’t even know where to start to get a handle of it.  A senior came up to me who was in $30,000 of debt which consisted of student loans, credit cards, and a car loan.  He said “we need you to come to our school, or better yet I just need your personal email because I need help.”  He went on to talk about he didn't know how he would pay off the debt after graduation and to make the situation more serious he had a baby on the way in June.  I met a young woman who wanted after graduation to work directly with young kids at risk and help them towards a more promising future, but she said that she would have to take a job that she didn't want to just to pay off the debt she had.  In her words “I will have to put off my dream for a few years until I can get a handle on my debt.” Another young lady stopped me in mid sentence and said “please don’t remind me of my debt.  I went to a different university before attending this one and racked up so much already.”  As she was speaking tears started to form in her eyes and I quickly told her it would be okay, but she shook her head and said “I don’t think so.”  I tried to help her in the two minutes we had to talk, but I could tell that she needed more and at this type of event that was not possible.

The examples go on and on, but the point of the stories above is that there are A LOT of students that are silently suffering because of debt and they need help, they need direction.  When I was in college which was not long ago no one cared about how much they owed because we all just said we will get to it after graduation, but these students don’t have the same care free option.  With tuition at some universities increasing as much as 40% since 2008 students are feeling the burden of debt before they graduate and to add insult to injury because of the 2008 recession the government has less money to give to universities for grants, etc.  When less money is coming in from the government then who makes up the difference in the money owed? That’s right, the student and their parents.  The good news is some universities are seeing the importance of financial literacy for their students and like the idea of someone who has been in massive debt, got out of it, and now is able to show others how to do the same. After NACA I recognized that I have to do a better job at explaining to Deans, Directors, Advisors, etc the importance of this information because there are students silently suffering and if they don’t go in the right direction they WILL BE graduates silently suffering who will be deep in debt living paycheck to paycheck and not the prosperous alumni that can give back to their alma mater.  My mission is to help as many college students as I can before they graduate so that they are able to live a life without debt.  A life without debt for these students will lead to a world that is changed for the better.

Read the Fine Print

It is that time of year again where impatient seniors are waiting to cross that stage and grab their diploma!  These young people see their graduation as the end of childhood while actually it is the beginning of real life, real adult life, because decisions are being made that are going to affect them for years or even decades to come.  One crucial decision that is being made on their behalf is financial aid.  Parents all around the country have applied for financial aid for their child’s college of choice and by now have received a response.  Each college or university have their own form to fill out as well as their own award letter that they send back to each family and because every school is different some families end up being confused about the amount of “free” money that is actually being given.

When parents receive the financial aid letter a lot of times they see the final number which might say for a $32,000 a year tuition they were awarded $22,000, but if they read the FINE PRINT the parents actually still have to borrow $15,000 in loans.  The $22K they tend to see as the award usually has the amount of loans needed on behalf of the student in order for them to attend that university.  When parents figure this out sometimes it is too late to make an adjustment and the parents end up borrowing tens of thousands of dollars in the student’s name.  This is why the national student loan debt is topping $1 trillion dollars.  There is not enough financial aid available like in the past so more students are going into debt to go to their dream school.

Parents do have a few options if they are stuck with sticker shock when the award letter arrives.  First they can appeal the university for more financial aid, because most schools keep an appeal fund on the side for just that purpose.  They are more likely to accept the parent’s appeal if there is a comparable college offering the student more money.  Also make sure that when filling out the financial aid that you provide as much information as possible so that your child receives the best possible offer from the university.  The other option that is probably the best option and that is have your child choose a college that you the parent can afford without too much financial aid and if the child receives financial aid it is just icing on the cake.  One side note when I say a college you can afford I mean that the money has already been saved and you don’t have to tap credit cards, home equity, or any retirement funds.  Remember always read the fine print, it could save your child a future with debt!

Have you ran into sticker shock when dealing with financial aid?

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

When attempting to get out of debt you have to take actions you have never taken before and go places you have never been.  Sacrifice is the key word in becoming DEBT FREE and for many that is a brand new concept because before sacrificing to win financially sounded like punishment and abuse.  On the journey to getting out of debt I hit the problem of debt from all possible angles.  Of course our family found new ways to bring in additional income, but the most beneficial changes came from cutting back on certain items and services.  One area that I cut back on was clothing for not only me, but for the entire family.  I use to be the person who wore only name brand clothes and shoes and the same was true for my husband as well.  We had been dressing this way ever since we were in college.  That all changed once I was on unemployment and $48K in debt.

At that point shopping at Goodwill and consignment shops became a new hobby.  I could no longer justify spending $20+ on a pair of jeans or $40 on a pair of shoes because we didn’t have the funds to cover it.  For those of you who don’t know what Goodwill is it is a store that sells used clothes donated by others and the proceeds go to career training for individuals in need as well as other services.  Before I started shopping there I use to look down my nose at Goodwill and you wouldn’t catch me dead in there.  That all changed one day when I went to one of the local stores and seen multiple BMW’s and other luxury cars in the parking lot.  Before going in I said to myself the drivers in these cars must be here to donate clothing, but once I was inside I seen a couple of the ladies actually buying for themselves!  At that moment I realized that these women are just continuing the spending habits they had before they owned the luxury cars and there was no shame to them to be shopping at Goodwill.  This store was allowing them to save money in their clothing budget so they could spend in more important areas like college funds, retirement, and vacations.  Right then and there I said to myself “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”  “These wealthy individuals don’t think they are so much better that they can’t shop in Goodwill why do you think you are?”  From that point on I have been finding great deals at Goodwill and consignment sales and tell you the truth it is those clothes that I get the most repeat compliments on. 

I attend consignment sales mostly for my son’s clothing and shoes because if you have kids you know that they don’t care if they drag their shoe until it is a hole at the toe.  They don’t care about crawling in the dirt until the jeans they are wearing are no longer recognizable.  That is exactly why their clothing shouldn’t cost you a lot of money.  I hate to see parents spend $100 on a pair of sneakers when they could just spend $8 or less at a consignment sale and put the rest in a 529 college fund.  Kids are not hard to impress in fact every time I bring home clothes or shoes from a consignment sale my son always says “mommy you got me some new shoes, thank you mommy!” They don’t care where the shoes come from as long as they light up and they can play outside in them.  We as adults are trying to impress other adults when we buy our kids expensive clothing and all we are doing is depleting our own bank accounts for the future.  When I was employed in my first pregnancy five years ago I bought all of my son’s items brand new. Brand new changing table, crib, stroller, car seat all of it was coming out of my bank account at full price.  I know I spent thousands of dollars before he was even born.  I am now eight months pregnant again, but this time I bought the stroller, car seats, changing table, diaper bag, bath tub, etc, from church consignment sales and saved thousands!  The point of all this rambling is that you don’t have to care what people say if they see you shopping at Goodwill or consignment sales because they may be laughing, but if they saw your bank account the laughing would surely stop!  I actually brag about the deals that I get now because I want people to know that there are more important things in life than clothes.  So the next time you find yourself sticking up your nose at Goodwill and consignment sales while at the same time in debt do what I did and say to yourself “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”

Have you ever saved money by buying used clothes?

How Much?!

How much?  If you listen carefully you can hear that being said all over the United States by unsuspecting college graduates who had no idea the true cost of the college degree they just obtained and guess what now the loan has come due.  Why would these adults know the amount of loans that were taken out on their behalf, because more than likely their parents had them sign up for the debt when they were eighteen.  What eighteen year old has the life experience to even understand what debt even is, but four years later all of sudden they are in a crash course with reality.  Imagine coming out of school with a student loan debt of 40, 50, or even $100,000!  Go one step further and imagine having that amount of debt with an entry level salary or even worse no career at all!  This is a dilemma that graduates find themselves in today.  The sad part is that it did not have to be this way and all it took to change this outcome was preparation on the part of the parents and the kids themselves.

Parents have eighteen years to prepare for their children to go to college for free.  The opportunities are endless for a free education.  Starting with investing into an Educational Savings Account or a 529 Plan and letting the money compound for eighteen years will definitely have your child going to college debt free.  Next start applying for college scholarships immediately.  Don’t believe the lie that only athletes and insanely smart kids get scholarships.  Also don’t wait until junior or senior year in high school to start searching because there are scholarships for kids as young as thirteen or even younger as seen on this website: www.finaid.org .  Last, but not least every able teenager can work for their collegiate dreams.  They can wash cars, mow grass, have yard sales, get a job, deliver newspapers, etc.  They can work in high school and college to insure that they come out a debt free graduate.  Both parents and kids should realize that the college they choose should match the money they have saved.  A child doesn’t have to go to an Ivy League institution to have a great career.  For example I went to South Carolina State University and although I was on a tennis scholarship I knew that it cost $7,000 a year for tuition and boarding.  During the same time Wake Forest which is a private university had a tuition and boarding of over $25,000 a year!  There is no way that a diploma from Wake Forest is worth FOUR TIMES more than a diploma from South Carolina State University.  I promise the opportunities are out there if you make the right choices and as a result of those choices a DEBT FREE education will be waiting for you!

Have you ever had a “how much” moment with student loan debt?