Website helps students grapple with world of money

Better late than never.

Don't get me wrong. I firmly believe youngsters need to master spending, budgeting and other money-management basics by the time they graduate from high school.

But despite a growing emphasis on financial education, many studies -- including one this month from the Jumpstart Coalition -- show that high school teens continue to struggle with this important topic.

All is not lost, however. A new Internet-based program aims to help college students and recent graduates fill in some of the financial gaps they might have missed from high school.

Developed and rolled out last fall by the nonprofit National Endowment for Financial Education, CashCourse is being used on more than 60 college campuses by thousands of young students.

Among the schools tapping into CashCourse are the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary and Old Dominion University.

What the Web service offers is this: current, relevant personal-finance information to young adults on several dozen topics, such as renting apartments, the financial issues of Greek life, the temptations of gambling, and buying or leasing a car. There are also sections on the ongoing hunt for college scholarships, understanding the financial-aid game and getting out of credit-card debt.

The site is easy to navigate, and the information is easy to read and print out.

Many of today's college students are swimming in student loans and are starting to build high levels of credit-card debt. And many are not schooled in how to weigh offers for plastic, how to pick through savings and investment options or how to evaluate the financial aspects of job offers.

"Many young people just don't understand the basics," said Brent Neiser, director of strategic programs and alliances at the National Endowment for Financial Education.

According to the April 9 Jumpstart survey, high school seniors correctly answered just under half the questions on a financial literacy test. That's down from a similar test in 2006, when 52.4 percent of the questions were answered correctly by seniors.

This year, for the first time, Jumpstart also tested college students. They reported significantly higher scores than high-schoolers, answering 62 percent of the questions correctly. College seniors scored a 65 percent.

That's still a D in my grade book, but progress is progress. Perhaps over time, financial education programs will drive those scores higher.

CashCourse is not the only Web tool aimed at college students. The Federal Reserve, for example, this month introduced its Money Smart for Young Adults program for students ages 12 to 20 (www.fdic.gov).

While anyone can view the CashCourse site at www.cashcourse.org, much of the information is available only to students at participating colleges.

The site is divided into four basic content areas: financial basics; paying for college; college life; and the world of work. There's also highlighted content on the 20 most-popular topics -- chosen by college students and including car financing, budgeting, paying for college and many other complications that money brings.