Mississippi policymakers believe today’s young people are woefully undereducated on how to manage their money.
The state’s public high schools now require that students take a semester-long course in personal finance. Starting next school year, the concepts will start being introduced to middle schoolers.
Some in the Legislature think that’s not enough. Sen. Nichole Boyd, who chairs that chamber’s Committee on Universities and Colleges, says there will be an effort during the 2026 session to mandate that all college students take a financial literacy course.
That may be a good idea, but the best thing the colleges and universities can do for their students is to lower the cost of attendance.
So many young adults find themselves in a financial bind because they leave campus deeply in hock. The average student loan debt in Mississippi is now pushing $40,000. Because of the state’s lower average wage, that equates to the heaviest debt burden in the nation.
Some of this is not the fault of the schools. As Mississippi has shifted more of its education funding from higher education to K-12 schools, the colleges have responded by raising tuition.
The schools themselves, however, have not been good at managing their costs or their students’ expectations. They have fed into the entitlement culture by providing amenities equivalent to, if not better than, what many students have in their own homes. This comes with a cost, a lot of it borrowed.
If the colleges and universities are going to teach students about living within their means, the schools should do their part to make it easier to do so.
