Contact: Bill Pratt
301-788-2711
Bill.pratt@prattfinancialgroup.com

Money Issues Overtake Academic Failure as #1 Cause of College Dropouts

40% more students drop out of college due to money issues including student loan debt and credit card debt than academic failure

[Washington, DC] –More than 1.5 million college students in the U.S. are expected to drop out of college in 2008 due to money issues, according to Bill Pratt, former credit card executive and author of Extra Credit: The 7 Things Every College Student Needs to Know About Credit, Debt & Ca$h (Available August 2008). Academic failure comes in a distant second, representing 6% of all students.
 
Pratt says “We are failing our students by not teaching them the fundamentals of personal finance, while sending them out on their own in a money-driven society.” According to Pratt, the more than 800 four-year schools that allow credit card marketers to set up a booth on campus “owe it to their students to provide some education before students find themselves in too much debt to focus on their course work.”

While college tabling marketers get all the attention, only 18% of student credit cards are opened through this face-to-face method. The largest percentage of student cards is opened through direct mail, at 35%. Pratt points out, “Parents also need to take some responsibility to help educate their college-bound children, since one-fourth off all first cards opened by students are through the help of their parents.”
 
Pratt started writing financial advice just after college to help prevent others in his age group from making the same money mistakes he had. “I signed up at a credit card table just to get the free t-shirt my first semester, before I was 18. The next thing you know I received a new application in the mail on my 18th birthday and graduated a few years later with several thousand dollars of credit card debt.”  
 
Pratt delivers lectures for colleges, universities and high schools to help students with life and money questions.

“Debt and financial pressure is the number one reason students drop out of college; the number one reason for divorce; and the number one reason people feel stuck in the middle class,” says Pratt. “My goal is to bring an energetic and fun message to campuses to stop such problems before they occur.”

To get a copy of Extra Credit, log onto www.extracreditbook.com or www.Amazon.com. To schedule an interview or a seminar, please call Bill Pratt at 301-788-2711.
###
Bill Pratt educates his audiences about how to make the best decisions with the right attitude to improve their own lives and the lives of those around them.  To schedule an interview or a seminar, please call Bill Pratt at 301-788-2711.