Health and Human Services Professional Development

Will You Live the American Dream? by   Mikki Sherwood   on   September 10, 2013   Adam Levin   is the former Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs and is the founder of Credit.com and Identity Theft 911. He recently posted on   Huffington Post’s   Business Blog. He titled his writing,   “The New American Dream: It’s Not What You Think.”   Mr. Levin cites a recent credit.com poll that found that approximately one in four people between the ages of 18 and 24 would describe the “American Dream” as being free of debt. Interestingly, in the past, home ownership was the definition of the American Dream. Historically home ownership has been seen as the pinnacle of stability and success for U.S. Americans. In fact, old laws required that citizens be required to own a home before being allowed to register to vote. The recession, however, has caused young adults to view the ownership of a home as far out of reach. In fact, basic...

Drowning in Credit Card Debt by   Guest Author, Ashley Bigard   on   July 26, 2014   It is not uncommon to graduate from college with a high amount of debt. Student loans can quickly add up, yet another contributing factor is the use of credit cards. Credit cards are more available than in the past, enticing a majority of today’s college students to use credit cards to pay for their living expenses. This is making it even easier for students to end up in debt upon graduation. Knowledge about positive financial behavior is related to responsible credit card use among college students. Luckily, there are many tools that can help students gain the knowledge they need to live within their means so that credit cards do not have to be an option. There are apps, websites and calculators that can assist with budgeting. In addition, many universities provide financial literacy education to students. The best thing a student can do is figure out a budget and...

Don’t Let Credit Card Use Drown You in Debt! by   Ashley Bigard, Guest Author   on   November 17, 2014 It is not uncommon to graduate from college with a high amount of debt. While student loans can quickly add up, another contributing factor is the use of credit cards. Credit cards are more available than in the past, enticing a majority of today’s college students to use credit cards to pay for their living expenses. This is making it even easier for students to end up in debt upon graduation. Knowledge about positive financial behavior is related to responsible credit card use among college students. Luckily, there are many tools that can help students gain the knowledge they need to live within their means so that credit cards do not have to be an option. There are apps, websites and calculators that can assist with budgeting. In addition, many universities provide financial literacy education to students. The best thing a student can do is figur...