Research shows that kids who learn to manage money when they’re young will be able to better handle their finances as adults. Yet, up until recently, only 17 states required high school students to take a class in personal finance. Now, a new report from the Council for Economic Education found that the number of states that require a high school student to take a personal finance course — either a standalone class or integrated into other coursework — in order to graduate has risen to 21.

View the full article about Teaching Financial Education.

Student debt is a big issue in the 2020 presidential campaign for an obvious reason: There’s a lot of it—about $1.5 trillion, up from $250 billion in 2004. Students loans are now the second largest slice of household debt after mortgages, bigger than credit card debt. About 42 million Americans (about one in every eight) have student loans, so this is a potent issue among voters, particularly younger ones.

View the full article, Who owes all that student debt? And who’d benefit if it were forgiven?

Americans who are struggling to pay off their debt could see lower FICO credit scores in their future, especially if they miss payments.

Fair Isaac Corp., the company behind the popular FICO credit score, announced the launch of its latest FICO 10 model today, Jan. 23, that will start incorporating consumers’ debt levels into their scoring model.

This comes as total household debt in the U.S. has steadily increased for about two years, and currently sits at about $13.95 trillion as of last September 2019, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That’s higher than the previous high of $12.68 trillion seen right before the 2008 financial crisis.

“This was bound to happen,” John Ulzheimer, an expert on credit scores and credit scoring, tells CNBC Make It. “The job of scoring models is to properly assess risk, not simply give people better scores as a default position.”

FICO estimates that about 110 million consumers will see a change of less than 20 points to their score under the new credit score model. Overall, roughly 80 million consumers will see a change in score of 20 or more points in either direction, upward or downward, FICO says.

View the full article on the FICO credit score changes.

Below are the anticipated awarding timelines for 2020-2021. Please check the Status tab of your Financial Aid portal for the 2020-2021 academic year to make sure there are no incomplete requirements on your account that will delay awarding or disbursement of your financial aid.
 
Undergraduate Students

• New Freshman (College Station and Galveston): Awarding begins late January
• New Transfer students (College Station and Galveston): Awarding begins Mid to late March
• Continuing Undergraduate students (College Station and Galveston): Awarding begins June
• Upper-level Public Health Undergraduates: Awarding begins early July

Graduate Students

• New Graduate students (College Station and Galveston): Awarding begins early to mid-May
• Continuing Graduate students (College Station and Galveston): Awarding begins June
• Nursing Graduate students: Awarding begins early July
• Public Health Graduate students: Awarding begins early July

Professional Students

• 1^st year Law students: Awarding begins early April
• 2^nd and 3^rd year Law students: Awarding begins Mid-June
• 4^th Year Pharmacy students: Awarding begins late May
• 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd year Pharmacy students: Awarding begins early June
• Dental professional students (DDS): Awarding begins mid to late April
• 4^th Year Medicine students: Awarding begins late May
• 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd year Medical students: Awarding begins early June
• 4^th year Veterinary students: Awarding begins Early- April
• 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd year Veterinary students: Awarding begins Mid-June

Do you want a chance to get a $1,000, participate in our Financial Four Scholarship drawing!

Scholarships & Financial Aid will be holding a drawing at the end of June 2020 to award $1,000 scholarships to 10 students. Students will have four different steps to complete. The students that participate will get an entry into a scholarship drawing for every step completed. Students will only receive one entry per step, for a maximum of four entries. 

There is no application or entry form for this drawing. You will receive an email after the deadline of each step to notify you of your entry in the scholarship drawing. The scholarship will be awarded to the 2020-2021 school year for the students who receive it. 

Visit the Financial Four Scholarship Drawing webpage.

Use the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to complete you FAFSA. It allows you to populate your FAFSA with your 2018 federal income tax data. It takes less time to complete the FAFSA and reduces the chance of having to submit more information later. Make sure you and/or your parent, if applicable, electronically sign the FAFSA.

Watch for communications from our office on any further documents needed from you. Do NOT send anything until we request it. Submit all requested documents as soon as possible to ensure you are awarded quickly and so there will be no delay on your Fall 2020 financial aid being released to you. 

You can complete your FAFSA at studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa. The priority date is January 15, 2020.

You can now complete the eTASFA online through your Howdy Portal.

Step 1: Sign into howdy.tamu.edu, and click on the My Finances Tab
 
Step 2: Click on the link for the eTASFA application in the Student TASFA section and select the 2020-2021 academic year.
 
Step 3: Complete your 2020-2021 eTASFA! The application will save your information as you go, so you can return to complete it later.
 
Step 4: Have your parent e-sign your eTASFA. (Note: Your parent must have Parent Access to financial aid information in Howdy to sign the application. Visit the Parent Howdy Account page for instructions on setting up Parent Access. Or you can print your application for your parent to sign and then upload it through the Financial Aid Portal.
 
Step 5: After October 18th, additional required documents will be requested in your Financial Aid Portal. Upload all required documents to complete your application.

Watch for communications from our office on any further documents needed from you. Do NOT send anything until we request it. Submit all requested documents as soon as possible to ensure you are awarded quickly and so there will be no delay on your Fall 2020 financial aid being released to you.

Lacking the skills needed to make informed financial decisions hurts individuals and the economy. What can advisers do to help?

View the article on Financial Literacy.

The money will help students whose lives were upended by Hurricane Harvey and who slipped through the existing safety net at campuses in College Station, Galveston, Kingsville, Prairie View and Corpus Christi.

To view the full article, visit the Qatar Harvey Fund article.

"It’s one of the oldest cons around. Come up with the cash to pay a small fee up front, and there is a big pot of money just waiting for you," Acorns reports. 

"You might recognize this classic grift from some of its common versions, which often appear out of the blue in your email inbox. Your long-lost uncle has named you in his will! You won an overseas lottery! Or that timeless classic—a Nigerian prince needs your help getting cash out of his country!

The name for these is 'advance fee scams,' and unfortunately for college students, there is another variety: The scholarship scam.

To view the article, Watch Out for These 3 Red Flags of Scholarship Scams.