Thanks to Adam for participating in a recent NGPF Speaker Series event. If you google Adam Carroll, the autofill suggests "Adam Carroll finance," which is only appropriate given his expertise in this area, particularly finance for young adults.  Adam is an author of four books, renowned speaker for high school and college audiences, and producer of documentary on student debt (Broke, Busted and Disgusted). In this podcast, Adam discusses the importance of educating young people about student debt BEFORE they make their college choices and strategies he recommends to capture their attention. Enjoy!

Details:

• 0:00~1:07 Introduction
• 1:07~12:34 Adam’s background and interest in student debt
• 12:34~18:37 Relationship to money growing up
• 18:37~23:46 What’s the message to students?
• 23:46~27:09 Common questions Adam receives from high school students
• 27:09~31:00 Where did the student debt crisis come from?
• 31:00~31:36 A word from NGPF
• 31:36~35:37 Educating young people about debt
• 35:37~37:57 Making debt real to students
• 37:57~42:33 Impact of COVID on higher education
• 42:33~47:14 Resources for the classroom 
• 47:14~50:43 Thoughts on loan forgiveness
• 50:43~52:14 Updating the documentary
• 52:14~56:11 Conclusion

Quotes:

• “I tell young people on college campuses all the time, you can have whatever you want in life, it’s all out there for you, but you can’t have it at 22. Someone will try and sell it to you at 22. And if you buy it at 22, you’re going to be paying for it at 32, 42, and 52. But if you wait, if you have a little bit of patience and you do the right things, you can achieve financial freedom in your 30s or 40s.”

Resources:

• Ted Talk: The changing economic realities of college
• Mastery Of Money For Students
• US Debt Clock
• Scholarship Mastery
• Vertex42

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Check out the NGPF podcast archives here. 

About the Authors

Ren Makino

Ren started interning at NGPF in 2014, and worked part-time through high school and college. With his knowledge growing alongside NGPF, he joined the team to work full-time after graduating from college in 2020. He is also the producer of the NGPF podcast. During his free time, he likes to try out coffees from different roasters across the world.

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.