Stumbled upon this survey from Thrivent Financial "State of Student Debt In America," highlighting the lack of communication between students and their parents when it comes to college:

Opening the lines of communication is key to reducing stress and ensuring students really are prepared for the realities of college costs. And students desire that dialogue to happen regularly. The survey found the majority of students (70 percent) wish their families spoke with them about college costs more often.

So, who bears the responsibility of having those awkward-but-necessary talks about paying for college? The answer is up for debate: 80 percent of parents feel it’s their or other family members’ job to teach kids about managing the cost of college, compared to only 51 percent of students who feel this way.

The good news is that we have a solution to get students and their families talking about college costs. It's called PAYBACK. Recently featured in the NY Times, over 50,000 users have taken the PAYBACK Challenge and honed their decision-making skills to make it to and through college. Oh, and they also learn to manage their student debt and balance a host of other priorities.

What we didn't anticipate when we built this game was how PAYBACK would open these lines of communication and encourage conversations between students and their parents. 

Here's just a sampling of what teachers are telling us:

• "Many students told me that this interactive lesson sparked great conversations with their parents. Now aware of the potentially high cost of a college education, they were curious to know if their parents had a substantial college fund established, if they were expected to work while in college, and if their parents expected them to finance their education through student loans and/or scholarships."
• "When returning to school the following day after the lesson students informed me that went home and played the game with their parents and had conversations about decisions that parent have to make."
• "Students were so eager to play this game, when asked to finish at home, most of them went home and completed it on their own computer. Many parents even contacted me about how much enjoyment they had going over the game with their students."

Be sure to have your students use the worksheet we created to accompany the game as it has some great reflection questions. 

As I like to say about PAYBACK, "It's a 15 minute game that will lead to hours of discussion." Doesn't the most important decision of these young students' lives deserve this sort of attention? Give them the gift of PAYBACK (it's FREE!) so they can practice and think through these important decisions BEFORE they have to make them. And it might even start a dialogue with their parents. Enjoy!

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Looking for more ways to teach your students about college finance? Check out the NGPF Paying for College Resource Page!

About the Author

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.

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