As loan debt grows, Morningside seeks to steer students through present and future budgeting

The goal isn't to scare them about what lies after graduation. Rather, it's an avenue for some outside-the-classroom learning about how to budget when living expenses aren't all rolled in together, monthly payments on student loan debt are required and you can't beg friends for extra meal swipes if you run short.

College officials came up with the modified, scholastic game -- which they dub "The Game of Life after college" -- last year to complement existing financial literacy programming and show students that budgeting can be more complicated it might seem on the surface.

[More from the magazine: Morningside students opt for payment apps over cash.]

"The reason why I really like that program is it provides financial literacy in a way that is fun for students but that they can also understand. It gives a realistic sort of component to it," said Stacie Hays, the school's associate vice president for career services and professional development. "The difficult part (of budgeting) is when life happens. ... How are you going to manage those things?"

Hays said students have shown stress about finances all 14 years she has worked at Morningside -- budgeting is, of course, as old as money. But student debt has skyrocketed in recent years, from $240 billion in 2013 to $1.46 trillion in 2018, according to the New York Federal Reserve, sparking more conversations and more angst about finances for students both while they're in school and after they graduate. Further, student debt is as widespread as it is burdensome: Nearly 45 million Americans carry it, and there was more total student loan debt in 2018 than credit card or auto loan debts.

That prevalence is evident at the local level: "Student debt probably is what comes up the most" in conversations with students, Hays said. "When I first started here, students were less stressed about student debt because maybe they didn’t think about it as much as now."

The career services office isn't full of financial experts, Hays said, but her department offers budgeting services because students ask about it during job-search conversations -- and it might fall through the cracks otherwise. The office puts on multiple group financial literacy sessions each semester, on topics from general budgeting to credit cards, though attendance is often bolstered with students required to attend or those who can earn extra credit for participating.

Often, students don't think about long-term financial considerations until long-term becomes perilously close, said Karen Gagnon, the school's director of financial planning. That's the type of concern the Game of Life is meant to alleviate.

Still, conversations about finances start long before discussions about careers, and officials say they're designed to minimize future financial burdens. Gagnon pushes students to consider every possible non-loan funding mechanisms, from on-campus work -- the school's annual student payroll budget now tops $1 million -- to scholarships for wearing duct-tape attire to prom. Even as total debt has risen, the internet age allows students to find many niche opportunities more easily.

"Every student should be concerned about loan debt," Gagnon said. "Our goal is to help every student one, don't take out a loan unless you absolutely need it. All the pre-work that we do is, 'Do everything you possibly can do before that.'"