A common complaint I hear from students is that school does not teach us a lot of things that would enable us to be responsible adults after graduation. Who can blame them? Graduating without having any knowledge of finances, having credit card offers thrown at you from all directions, being financially independent in college, and living on your own can all be scary new things.

JC attempted to ease these burdens by hosting yet another senior seminar on Feb. 21. Senior seminars are hour-long assemblies held for seniors that cover topics that we will soon be facing as college students. This seminar was focused on finances during college.

The seminar was conducted by Athletic Director Larry Dukes, someone who has experience in the finance world, having worked for Aurum Consultants as their Managing Principal before coming to JC. Dukes spoke about credit cards, including the advantages and disadvantages of them.

Now, as simple as it may seem, I thought this seminar was a great idea. Finance is something I knew little about. Besides very basic things that would be barely any help to me in college, I was lost. Although I have to make and spend my own money, I still did not have a basic knowledge of finance.

Going to college without any financial knowledge can be very dangerous. As Dukes pointed out, there are a lot of distractions in college that could seriously hurt you financially. For example, many male students get themselves in debt from gambling. Knowing about how dangerous these things are, combined with the dangers of credit cards, is valuable information.

Dukes also spoke about things such as loans, different types of credit cards, and other financial topics. Even though some of these might not apply to all students right away, they are still good things to know for the future, since most of us will end up taking out a loan for a house or car some day.

There are a few things that could be improved, for example discussing budgeting tips for seniors on how to get through college. Giving advice on how to budget our money would be beneficial, because many people may have never had to make a budget and to live off of one. Additionally, it might be helpful if students were given ideas on the best way to earn money in college, so they can actually pay back those credit cards.

The seminar was largely a success, and I thought it was well worth the seniors’ time. It gave us a lot of valuable information for college that we may not have known. There are a lot of dangers that come with being financially independent that seniors may not be aware of. This was information we probably would not have learned in the classroom, and I definitely look forward to learning more of it in the next senior seminar.

Cole Alban is the Online Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.