As stories of the recession continue to dominate the news, many students are growing increasingly concerned about their own money situation. Students who take the Personal Finance class get the help they need to not only be more fiscally savvy, but also to be more independent once they graduate.

“I figured when I’m out of college I should have some basic knowledge of the financial world,” Hans Tregear, Wichita senior, said. “This class teaches all the basics I need to know as far as surviving financially.”

The topics discussed help students both in the short-term with tips on budgeting, loans and reading the fine print on credit card statements, while also preparing them for the future by covering how to invest in stocks and bonds, file taxes and save for retirement. Students learn how to budget their money by preparing a balance sheet, which helps them keep track of their expenses by computing how much money they have and what money they have to spend.

“I actually sat down and wrote out in detail what I had to pay with what money I actually had,” Tregear said. “It made me more financially responsible.”

When the School of Business first offered the class in 2007, it was designed to facilitate 50 students. This semester, enrollment for the class has doubled. In Fall 2008, Bill Lewis, distinguished lecturer in finance, came out of retirement to teach the class. He said the excitement of seeing students understand new concepts was a rewarding aspect of teaching the course.

“You can tell it is something beneficial to them versus just something they had to learn to get their degree,” Lewis said.

Tregear said the Personal Finance class was one of the few classes he continually attended. He attributed his attendance to Lewis’s entertaining teaching style, which combined real-world stories with textbook teaching.

“Professor Lewis has so much real-world experience that even I am sometimes shocked at some of the stories and situations,” said Gery Kloiber, graduate teaching assistant for the class and MBA student. “Those little stories from outside the classroom keep the students interested.”

Tax returns, car loans, home mortgages and maintaining a good credit record are all subjects examined during the course. Kloiber said taxes were what students found most challenging. He said most students had never filled out a tax form before. The course explains which forms are used for different filings.

Credit card debt, Kloiber said, was an eye-opening topic for students.

Lewis said it was better to have a credit card versus a debit card, but only if they understood the concept. For example, he said, if a student had a $500 credit limit but maxed out their card, there is still a chance to pay it off. He said the benefit of credit was having between 25 to 50 days to make sure there is enough money in their account to pay their bill on time. With a debit card, he said, when you overdraw from your account, you automatically were hit with service charges from the bank.

Tregear said learning about credit cards and how the rate worked was something he applied to his own life. He said learning about reading the fine print put him at an advantage.

“In class, we heard stories of people who got screwed over by credit card companies because they didn’t read the fine print,” Tregear said. “They were paying stuff off longer or getting charged more than they expected.”

What Lewis hoped students would take away from the class was an understanding of basic concepts such as the value of money over time and the power of compounding. He advised students to start saving early so their money would grow and be beneficial to them when they were older.

“Save early and save often,” Lewis said. “Make sure you are minimizing your expenses and get them invested as soon as you can so you can take advantage of the time value of money and the compounding effect money has.”

Kloiber said students wouldn’t know how the class would affect them until after they were out of school. He said a few weeks ago he received an e-mail from a student who took the class last semester. The student said what he learned in the class he was now using in his daily life.

“A lot of students don’t comprehend it right away, but when they get out in the real world a lot of that stuff will start popping up again,” Kloiber said.

Tregear said he has learned some valuable financial concepts. He said he was glad to learn in the classroom before stepping out into the real world.

“It’s better to learn it this way than the hard way,” Tregear said.

— — Edited by Carly Halvorson