After four long years at Plymouth State, your college tenure is over. Now what? How does one transition to your new community and professional life? What about getting finances in place? Destination Graduation prepares graduating seniors to answer those and many other questions.
“We prepare students coming into Plymouth, but not those leaving,” said Joe Long, the Director of Alumni Relations. With the help of the Student Activities Office, the Class of 2007 and Alumni Relations; Destination Graduation’s successes have made a huge impact on campus.
“Most of these choices; how to negotiate a lease, tenant’s rights, the implications of delaying school loan payback, office politics, managing personal finances including credit and auto loans and the frequently significant financial investment of a business wardrobe are not addressed during a students four-year stay with us, either in the curricular or co-curricular realm,” said Jenn White, Assistant Director for Student Activities.
“Destination Graduation: Life After College,” has enabled seniors with the opportunity to learn valuable information such as finding a job or a gradate school after Plymouth, getting acclimated to new communities, getting out and avoiding debt and landing your dream job. Long hopes that the tradition will continue for the Class of 2007 and beyond, “I hope this is the first time this is done and becomes a tradition. I think this gives them [seniors] a leg up on other seniors who didn’t attend.”
On Saturday, March 10th, several seniors attended the “Senior Series,” a variety of presentations including; transitioning from university to community life, the challenges and successes of starting your new job, how to build and fix credit and financial health and finding a dream job. That same evening, students who signed up were able to attend an etiquette dinner where they had the ability to talk to several alumni and learn beneficial dining skills.
In “Getting Settled in your New Community,” two Plymouth State alumni spoke to students about transitioning to community and professional life after college. Both emphasized that students need to follow their dreams and do a job they’ll enjoy. As students had the opportunity to ask questions, some asked about the growing MySpace and Facebook phenomena and how to protect themselves from cyberspace. Today, many employers and companies are looking at these websites to see if their potential or current employees are enrolled.
Students were greeted by Peter Bielagus, a licensed financial advisor. Bielagus is the author of Getting Loaded: A Complete Finance Guide For Students and Young Professionals. Bielagus commented on his financial troubles and vowed to help students with their needs. Six months into his first-year in college, Bielagus was $5,000 in credit card debt. Determined to gain control over his problem, he read over 300 books on personal finance. By graduation, Bielagus was debt free. He had a short career as a real estate and tax consultant, but now travels the country with his charismatic style, humor, motivation and emotion promising to put more money in your pocket, today.
“Start before you need to start,” said Bielagus. He discussed credit scores and what students should be looking to strive for in terms of credit. For the audience, Bielagus surprised many students by stating, “There is a 70 percent chance that there is a problem on your credit report that is lowering your score. There is a 30 percent chance that it’s a serious problem.”
Bielagus provided tips to increase student’s credit score, including fixing mistakes, pay off debt, establish a payment history, stop applying for credit cards, don’t cancel old credit cards and consider becoming an authorized user. An authorized user is when one inherits someone else’s good credit score.
Bielagus provided support on why student’s budget possibly isn’t working. First, budgets commonly don’t work when they are written as Bielagus called, “La La Land.” An imaginary place Bielagus described as where many budgets are written. When budgets aren’t written down or organized, they’re likely not to work. Secondly, most students forgot the little stuff. “Little stuff,” Bielagus explained are simply those morning coffees or bagels, and those purchases add up. And lastly, chain reaction shopping, simply, one purchase leads to more purchases. Bielagus used the example of grocery shopping. Too many people go grocery shopping when they are hungry, moreover, that leads to one purchase after another, especially of products that aren’t necessarily needed.
Later in the afternoon, students were greeted by Michelle Rivera who presented students with “Ultimate Money Skills: Scholars, Dollars, Budgets and Bills.” Rivera discussed how to use credit appropriately, the basics of banking, taking control of student loan debt and how to protect one’s identity and avoid identity theft. Rivera provided books, fun games and candy to get her message to her audience. When thinking appropriately about credit, Rivera provided a pie chart with all the “slices” or components that attribute to the credit report.
“When selecting a bank, think free!” Rivera said. Many banks now provide customers free checking, free savings and free online banking. She recommended guarding one’s social security number and pins numbers as a couple of the ways student’s can protect their identity. To avoid identity theft, one need to be careful of phishing, be cautious when sharing computers and monitor one’s credit report.
Rivera presented several facts to students about troublesome credit card debt and the strain it imposes. For example, the average college student has $2700 in credit card debt and the interest rate for student credit cards is 17 percent.
To close out the afternoon, Bielagus joined the students again to provide advice on how to land that dream job. He discussed several variations one can display on their resume and how to get the foot into the door. Bielagus provided three basic rules to getting that dream job including, do what you love, if you are willing to bend just a little, there is money in anything and don’t’ listen to people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
Later in the evening, students were invited to an etiquette dinner where they had the opportunity to dine with alumni and ask questions. With dinner, students were taught on proper dining manners such as, wine selecting and pairing, proper table conversations and dinner do’s and don’ts.
“Making good decisions in these areas eases the transition, enhances a student’s appreciation for both their degree and institution and starts their work and alumni life off on the right footing,” said White.
On Tuesday, February 27, seniors were given the opportunity to attend a career fair at the Center of New Hampshire Raddison Hotel in Manchester. Seniors were greeted by representatives from various different companies and work agencies on how to get their first job and how to build a great resume. Students also had the chance to attend a lunch or dinner session where they were able to learn how to get into graduate school. In conjunction with Destination Graduation, Senior Day on March 9 allowed seniors to visit financial aid and alumni advancement representatives and learn how to get into graduate school among other helpful tips.
White had several goals for Destination Gradation’s future including, increased attendance and session offerings and increase alum participation.
“I really enjoyed all the information given,” said Sean Greenlaw, a current senior at Plymouth State University. “It was some good information I can use now and for the rest of my life.”