A Few Lessons Before Class Starts

Sending your child off to college this fall?

Well, make sure you heed the words of Moser Claus, a British academic, who said: "Education costs money, but then so does ignorance."

The fact is that many graduating high school seniors will go off to college without the skills they need to cope with a wide variety of personal finance issues such as budgeting and handling credit, warns Consumers for Responsible Credit Solutions, a national consumer advocacy group.

That lack of knowledge could result in serious financial problems for many of these young adults.

So, if you haven't had a money talk with your college-bound child, I've got a book to help start the conversation.

For June's Color of Money Book Club, I've selected "Getting Through College Without Going Broke" (Natavi Guides, $8.95).

The book was written by students for students and published by a company founded by two recent college graduates. The primary author was Theresa Fives, a linguistics major at Cornell University who graduated this year. Fives got help with the book from Holly Popowski, who graduated from New York University with a major in philosophy in 2003.

This paperback guide is quite different from the usual impenetrable books on the subject, written by experts who haven't been in college since "groovy, man" was, well, groovy.

"Getting Through College Without Going Broke" is a quick and easy read that covers some basic money-management issues all college students will face, perhaps for the first time.

This book reminds me of the mantra "Each one, teach one."