For some students, falling into debt is as easy as sleeping through class.
Peter Bielagus, known as the "young person's financial adviser," said the No. 1 reason students drop out of college is money management.
Bielagus spoke to a crowd of about 150 students in the Student Center Ballroom Thursday night about how to start putting more money in pockets today.
"I came out tonight because I want to learn more about financial planning," said Brooke Glassford, senior in public relations. "My professor sent me an e-mail about this event and told me that I should come and that I would get extra credit. I learned some cool things, and I'm glad I came."
As a freshman at Miami University in Miami, Fla., Bielagus said spending $450 on a night out was a regular occurrence.
By the end of the year, he found himself $5,000 in credit-card debt.
Through reading books on personal finance and attending numerous seminars, Bielagus began to save his money and work his way out of debt.
"When I was 19 years old, I had a financial awakening," Bielagus said. "I decided I was through buying stuff to try to impress other people. It is expensive and lonely."
Bielagus' main advice to students is to start saving now, even if it is just one penny a day.
"Many students think they can't start saving until they have more income," Bielagus said.
Bielagus suggested students record every penny they spend for a month. At the end of the month, it will be obvious on what things you do and don't want to spend your money.
"I drive a 1999 Mercury Sable with 173,000 miles on it because cars aren't important to me," Bielagus said. "However, you will see that car parked in front of an ocean-view house."
Bielagus speaks about 60 times a year to college students to advise them on how to make better financial decisions.
"I've been speaking for about six years now, and one of the things I love to get from students is the e-mails when they follow up with me," Bielagus said. "I get success stories all over the map."
Bielagus shared information with Auburn students that he said isn't always common knowledge.
For instance, Bielagus said many students don't know that soon after they turn 18, the three credit agencies, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, begin to keep track of all their spending, borrowing and applications for jobs and credit cards.
This information is compiled in a credit report, which contains a credit score.
"Students will say, 'I didn't even know I had a credit report, and I checked and there's all this bad, false information on there,'" Bielagus said. "Using the techniques that we talked about in the lecture, students will get those credit reports clean."
More disturbing is that people with common last names, such as Smith or Jones, have a 90 percent chance that there is a mistake on their credit report that is not their fault.
"The main thing I got out of tonight was to be aware of your credit report and how you handle your finances because in the long run it will either benefit you or be detrimental to you," said Martin Slattery, senior in human resource management and business administration.
Bielagus' suggestion is to visit the site www.annualcreditreport.com at least once a year for the rest of your life.
"The interesting thing is I also hear back from students four or five years later, and they say, 'Peter, I saw you as a freshman. I listened to your talk. I was going to do a lot of that stuff, but I never got around to it. Now that I'm graduating, I need to pay attention to this stuff. I signed up for my company's retirement plan.' So even the e-mails that I don't get right away, I do get them several years later," Bielagus said.
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