7-19-05
Grant Will Support Behrend's Credit Card Education Program
With support for a $35,000 grant to the Center for Credit and Consumer Research at Penn State Behrend, State Senator Jane Earll has put Pennsylvania's money where its vote is.
"Last year Senator Earll sponsored and helped pass legislation that required credit education in schools all across the state," said Mary Beth Pinto, Ph.D., director of the Center for Credit and Consumer Research (CCCR), an outreach arm of the Black School of Business at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. "At this point, the CCCR is one of the few academic organizations that are prepared to provide the resources to carry out the mandate of the legislation."
With Earll's backing, the Commonwealth's Department of Community and Economic Development recently awarded a $35,000 grant to the CCCR. The funds will be used to support the center's mission of credit education at high schools and colleges throughout Pennsylvania. Part of the funds will be used to adapt the CCCR's live version of the Credit Card Game Show for online use.
Pinto and colleagues Phylis Mansfield, Ph.D., and Diane Parente, Ph.D., have conducted nearly a decade of research on student credit card use, publishing more than a dozen peer-reviewed papers that used information from more than 11,000 data sets. Most recently, they worked with the Pennsylvania College Personnel Association to survey 5,000 college students aged 18-23 at colleges and universities across Pennsylvania on their credit card habits. Their research demonstrated that credit cards continue to be viewed as vital in the collegiate rite of passage. Students still receive their first credit card at an average of 18 years of age-just about the time they reach college - and 63% of all students report owning at least one credit card.
"CCCR promotes research and outreach in an area that has become increasingly relevant to Americans of all ages," said Pinto. "The center is built on nearly a decade of research, and it has the potential to involve many more faculty and students in the study of credit habits. Thanks to our recent grant from the Commonwealth, we can offer resource materials for teachers to use in the classroom to teach students about credit, how it works, and how important it is to their future."
"Credit cards are a way of life for many Americans," she added. "We are very interested in the credit card socialization process-how people develop their credit attitudes and behaviors. Our hope is to learn more about how people use-and abuse-credit and how we can educate people to use credit wisely. The center's primary activities will be research, education, and outreach to a variety of audiences from children to senior citizens."
The Center for Credit and Consumer Research accepts inquiries about credit card use at its Credit Card Hotline, 814-898-6553. The center's Web site at www.creditcardresearchprogram.info educates students about wise credit management.
"The Center for Credit and Consumer Research is a lot like a movie star who seems to be an overnight success," said Pinto. "We've been working on this program for a long time, and it's finally reached the stage where we can apply what we've learned for the benefit of our students and others."