For Students, the New Kind of Literacy Is Financial

Colleges offer programs in managing money

By BECKIE SUPIANO

Eight years ago, Texas Tech University started a financial-literacy program to help its students master the basics of budgeting, saving, and not buying what they can't afford. Now, as colleges grapple with rising costs and an economic downturn, the university has found itself at the forefront of a growing effort to sharpen students' financial know-how.

"We have a responsibility as a university to help students in this area," says Dorothy Bagwell Durband, who directs the program.