It's about time.  Colleges and universities are waking up to the fact that student loans have become a national crisis.  So many students and graduates are buried under student loans they can't repay, classroom and online courses in financial literacy are now part of the curriculum on a growing number of college campuses.

Student loan debt has passed the $1 trillion mark, more than total credit card debt. In 2010, two-thirds of college seniors graduated with loans and owed an average of average of $25,250, an increase of 5 percent from the previous year, according to the Project on Student Debt.

It's so bad that many schools are adding financial literacy to the required freshman orientation classes.

Student loans are easy to get because they 're guaranteed by the government. Many students don't really understand that they have to repay their loans, and many can't or don't.

How and why do so many young people grow to college age as financial illiterates?  Don't parents share some responsibility for this crisis?  Parents are, after all, the ones who should be teaching their children the financial facts of life as they grow up.

When will public schools start teaching financial literacy?  College is a little late to be teaching young adults how to be financially responsible. If it were taught in middle and high schools, maybe it wouldn't be needed in the colleges.

Then again, if it were taught at home, it wouldn't be needed in the schools at all.

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