Credit cards, when used responsibly, are convenient financial tools. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans don’t use them responsibly. Our aversion to debt has eroded and instead, we have become comfortable carrying balances and paying interest on our purchases. We pay for things many times over as the balances sit on our cards for years. Once a country of debt payers, we have become a country of debt managers. Rather than calculating whether a purchase fits into our budget, we calculate whether we can manage the minimum monthly payments required for us to retain good standing with American Express, Visa, Discover or MasterCard.

People are using credit cards to purchase lifestyles that they can’t afford, said Todd Mark, spokesperson for the Consumer Credit Counseling Service, a nonprofit organization that provides free credit counseling and debt management. This is dangerous; with each purchase that is not paid in full at month’s end we give up a little bit of freedom. The impact is minimal at first, but as our balances expand, the burden gets heavier until we are being consumed by the very things that we bought to make ourselves happy. Debt becomes progressively harder to maintain and eventually, it spirals to a point where people cede financial control of their own lives to a credit card company. “You are losing options rather than gaining them,” says Mark.

Losing Control
Americans in 2004 spent “$1.04 for every $1.00 of income, falling in total some $400 billion in the red,” according to Kevin Phillips, author of American Theocracy. This has led to a negative savings rate in recent years, a trend that simply cannot be maintained. We are living so far beyond our means that terms like plastic shackles, indentured servitude and debt peonage are frequently used to describe the extent to which we are in the grips of credit card companies.
The consequences of that are very real, as are the effects on people’s freedom. “There are so many implications of having high credit card debt and having a bad credit rating,” says Maureen Nulty, a CPA with Cendrowski Selecky PC. “Many activities are based in small or large part on having a good credit score.” Indeed, credit problems can affect someone’s ability to qualify for a mortgage, get a car or rent an apartment. Most ominously, messy credit can also disqualify someone from a job. Employers regularly review credit scores as part of their hiring process. They see someone with a low credit score as a risk for internal theft, said CCCS spokesperson Mark, and they know that employees who are dealing with a financial crisis will be less productive at work. In a competitive labor market, they have the luxury of choosing a candidate with pristine credit.
It is important to note, too, that it is not always enough to pay your bills on time. Credit scores are numerical expressions of the risk you pose to a credit card company and can be affected by the amount of debt that you carry and the number of cards that you have. The higher the debt and the greater the number of cards, the lower your credit score will be. Each step closer to the credit limit on an account or each application for yet another card will cloud your financial picture. Debt is like alcohol. A glass of wine at dinner may be good, but drink a bottle and you will suffer for it.

With 60 percent of the population living beyond their means and trying to cope with a financial hangover, it is time to realize that a change of mindset is in order. Staying out of debt is a matter of discipline and dignity. It is unacceptable for the younger generation in America to continue to finance their lifestyles at an annual rate of 20 to 30 percent. We must also realize that the interest rates that we pay are buying someone else’s vacation home. We have to be accountable to ourselves and to our families and realize that wealth is built a little at a time, and what we do today will impact how well we live in the future. “You have to budget, you have to plan, you have to look forward,” says Nulty. “Somebody is giving you a loan every single time you swipe that credit card.”

Solutions
It is very easy to accumulate credit card debt and there are no painless solutions to get rid of it. An impulsive weekend spending spree is enough to get someone into debt that may take years to pay off. For some, it may actually be the beginning of a debt frenzy that leads to financial ruin. But even severe credit card debt does not have to end in tragedy. With discipline, structure and a plan, consumers can chip away at it until over the course of three to five years they are free, hopefully to never make the same mistake again.

There is a lot of denial when it comes to debt. It is hard for people to recognize or admit that they are living beyond their means and they may do so for years before they realize they’re in a crisis. But in essence, it’s simple: if your monthly expenses are more than your income, you will never get out from underneath the mountain of debt. Stop the cycle. Spend only what you have. Don’t borrow against your future for what you think you need today.

A New Landscape

The decision to pursue a graduate degree is one that is not made frivolously. It can mean a commitment of several years during which many sacrifices have to be made: family time is reduced, a social life is all but eliminated, and sleep takes a backseat to daytime responsibilities and nighttime reading. Graduate school is a job; those that continue to work while doing graduate studies should expect to balance the equivalent of two full-time jobs.

Students who have completed the graduate admissions process – including the gut-wrenching GRE, GMAT, or equivalent graduate exam – are unmistakably committed to furthering their education, and they very likely have a clear understanding of what it is they would like to accomplish with a graduate degree. Nevertheless, graduate school is a different animal than college, and it helps to have a strategy for success.

Preparation as the Key to Success

Procrastination has no place in graduate school. Because of the workload, it is next to impossible to catch up once you fall behind. You have to be prepared to take part in every class discussion, and to have thought about the material beforehand. Flying by the seat of your pants in graduate school is the surest way to get off course.

Furthermore, you don’t have time to waste. Don’t underestimate how quickly a program will pass and how quickly that thesis will need to be presented. Tony Grooms, a professor of Creative Writing at Kennesaw State University (Georgia), tells his incoming graduate students in the first weeks of their first semester to start thinking about their Capstone Project (thesis), particularly if that project will be a novel. For most students, to put it into perspective, the capstone lies two or three years out, but that is the nature of graduate school. You have to enter the program with your final goal in mind, and you can never lose sight of that goal.

Successful preparation begins the moment you open your acceptance letter to the program of your choice. This letter, in fact, marks the beginning of your graduate studies and the beginning of your dialogue with your university. Don’t appear on campus on the first day of your new program looking like a bright-eyed freshman who’s looking for the library. You are a professional who has been accepted into serious academic circles, and your conduct should reflect that distinction.

In the months before the start of your program, suggests Teresa Joyce, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College at Kennesaw State University, you should be establishing lines of communication with relevant people on campus:

• Introduce yourself to the director of your program.
  Send a brief email about yourself and your goals for the program to the director of your program, or take the opportunity to introduce yourself to him/her at an on-campus event. The director of the program will be hugely influential in your life, and may someday provide a crucial professional reference for you.
• Attend a pre-semester orientation.
  Does July seem too early for you to attend an orientation? It’s not. Attend the orientation enthusiastically and make an effort to meet your professors and your peers. Ask questions. You may not have time later.
• Meet with your advisor.
  Take the time to schedule an appointment with your advisor. Talk about your goals and expectations of the program. Keep the lines of communication open. Advisors are busy people, but they want to know how you’re doing. Send an update every once in a while.
• Plot your path.
  Many universities have two-year schedules of classes. Use these schedules to plan your path. “You need to plan out what your life will look like over the next couple of years,” said Dr. Joyce. “Don’t plan semester by semester.”
• Think strategically.
  Everything you do, all the classes you take, should combine to form a comprehensive and logical picture of your studies. You should always have your final goal in mind. Does an MBA student need a Literature class? Do you need Spanish for your Master in Taxation?

Know Your Limits

Entering graduate school, said Diane Fennig, Director of Graduate Studies at Georgia State University, you have to be prepared for a much higher workload and intensity than you experienced in college. Yet, some of your planning from college can be carried over effectively to graduate school. Be realistic about your strengths and weaknesses, and schedule your classes accordingly. “You don’t put two ‘stretch’ classes together,” explained Fennig, referring to classes outside your immediate comfort zone. “[If] you have no knowledge about finance, and you have no knowledge about economics, you wouldn’t put the two of them together. Nothing’s changed. That was good planning when you were an undergraduate; you’ve got to carry that into the graduate planning.”

In Good Company

Students have to know why they are going to graduate school and what they want to achieve. Getting the maximum result from minimum effort is unrealistic. “It doesn’t come without a cost,” said Fennig, GSU’s Director of Graduate Studies. A graduate degree has to be looked at like a job. It takes a lot of preparation, and there are a lot of details to follow, but the effort pays off. The 2000 Census, according to a June 5, 2002 USA Today article, determined that only 8.9 percent of Americans age 25 and older held graduate or professional degrees. That is a select group, and makes the pursuit of a graduate degree all the more commendable and worthwhile.