The Free Dictionary of Idioms defines the phrase, throwing good money after bad as “to waste additional money after wasting it once,” or “to spend more and more money on something that has already failed.”
Sometimes you may feel this way about your tuition aid monies. Your aid program was created in hopes of helping families who just don’t make enough money to afford a Christian education at your school. But now it seems like, for some families anyway, it ends up enabling them to perpetuate a financially unhealthy lifestyle. Even if it’s not enabling, it may be compensating – compensating for unwise financial decision-making by families who just don’t know how to better manage their money. Studies have shown that just a little financial education can make a big difference. Where is the difference seen?
Lower credit card balances
Fewer delinquencies
Budgeting
Saving
Less financial stress
Fewer marital conflicts
If you’ve been involved in financial aid very long, you know that financial stress is not a low-income curse. In fact, those with the highest financial stress are middle-income families. But families of every economic level experience this stress. The less educated families are about biblical financial management principles the greater the stress, regardless of income.
Incorporating a mandatory financial literacy program into your tuition aid program will yield tremendous dividends. 87% of family participants in our Tuition Aid Verification program identified personal money management practices needing improvement. Even families that are financially savvy attest to the benefit of being reminded of sound financial management principles. The bottom-line principle is this: our money is really God’s money, and we are merely stewards of what He has given us. Not only is this true for your school families, but it is true for you as a school. In other words – if you are not ministering to your school families (particularly your tuition aid families) through a financial literacy program, are you ultimately helping them at all or just enabling them to seek financial help from you year after year? © by SchoolRIGHT, LLC., unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved.
Comments