Too often students sign up for loans without fully grasping the terms, recommends financial advisor Brian Lockett of Comprehensive Wealth Management.
The explosion of college-student debt, decades in the making, is very much on Brian Lockett’s mind.
Lockett is a wealth manager and vice president of Comprehensive Wealth Management in Lynnwood. He also donates his time to the Washington State University Foundation, the nonprofit that raises and manages private donations that benefit WSU.
He worries about the lack of financial literacy generally, but especially among college students, as well as the ease with which students are sold loans that can take decades to retire.
Too often students sign up for loans without fully grasping the terms, Lockett says. “It would be good if people know the consequences,” he said.
The cost of higher education is another hot button for Lockett. College expenses began rising in the early 1980s, and they have climbed steadily ever since, according to data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics.
During the 2015-2016 academic year, the average annual cost of undergraduate tuition, fees, room and board for all colleges nationwide was $22,432, a 65 percent increase over a decade, as measured in constant dollars.
As a result, Lockett has become a bigger advocate for community colleges, which are less expensive and often easier to commute to from home.