Who knew teaching kids how to manage money might help them handle it responsibly as adults?

Today writes:

Want your kids to avoid college debt? Start in high school

Stephanie Land graduated from the University of Montana in the spring of 2014 with a B.A. in English, $50,000 in student loan debt and $10,000 in credit-card debt. With student debt so high, the freelance writer and mother of two has given up on her dreams of a house with a yard and nice car.

“I feel like getting my degree was a selfish act that took opportunities away from my kids,” she told TODAY.com. Land, whose parents never provided her with any financial literacy training, now faces loan payments of nearly $500 a month — a burden that’s unaffordable for her.

Land’s story, and the related unhappiness, has become common. In May, the Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics blog reported that the class of 2015 entered the workforce as the most indebted class in history. Citing statistics from Edvisor, a group of websites about planning and paying for college, it revealed that the average new graduate is carrying over $35,000 in student loan debt, with nearly 71 percent of bachelor’s-degree recipients graduating with a student loan. In 2013, college graduates also held $3,000 in credit-card debt.

Like Land, many students leave undergraduate programs with considerably higher debt, and this debt adversely affects their future choices. But helping your kids avoid college debt is possible if you start before high school.