Oklahoma House of Representatives

Media Division
September 19, 2003

OKLAHOMA CITY- Nathan Dungan has spent almost a decade researching
how financial debt affects the lives of college students and other young
adults.

Dungan, author of the book Prodigal Sons & Material Girls: How Not
to Be Your Child's ATM, is scheduled to testify Sept. 25 before the
House Committee on Banking and Finance. The meeting is set for 10 a.m.
in Room 412C at the state Capitol.

The author's appearance in Oklahoma City is at the invitation of
state Rep. Joe Dorman. The Rush Springs Democrat requested a legislative
study on the topic after some cursory research of his own into college
students and credit card debt.

Dungan's book addresses issues such as how to talk to your children
about money; understanding the differences between wants and needs;
increasing the probability of your children having a prosperous life;
and raising your children's marketing IQ.

A resident of Minneapolis, Minn., Dungan offers insight about his
book and the visit to Oklahoma.
Q: "What are your plans when you arrive in the Sooner State later
this month?"
A: "I will be speaking about the enormous challenges that young
people, particularly college students, face while managing money. Even
more specifically, I am concerned how troublesome credit card debt is
among young adults and how it's been increasing exponentially over the
last decade.

"I want to address issues relative to universities in Oklahoma and
on a national level and how the challenges for young people as they have
been, I will say, predatory marketed to buy credit cards and how that's
proven to be exceptionally challenging.
"On the other side, there is little, if any, financial education to
help them out. So I really want to debate the financial management and
debt challenges facing college students today."

Q: "Why did you decided to write about this particular topic?"
A: "It really was a two-fold endeavor. First, I received a request
from an educator who had recognized an enormous communication and
learning gap between parents and young people about how to manage money.
I remember that professor was compassionate about teaching young people
how to develop healthy financial habits.

"Second, I wanted to investigate what appeared to be an increasing
involvement of our culture about how we have become so inquisitive and
so interested in the financial prowess of young people today. I am
astounded at how much marketing energy and money is being spent to shape
young adults into voracious spenders. It was the combination of those
things that really led to me toward researching and writing the book."

Q: "There are some wonderful statistics in your book. How long did
it take you to compile material for the publication?"
A: "I've been researching the topic for almost seven years. I wrote
my first workshop on the subject back in 1990. Then I earnestly started
researching information for the book in the mid-1990s and then embarked
on full-time research the past five to seven years.

"I simply wanted to help raise people's awareness about how
significant and widespread this issue is. We have 80 million young
people under the age of 25 in a society that's really working hard to
addict them to spending. That poses some enormous social and economic
challenges for us.

"I think it's time we ask some serious questions as to what is
occurring with money management among young people today, especially in
our education systems, in order to help rectify some of those
significant challenges."

Q: "Do you believe this is an important and timely topic to tackle
in your book?"
A: "Absolutely. I continue to hear back from parents and educations
alike throughout the country is this issue is a front burner issue, with
the challenges of young people managing money. Just the other day I had
a conversation with a former professor of Arizona State University. He
said the greatest challenge for his students was staying out of
financial debt.

"Incidently, as I was researching the book, I discovered the number
one reason why students are dropping out of college or reducing their
class load is because of a financial burden, and for the most part that
burden is due to excessive credit card debt.

"So, my goal in writing the book is to raise the awareness and to
provide a resource and springboard for people to talk about this subject
and take action."
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Scott Hancock
Media Specialist
Oklahoma House of Representatives
1-800-522-8502 ext 422  ¶ 10:09 AM