MEMORANDUM
Subject: CSR Program Proposal for Columbia Bank
This memorandum proposes a corporate social responsibility program for Columbia Bank with a focus on student loan debt in our community. This CSR program could be implemented in addition to the community and customer events currently arranged on the branch level. Columbia Bank, and the local communities we serve, would greatly benefit from offering a CSR program that focuses on educating high school students, college students, parents and any potential borrower on the long-term implications of excessive student loan debt.
Student Loan Debt and Our Community
The first sentence of our mission statement reads, “We will increase shareholder value and enrich the communities we serve by creating financial success together with our customers and career success together with our employees.” One of the greatest hurdles individuals face in reaching financial success in our country, and particularly in the Washington D.C area, is student loan debt. According to an article in the Washington Business Journal written by Jeff Clabaugh (2013), “Credit monitoring firm Credit Karma Inc. says the average student loan debt among borrowers in D.C. in August was $42,873, almost 50 percent higher than the national average. Maryland ranks second-highest for student loan debt, with an average balance of $31,791 (para. 1-2).” This debt prevents many college graduates from buying a home, saving for retirement, and investing.
Student Loan Debt and its Financial Impact
According to comments cited in an article by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2013), “The current generation of first-time homebuyers is inhibited by a heavy student debt burden that may hurt their ability to qualify fo...
... middle of paper ...
...ing an in-state college, saving for college before attending, and working while in college. We will provide a budgeting and financial planning worksheet. We will also discuss and distribute a brochure that describes the student banking and other services Columbia Bank offers.
Next Steps in the Process
Through this CSR program, Columbia Bank has an opportunity to help the citizens of our community make better financial decisions that could have a positive impact for the rest of their lives. Please join me on Tuesday, November 26 at 4:30 p.m. for a detailed presentation followed by a question and answer session to learn more about the program. I will also provide a checklist for implementing the program by January 1, 2014.
Please contact me at ashley.baker@columbiabank.com with any questions and to confirm your attendance at the presentation on November 12.
Martin and Lehren’s article “A Generation Hobbled by the Soaring Cost of College” addresses the issue faced by current and former college students dealing with large amounts of debts due to student loans. The article presents the reader with stories of former college students who have either graduated or dropped out, and their struggle to pay off their student loans. The article also talks about issues such as students not being informed about high amounts of student loans and why student debts have increased. Martin and Lehren also make the issue of student debt more intimidating by giving examples
To understand the student debt crisis, one must first understand what caused it and what results from it. College undergraduates use student loans to finance the cost of tuition, room, board, transportation, and personal expenses while attending (Gage and Lorin). Student loans are different from other forms of debt because basic consumer rights like bankruptcy protection don’t apply to students who default on their loans. As a result, students are virtually locked into their debt, offering them little to no ability to refinance it. Solutions to debt problems like consolidation are available to students but that process doesn’t involve shopping for a better deal from competing lenders like it does in other debt areas. Therefore, interest rates often remain high and the loans remain with the original lender (Vanegeren). As Kayla Webley expl...
The topic of corporate social responsibility is play a key role to run a business and has become one of the standard business practices of our time. In current, most successful companies whether big or small enterprise for instance Apple, lnc. and Krotron has engaged in CSR because it is a good way for companies to benefit themselves while it also benefiting society. And in order to obtain benefits that can give them the advantage over their competitors.
Overburdening loans of college students is a mind boggling issue. According to Bigelow, “37 million current and former students in the U.S. are now burdened with a total of $1 trillion in student debt, and they are finding it difficult to reach the lifestyle they dreamed of” (1). This is an issue that will probably never be solved completely, but it can be dealt with. If it is dealt with in a proper way, it
Students are borrowing more and more money, and falling deeper and deeper into student tn debt in order to pay for college. It is the contention of Politicians that the economy has slowed down because of student debt and; as a result is the cause of college graduates not being able to purchase homes. There’s no surprise institutions of higher education have become the blame for its lack of affordability.
To start, one considerable solution to help with student debt is working and saving. At this point in life, saving money is an easy strategy due to limited responsibilities and bills. Since many students are not yet independent in terms of living expenses, they are “reall...
The most recent reports of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of Well Fargo, is an example of how a massive bank can run an extensive sustainability program. One way in which Wells Fargo is showing its sustainability credentials is by becoming one of the more aggressive and creative lenders within the financial area. Times when banks were often hesitant to lend money to anyone, Wells Fargo claims to have invested more than US$37 billion in loans and investments within the clean technology and green building sectors, since 2012 — already crossing the company’s goal of US$30 billion in such investments by
Two-thirds of all students graduating from American colleges and universities are graduating college with different levels of debt. According to The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) the average the student loan debt is at it’s lowest $26,000 and the most can be up to $100,000. College loan debt is not only negative for the students, but for the economy as well. Student loan debt has reached its highest point at 1.2 trillion according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As of 2015, student debt is the ranked second highest in the country from consumer debt behind mortgages. Although, student loans, only cover 6% of all nation debt, it decreases the growth of the economy. Because of this, it increases the price of collage,
Outstanding federal student debt has grown to $1.3 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the amount borrowed will double by 2025. The number of student loan borrowers has doubled to 42 million, and default rates among recent student loan borrowers are at their highest levels in twenty years. The discussion of student debt crisis stems from increase in debt and default rates and concern about the effects of student loan debt on young adults’’ lives. According to Professor Elliott III, young adults that have outstanding educational loan debt are not able to successfully navigate the credit market for asset purchases. This causes these individuals to have a lower net worth and at milestone ages in comparison with their peers who have little to no educational loan debt.
The explosion of credit card use among college students has woven itself into the fabric of campus life ultimately impacting how students interact and begin in the financial industry. As students gain more freedom away from home they often begin to experience various social changes. One area in particular that is cause for concern is the number of students incurring credit card debt. Due to growth in credit card usage and the rise of debt, the ideas discussed in this paper represent the growing need to evaluate credit card company solicitation efforts aimed at students and how to begin negotiation to amend these practices. Through mediation, the focus will be to investigate if college students receive ample education on credit and financial literacy. Concessions will be centered on finding a consensus solution that will work for the credit card industry and young consumer. Ultimately the negotiations seek to strike a balance that will create positive spending habits, implement a change in industry policy, and decrease the burden of debt that many college students find themselves in.
Mortgage lenders are forced to take into account all debt obligations when considering qualified mortgage applicants. This forces those, who would otherwise buy, to either rent or substantially lower their living arrangement expectations. Due to this, younger people are avoiding buying. According to the Census Bureau, between 2005 and 2015 the percentage of homeowners under the age of 35 plummeted from 43.3 percent to 34.6 percent. Granted, there could likely be several other factors contributing to this decrease. However, the National Association of Realtors released a survey that found 23 percent of first-time buyers said it was hard to save for the first down payment and 57 percent of those said student debt was one of the major influences in their
Did you know that, “ the current balance of federal student loans nationwide is $902 billion, with an additional $140 billion or so in private student loans.”( Martin and Lehrens 5) In today’s society, college tuition and student loans has been the hot topic recently in our political, social and economical viewpoints. Without a doubt, scholarships, hard work with money management, and community colleges can solve the cost of college and the issue of student loans creating debt.
The Boom of the college tuition bubble saw a visible increase in price due to massive demand and expanded credit, as caused by the Displacement demonstrated above. Students are investing more and more in college hoping for an advantage because of their degrees and many jobs require some level of postsecondary education, making the investment seem necessary. The demand increase for college becomes visible through the statistics of student loan debt. College Board’s Trends in Student Aid states that 10% of people graduating in 2007-8 had loans over $40,000. The Project on Student Debt discloses that 206,000 graduated from college in 2008 with more than $40,000 loan debt, a ninefold increase from 1996. Outstanding student debt has tripled in the past ten years, increasing from $363 billion to more than $1.3 trillion. Seven of ten students graduate from college with debt, exceeding credit card and auto loan debt combined. Currently, over 40 million people hold debt from their student loans, and annual
A corporations CSR should be shaped in order to fit the goals of the corporation, although every corporation’s CSR should differ, since most have different goals and different communities behind them. The CSR should be molded into fitting the corporation’s goals in order to make it easier on the corporation in giving back to the community while achieving its goals. For example, a corporation located in a desert wishes to be more efficient, by reducing water usage it is not only creating lower costs, which result in higher revenue, but also helps the community by not taking up so much water. Taking this into consideration, it is critical that the corporation goals and values are established and clear throughout the corporation, they should be developed by the board or directors and CEO, and the highest managerial level should stress their importance to the rest of the corporation. By making the goals and values at the top branch of the corporate hierarchy, it will be simpler for the corporates community to develop in order to nurture those goals and values. Therefore, a corporation can reach the “shared-value,” a value for both its shareholders and community in a simpler manner that can result benefiting the corporation in the end as well. Throughout the article many examples are given of actual corporations that have benefited and changed their CSR in order to fit their goals, therefore, providing solid proof that these methods work. Nevertheless, as acknowledged by the author’s themselves, most of the corporations taken into consideration where one’s that Harvard CSR students were employed
The problem of student loans in America is increasingly becoming more urgent. Collectively, US citizens owe 1.2 trillion in debt from student loans alone (Wegner 750). The amount of student loan debt has even surpassed that of credit cards. As college graduates are weighed down with debt, they are unable to make major life decisions, including buying a house, a car, or having kids. In just a 10 year period between 2005 and 2015, the percentage of homeowners under the age of 35 has gone from 43% to 34% (Wegner 750). Graduates are also less inclined to start their own businesses, in favor of safer jobs. The problem with student loans is hurting the country economically and socially, and will eventually cause huge problems