Eight students attended the Proven Money Tips seminar Monday night at the SF State business building to hear the professional advice of two financial advisors and an accounting professor.

The three speakers were Mike Remak, a College of Business (CoB) graduate from SF State and financial advisor for Merrill Lynch, John McWilliams, an SF State accounting professor, and Philip Benson, the president of Philip Benson Financial Services.

The seminar was sponsored by the SF State Marketing Association and organized by the university's Business Relations Center (BRS). Despite efforts to promote the seminar through word of mouth and by passing out fliers, the turnout was low. However, the issues of student debt through college loans or credit cards covered at the seminar concern many university students nationwide.

Between 1992-93 and 2003-04, the number of student loans given out each year more than doubled from 4.8 million to 10.8 million, according to the American Council of Education (ACE). Data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study shows that nearly 80 percent of dependent undergraduates have at least one credit card and that 46 percent of them carry month-to-month balances on at least one of their cards. The median amount carried was $1,600. The ACE also found that almost half of all graduate degree recipients in 2004 used credit cards for school expenses, carrying a median balance of $3,900. The US Department of Education indicates that nearly three-fourths of all independent students with annual incomes under $20,000 left college in debt.

Most students who fall into debt do not know how to manage debt, according to Benson, a registered investment advisor since 2000. "If you don't learn how to control your financial destiny, you will not only create financial problems for yourself, but also open the door for people to come in who don't have your best interests at heart," he said.

Benson's professional advice for student debt is to first pay off the interest now, and the principal balance later. "Don't just make the minimum amount payment," he said. He also recommended looking into loan consolidation which offers the lowest interest rates possible.

The panel also discussed the importance of a 401k plan, which not all private companies offer. The 401k is a retirement plan that enables employees - in private companies - to make contributions of tax-deferred dollars to a company pool that is then invested in stocks, bonds, or money markets. The plan allows a reduction in taxable income and an opportunity for investments. At some point in time, 401k holders will reap the benefit in the form of a monthly check. It is a personal fund, however, it is not offered by all private companies.

Remak's money tip was to "max out your 401k." His advice was to contribute as much money into the plan, and then transfer it over to a savings account or to an IRA - individual retirement account - in order to collect the money.

Talk to a financial advisor before making this transfer, McWlliams advises. He also pointed out that one should check the terms of a 401k plan, because many employees are not aware of the fact that many 401k plans carry employer-matching provisions. That is to say, if an employee makes a dollar payment toward the plan, so does his/her employer. "Check out the terms of your employer's 401k plan so as to not miss out on free money."

Benson and McWilliams warned against borrowing money from the 401k because even though the money that goes into the plan is pre-taxed, the money used to pay it back is after-tax money. In other words, one is paying back with more dollars than actually borrowed.

Students found the seminar to be "informative" and "interesting."

"I thought I lost my 401k since I stopped working for the company," said Henry Villarreal, 37, an economics senior. He worked for the company 10 years ago, and said he is planning to reclaim his $10,000 contribution to his 401k.

L.T. Millick - who called himself a "student professional development tzar" and a "business geek" - hopes to create a student financing course at SF State as a project coordinated by the CoB student organizations to educate students on money management.