Financial aid administrators, loan providers, and the government go through great lengths to keep students' financial information private. That's why it's somewhat ironic to consider that an estimated 2 million people are sharing their finances with everyone and anyone online. The majority of those people are most likely younger college students and like everything else in their lives, they're turning budgeting and expense tracking into a form of social networking. For aid administrators who have been looking for a way to attract students to the ideals of budgeting and keeping loan levels in check, the following Web sites might be the answer.

Wesabe (www.wesabe.com)

Wesabe is a community site that makes managing money easy, according to the Web site. Wesabe aggregates and analyzes users' financial data, and then shares that aggregated data with everyone. That means users can compare how much, on average, other users are spending at the same locations. If a student spends $75 per month at Amazon.com, the student will be able to see if he or she spends more or less than others at the same location during a given time period.

In addition to aggregated information, users can author tips that are shared with other users. If Wesabe detects that a student is spending $5 per day at Starbucks, a friendly tip - written by another Wesabe users - might pop up advising the student how much he or she could save by making coffee at home. Anyone in the Wesabe community can create a financial tip. Tips range from suggestions on better ways to spend money to better ways to save money. Wesabe monitors which tips get the most traffic and pushes those tips out so that more people can see them.

True to "Web 2.0" form, the Wesabe Web site gets better the more users upload their bank accounts and author and view financial tips.

Wesabe also provides detailed reports about how users spend their money and at which locations. The Web site allows users to set financial goals and compare them to other popular goals that other users are setting. Users can share their goals and encourage each other as they try to reach them.

Bank account information is uploaded online and according to the Web site, Wesabe does not collect any private information so that users' information is kept completely private.

Wesabe has been highlighted in The Wall Street Journal, CNET News, Wired, and CBS News.

Geezeo (www.geezeo.com)

Geezeo operates in much the same way as Wesabe by allowing users to tag and track their finances, but it goes a step further. Geezeo allows users to upload their online banking usernames and passwords so that Geezeo can keep track of their transactions for them. Boasting secure connections with over 6,000 financial institutions worldwide (including credit card companies and student loan providers), Geezeo automatically updates students' account information in almost real-time.

Students would no longer need to upload that soda receipt from 7-11 because Geezeo would automatically draw that information in from users' bank accounts and enter it into students' account ledgers. If the student has shopped there before, Geezeo will also automatically label and categorize that information so that it can create reports to tell students exactly how they are spending their money.

As an added bonus, Geezeo users can constantly check their account balances by texting commands via their cell phones to the Geezeo Web site. Geezeo also maintains online discussion boards and groups for users to discuss financial matters.

Geezeo has been highlighted in Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe.

Buxfer (www.buxfer.com)

Buxfer also keeps details of all transactions and allows users to tag and categorize them. Users can manually enter transactions or upload bank statements that they've downloaded from their Bank's Web site.

What makes Buxfer really stand out for the college crowd is its ability to keep track of friends and family members a student owes money to and who owes money to the student. Say a student pays for dinner for three of his friends. The friends owe him $25 for the dinner. Later than night the student also pays the $20 cover charge to go to a local club. Now the friends owe him $45 each. But, one of those friends is also the student's roommate and pays his portion of their rent bill last month. This can quickly become tough to keep track of.

Instead of constantly trying to keep lists of who owes who, Buxfer automatically keeps track of these lists. Users know exactly how much they owe, to who, and for what purpose. In the above example, Buxfer would automatically keep track of who owes the student money and who the student owes money to.

Users can give permissions to their friends and relatives to allow them to enter transactions or debts for them. Roommates can let each other know when one person covers rent for the entire household.

Given the amount of money that college students swap with one another, this Web site could save money and friendships! The site also allows students to see exactly where they're spending their money by creating expense reports. Buxfer allows users to interact with their accounts via text messaging as well.

Buxfer has been highlighted in The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

Security Vs. Appeal

All of the sites maintain that users' information is secure, or at least just as secure as online banking. Certainly putting financial information online may take a leap of faith, but it's important to remember that according to the Council of Better Business Bureaus, 90 percent of cases of identity theft take place through traditional offline channels, not via the Internet.

All security worries aside, college students will be more likely to want to keep track of their finances online, where they'll have 24/7 access to their accounts and account balances. The idea that they're sharing their account information with other users anonymously will also appeal to them because they will be able to compare their spending habits to those of their peers. Being able to generate tips for other users or to be able to discuss financial matters in group chats will also be appealing in a world where students broadcast their every move via MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter.

For financial aid administrators, these sites - even without any official endorsement from the school - may give students motivation to keep better track of their expenses.

For as long as parents have been parents they've been telling kids to go against the crowd. "If everyone else jumped off of a bridge, would you?" they ask.

In this case, if enough students combine socializing with their finances, parents may be able to leave the clichés behind.

"If everyone else is doing their finances online and sharing what they learn with one another, won't you?" they can now ask. We hope so!

By Justin Draeger
NASFAA Assistant Director for Communications

Posted 07/25/07 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.