George Mason University student Ross Varndell is unusual for a college junior in the United States. He has no credit cards.

"I personally don't carry credit cards. I am afraid if I have one, I will spend a lot of money," he said between bites of a chicken sandwich in the Fairfax university's student union last week.

The electrical engineering student said he earned about $6,000 last summer working three jobs as a tennis teacher, furniture mover and a golf course caddy. He has used that money to pay for textbooks, food, gas and entertainment during the school year.

Varndell said he may ask his parents for financial help if money gets really tight but he won't apply for a credit card, even though he receives one to two offers per week.

The 24 year-old, who grew up in Arlington, is the exception to the rule. 95 percent of college students carried credit cards in 2000, according to Business Week, but many experts say have not been taught how to manage their money.

"There are more credit card offers and more credit card issues. There are cell phone bills and a number of other financial issues that generations before have not had to deal with," said Todd Romer, executive director of "Young Money," a money and lifestyle magazine for young adults.

"There is a strong need for financial education," Romer said. "We think it would make sense for every high school or college to mandate a personal finance class."

For the most part, Virginia appears to be doing exactly what Romer and other experts have requested.

In 2005, the General Assembly passed legislation that mandates financial literacy training for public middle school students, high school students and freshman attending a Virginia public university or college.

Introduced by Sen. Russell Potts, the mandate requires the state Board of Education to incorporate financial literacy into Virginia’s Standards of Learning for secondary school.

STUDENTS WILL learn about topics such as judging the quality of a financial institution’s services, balancing a checkbook, the implications of inheritance, the basics of personal insurance policies, debt management, and how to contest an incorrect bill.

The legislation also requires public universities and colleges to teach financial literacy either through a required general education course or freshman orientation.

The college component would focus on some of the same topics as those taught in secondary school but also includes managing student loans and credit card use.

The legislation was expanded this year. Delegate Dwight Jones (D-70) introduced legislation to expand the university financial literacy program to include predatory lending practices, consumer fraud and identity theft and protection. Gov. Tim Kaine has also declared April 2007 financial literacy month.

Potts has "always been concerned about the solicitation of credit cards to college students," said his legislative aide Lana Westfall. The senator decided to introduce legislation after he met Muriel Siebert – a New York City businesswoman who was pushing similar legislation around the country – at a cocktail party.

Siebert – who, in 1967, became the first women to join the New York Stock Exchange – had successfully pushed to have a financial literacy program included in the New York City public schools curriculum. As superintendent of New York’s banks in the late 1970s and early 1980s, she discovered that some people were being taken advantage of through check-cashing programs because they never learned how to open a checking account.

"People who have the least pay the most for everything. There was a lack of education of anything financial for kids," said June Jaffe, executive director of the Muriel Siebert Foundation.

In addition to New York City schools, the public school systems in Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach in Florida are adopting a financial literacy curriculum and Austin is testing a pilot program. Connecticut is also on the verge of pass legislation similar to Virginia’s, said Siebert.

"I want to make it national. We need to send these people into the real world prepared," said Siebert.

IN VIRGINIA, the state Board of Education has incorporated financial literacy – particularly programs about budgeting and credit card debt – into the state’s Standards of Learning, though the material is not included on Virginia’s annual standardized assessment.

Individual school systems can decide how the material will be incorporated in middle and high school.

"Some schools are going to have a mandated semester requirement but that is not going to be possible in Fairfax. [In Fairfax] financial literacy will be taught in middle school math and social studies and in high school math and government," said Mary Shaw, spokesperson for Fairfax County Public Schools. Shaw added that the school system plans to fully implement the new financial curriculum next school year.

Currently, Fairfax and other Northern Virginia school systems teach a significant portion of their financial literacy programming in business and consumer finance electives in high schools.

Students in the Academy of Finance at T.C. Williams in Alexandria have opened a credit union at school and learn basic financial skills like how to plan for renting or buying a house. The program – which includes 72 students – also teaches students about responsible loans and taxes, said Matlea Parker, the academy’s director.

"This is not something that the general population receives," said Parker, who explained the classes in the Academy of Finance are only open to select students. She added that most of the material is also covered in a business finance class open to the student body but the class is an elective and only certain students take it.

WITH THE NEW mandate through the legislation, Parker said the Alexandria school system is looking to incorporate financial literacy into required courses, such as government.

Arlington County Public Schools currently provides a series of activities to all high school math teachers covering topics such as credit card responsibility and how to read a pay stub, said Patricia Robertson, the school system’s mathematics supervisor. Robertson said she did not believe financial literacy was taught at the middle school level.

Fifteen Arlington students can participate in the Banking, Finance and Investment program at the Arlington Career Center that operates an in-school credit union branch, said the director of the program Lisa Moore. The center also runs a program about how to buy car, which is open to all seniors.

"Many of them are eager to buy their first car. We tell them to be wary of high interest rates or putting no money down," said Moore.

Mary Ellen McCormick said she tries to instill the dangers of credit card debt in all the students enrolled in her entrepreneurship class at Marshall High School in Fall Church. McCormick, whose 90 students come from all over the county to take the course, said she emphasizes that accumulating debt could affect more than just a student’s credit score.

"Employers are checking their credit rating. It’s important for parents to understand that," said McCormick.