This weekend I attended my cousin's college graduation from thesame college I graduated from three years ago.

Sitting there with my feelings of déjà vu, I thought back towhen I was sitting in that chair. One of the reasons why Gen Y issuch an important target, aside from credit unions' agingmembership, is the potential business opportunities this grouppresents. The generation spreads across a wide range of age groupsat very different life stages, but for me personally, I think thepost-graduation stage may be one of the most important stages forcredit unions to capitalize on.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in April 16.4% of20-to-24-year-olds were unemployed. Four years ago, when Igraduated, the job market was tough. It took me a year of endlessinterviews and thousands of resumes sent out to land a job. Now,tough doesn't even describe what these graduates are facing.

I'm sure there are some lucky graduates that have managed tosecure jobs, but for many continuing their educations may seem likea great option right now. Students who have loans are facingrepayment in a few short months and the chances of finding a job inthat time doesn't look promising. One of the reports coming out ofthe economic downturn has been that many of those who have beenlaid off are choosing to go back to school. Many of thosegraduating now may choose to hold off on entering the workforce andthose that try and look for a job may choose to go back if they areunsuccessful in their search.

I've preached the importance of student loans as a tool to gainGen Y members before, but I think this is an area that has grown inimportance over the past two years and will continue to grow.

Returning to my alma mater resurrected an argument my mother andI continue to have, which is whether or not I should go back toschool for my masters' degree. My mother feels strongly that thisis a necessity, while I don't feel an urgent need to go back toschool.

My bottom line is that an education when broken down is anexpense and not by any means a small expense.

My mother's argument, and I admit a valid one, is that down theroad there will be a large number of people entering the work forcewith graduate degrees. To compete and advance without one, I willbe at a disadvantage.

The big question is how do I pay for it?

The need for undergraduate private student loans among studentscontinues to grow as well as the need for graduate private studentloans.

In my column last month I cited a statistic from the Project onStudent Debt that said Gen Yers are graduating from college with anaverage of $23,000 in student debt. Students that finish collegeand go straight to graduate school are adding to that debt withoutthe opportunity to pay it down or save money to pay for graduateschool. They will come out of graduate school, hopefully into abetter job market, with an education that puts them in a betterposition to get a good job, but also in debt. And if there is onething that this economy has taught me, it is that there is nothingthat ever guarantees you a job.

This is the battle I face and I know I am not alone. Do I add tomy debt to make myself more marketable in my career? When will I beable to pay it all off? What if I graduate and still can't find ajob?

These are real concerns and real questions among students andtheir families. Whether it is undergraduate or graduate school thereality is that there are not many people that can take on the costof one or both without creating debt.

The opportunities for credit unions just to lend to studentsright now are large, and the opportunities for credit unions tolend to students while providing good financial guidance areendless.

Since I last wrote a column pushing for student lending. I haveseen an increasing number of credit unions create programs, butthere are still a good number of credit unions that don't have suchprograms. Student loans are new to credit unions, and taking on anew product in the industry at this time may seem too risky, but Idon't see how any credit union can consider themselves proponentsof gaining new younger members and not offer them the service ofhelping to further their education.

Credit unions pride themselves on being service focused. Mygeneration doesn't just need loans, but we need guidance and creditunions need to be that source for us.

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