FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A Fresno State graduate is turning to financial therapy to help manage student loan debt and improve his spending habits as he navigates life after earning his master’s degree.<\/p>\n
Dustin Hedrick graduated from Fresno State in 2025 and recently began repaying his student loans.<\/p>\n
“It’s about $40,000 dollars. With interest, it’s going to keep getting bigger. If you would’ve asked me a year and a half ago, I would’ve said that’s terrifying. I’ll find something. I’ll make it work,” Hedrick said.<\/p>\n
In addition to student loan obligations, Hedrick was also balancing personal debt. Looking for guidance, he sought financial therapy through The Academy of Financial Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Finances weren’t something we talked about a lot in my household, so I was kinda going into it blind and it was very much I know I need to do something different, but I have no clue what I need to do,” Hedrick said.<\/p>\n Hedrick said the service helped him become more aware of his spending habits and identify areas where he could reduce unnecessary expenses.<\/p>\n “Some of those microtransactions on games, it’s impressive how quickly those added up,” he said.<\/p>\n He said that realization changed the way he approached spending.<\/p>\n “That really helped me springboard into, wait, I’m not spending with my values. Do I really need to spend on this and that allowed me to cut some of my excess spending off and work on paying debt,” Hedrick said.<\/p>\n According to Hedrick, the changes have also allowed him to set money aside for future loan payments.<\/p>\n “I’ve been able to build up a savings account just specifically for my student loans that I can help use to pay some of that off,” he said.<\/p>\n Samuel Molina, founder and CEO of The Academy of Financial Education, said financial therapy focuses on helping clients better understand their relationship with money.<\/p>\n “Helping him understand his core values his money belies, helping him be more reflective of his own experience,” Molina said.<\/p>\n Molina said the process includes evaluating a client’s financial situation, identifying behaviors and creating a plan to address debt.<\/p>\n “It’s always assessing the situation: earned income, going through a budget process, helping them identify their behaviors and if there’s a way for them to start paying off that bill or if there are programs available to them we’re going to help seek that out,” Molina said.<\/p>\n For news updates, follow Vanessa Vasconcelos on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2026 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n