Advice for cutting college costs
Many students enter their first year of college completely on their own, financially speaking.
In order to balance yourself in order to have fun and still be able to pay your bills, it is important to follow some tips for living within your means.
The first step is to plan ahead.
Make a monthly budget to control your spending. [Be sure to also check The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke]
Add up all of your expenses and subtract that from your total monthly income.
Total monthly income includes money you receive for working, money from your parents, financial aid and scholarships.
Expenses include everything from monthly bills such as car payments, rent or tuition, to things that you use in day-to-day life, such as groceries, clothes and gas for your car.
"If an expense is incurred more or less often than monthly, convert it to a monthly amount when calculating the monthly budget amount.
Converting to monthly installments will help you plan for big bills and large payments.
In order to establish good credit, make sure to pay all your bills back in full every month and be careful using credit cards.
Just because you have a credit limit does not mean you have to reach it.
Saving is also a hard concept to grasp, especially when you want to spend $100 on a new pair of jeans or a new iPod.
Keep a separate account for savings in order to cover yourself if you ever run into an emergency.
Remember, those jeans aren’t going to help you when you car suddenly breaks down or you have to take a trip to the emergency room.
"I never used to balance my checkbook, but after getting slammed with overdraft charges from over expending my account on vacation, I really learned the importance of keeping track of my money," said sophomore Amanda Bader.
Another easy way to scrape for money is to apply for free money.
Putting a little extra time into making a budget and a little extra effort in sticking to it will help your college expenses immensely and, if you play your cards correctly, keep you out of debt.
- Summarized from: And article by Chaeli Fortina, The Gateway - The University of Nebraska, Omaha Newspaper, Aug. 8, 2006
