5 Financial Tips Every College Student Needs to Know
Practicing good money management while still in school is a big part of avoiding massive college debt in the future. By following these few simple tips while life is still relatively easy, you can put yourself in a much better financial position later on when it really counts.
Budget
This one is basic, but if you don’t have fundamentals like this down, you’ll never get anywhere. Sit down at the beginning of each semester and track your income (including anything you’re getting from student loans) and your fixed expenses (rent, books, tuition). Whatever’s left is what you have available for fluctuating expenses like food and gas—assign each item like this a specific amount as well. At this point, money will probably be tight, but if it’s at all possible, include some savings for an emergency fund. You never know when something will come up, and if nothing does, you’ll have a small nest egg you can use to get your post-college life started or pay down some of your college debt. It might seem overly strict, but being too lax about these things is the number one way that people get themselves into financial trouble.
Pick Up A Side Hustle
Whether or not you work a typical job on top of your studies, see if you can start some kind of (very) small business on the side, like lawn mowing or babysitting. These kinds of operations have flexible hours to accommodate your classes and give you valuable entrepreneurial experience on top of the extra money they provide. Tutoring is an especially attractive option since you can teach what you’ve learned in class (this makes it easier for you to remember it when it’s time for exams, too). Depending on your major, it can also be quite lucrative—majors perceived as ‘tougher,’ such as math, engineering, and computer science, can command very respectable hourly rates.
Buy In Bulk
Being in college means you’re surrounded by other people who also need to save as much money as they can. Get a few friends together and pool your money to buy bulk packages of things like soap, toilet paper, and other household necessities. The per-unit cost of these packages is usually much lower than the individual-sized ones, and since you’re splitting it, you don’t have to worry about the downside of the high initial price. It sounds pretty trivial, but you’d be surprised at how quickly the savings add up.
Choose Cheap Entertainment
Being a poor student doesn’t mean you have to cut out all the fun in your life, but you shouldn’t be going to bars, clubs, and movies every night, either. Try to switch it up sometimes: things like a video game tournament or movie marathon with your friends, free concerts in the park or at community centers, or even just sitting down with a good book are great ways to enjoy yourself without spending a dime.
Plan Your Meals
You can’t necessarily do much to reduce the cost of things like rent and tuition, but you can dramatically cut down on your food budget with a little extra work. Grab some of the grocery flyers that come with your mail or newspaper (or go online to find them) and look through them to find out what’s on sale that week. Use those ingredients to come up with recipes for the meals you’ll eat all week long. This is a useful habit to get into if you’re on track to carry any college debt after graduation since you’ll probably need to live lean even after graduation.
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