Once you get into college, there are a lot of ways you can screw up your personal finances and find yourself in debt problems quickly. If you know what to look out for though, you can save your money and maybe even end up with more left over than you thought possible. So here are a few things you should watch for when it comes to your cash.
Loans
College is getting pretty expensive these days. A simple 4-year college can be as much as $100,000 or more. That’s crazy, but before you decide to get a student loan, whether from the bank or your college, look at other ways you can gain the funds for college. Financial aid is there for this very reason, to help students pay for college.
You can do scholarship searches on websites like FastWeb to get matched up for scholarships that you may be eligible for and interested in. There is also government grants a.k.a. free money, but to be eligible for this, the government needs to know your current financial standing. The only reliable way to do this is to fill out a FAFSA.
Credit Cards
Building credit is a good thing to do when in college; it’s the time where it’s easiest to build credit and get a good score going so you can rent an apartment, buy a house, and a car. However, it’s also the worst time to get a credit card and destroy whatever score you hoped to have. This is because credit card companies know how to get to college students, and make you think you need a credit card. If you do need a credit card, then talk to a professional about it.
Don’t go to a bank or a lender and ask about it, because they’re main objective is to make money, and to them you look like a cash cow waiting to be turned into a fat burger. There are some good credit cards out there for students, but the majority isn’t there to help. If you do find yourself in credit card debt and need some credit counseling, talk to an organization such as ConsolidatedCredit.org to get out of debt so you can start managing your money better.
Fist Pump it Bro!
Yeah, no—going to clubs is the usual for college students. Everyone wants to go out on the weekend or even every night to the hot spots around town to party it up and partake in some adult beverages. Those clubs are designed to rob you. $30+ to just get in the door, $10+ for alcohol, you can’t even get water for $5. Yeah, they charge you to drink what you essentially need to live. Does that still sound like a good idea?
Dinner Time
Speaking of drinking, we may as well cover food here too. It’s tempting to eat out a lot when you’re in college, especially if you’ve never cooked before. If you’re living in a dorm, you don’t even have a stove, so how would you cook if you know how to? Instead of eating junk food and gaining the Freshmen 15, try out this book: A Man. A Can. A Microwave.
Textbooks
Are you ready to empty your pockets, boys and girls? If there is one trick colleges are known for, it’s selling you your “required” textbooks for hundreds of dollars and then buying them back for a few bucks, or none at all. Half the time, you may not need the book for class; ask your professor, they may say you don’t really need it. If you do though, there are ways to save your money.
- It’s now possible to rent books rather than buy them. It’s something a lot of schools and organizations are doing to keep students from going poor the first week of school.
- Borrow a book. Sometimes the library will have an old version of a textbook, or a friend took the class before and still has theirs. Probably because they couldn’t get any money for it.
- Use a website like Amazon or SlugBooks. These places sell textbooks for an incredible fraction of the price, some for less than a dollar.
Yep, it can get ugly in college when it comes to students and their money. If you keep the above dangers in mind, then you may be able to manage your expenses a little better and keep your personal finances in check throughout the next four years.