Managing Your Finances

Your freshman year at college may be the first time you are on your own. If you have a job while in college, it is important to budget your finances. You may dread doing it and procrastinate, but it is important to figure up a monthly budget while you are away. The good part is once you do it, as much as you were dreading it, it’s done and you don’t have to do it again unless something changes!

As a freshman, you may not have many bills that you have to pay each month, but you should still figure up your budget. This will help cut down on unnecessary spending, especially when you’re lonely.

When working on your budget, take into account all your monthly bills, a food allowance if you need to, as well as an allowance for gas in your car if you have one or public transportation. Once all of these necessary items are accounted for, then designate an amount that you want to save each month. This is also a necessary and important part because if next month your schedule at work changes and you don’t have as many hours, you won’t be stressing that you don’t have money for your bills- you have some saved up!

After you think of all the not fun stuff, then allow yourself a certain amount to have fun with. And it shouldn't be the balance of your monthly amount, either.

It may be hard at first to get used to following a budget, especially when you want to spend more on the fun stuff, but it will be worth it. You don’t want to get lonely then go shopping and come back with $100 of clothes or books and not be able to pay your bills next month or not go out with your friends. Splurging on all those clothes may make you feel good at the time, but it won’t later and a budget will help you manage that your first time living on your own.  

College Classes

College is an exciting time- you get to meet new people and live on your own for the first time. It may also be tempting to blow off your classes or half blow off your classes. What do I mean by half blow off your classes? I mean you are still putting in an appearance in class and do your homework (yes, there’s still homework after high school), but you don’t put the effort in to your homework.

You and your family are paying for college and paying for you to take this particular class- you want to make the most of it and do your best. You may want to go to that movie with your friends, but if you need to read 100 pages for English that’s due the next day, you may need to hold off on the movie.

With your homework, there’s a difference if you’re not doing well on it because you don’t understand it. If you don’t understand something in class, it is best to ask the professor afterward. They have office hours for a reason- they want you to succeed! Your college may also have resources to help you find a tutor or they may even have a tutoring center. Don’t hesitate to use those resources! You are paying for that class you are having trouble in- don’t waste your money by not doing your best in it!

In high school, your teachers may give you consistent reminders of when a major project is due or personally come to you and ask you for late work. I’m sorry that I’m here to warn you that in college, that’s not the case. It’s also not a bad thing, either. It just means that you have to take extra steps to help yourself succeed and that extra step is a small one- an agenda/planner is a great resource that will help you get that work in on time and it just takes two seconds to use that resource and write down your assignment and when it is due. Trust me- when you’re taking 5 or 6 courses and sometimes multiple classes of the same subject with possibly the same professor, at the end of the semester that agenda/planner will be your best friend! 

Student Loan Debt

Student loan debt may not be something you are thinking of as a freshman, especially when it impacts you 2, 4, or more years from now. You may even hear about student loans right now from teachers or family members and still think that you don’t have to think about that right now and you’ll put it off until next year or the year after that.

As a recent college graduate, I’m here to tell you that it’s never too early to think about student loans, scholarships and grants. In fact, I wish I had thought more about these things earlier. The good news for you is that it is not too late to investigate your options.

FAFSA-

This is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. If you have not already filled this out, then you should! The FAFSA will determine what type of aid you qualify for, and not just loans. It also determines your eligibility for grants and Federal Work Study. January, February and March are important months for filing the FAFSA as you can get more funds the earlier you apply. Also, it is important to look on the FAFSA website at deadlines- there are certain deadlines for the state you are in and your college may have a certain deadline as well. The application and information about deadlines can be found at https://fafsa.ed.gov/

Grants and Scholarships-

Grants and scholarships are the most important funding options for college. Grants and scholarships are free money that is given to you to attend college. It may depend on you and your family’s income or your academics, it varies depending on what type of grant or scholarship you are applying for. For example, the Pell Grant (the FAFSA determines if you are eligible for this) is awarded to you depending on your financial need.

Loans-

There are many options for loans- there are private loans, parent loans, Federal subsidized and unsubsidized loans. When you take out a loan, it should be the last option after you have searched and applied for grants and scholarships. Let’s recap- grants and scholarships are free money. Loans, on the other hand you have to pay back. With interest. Which means you’re paying back a lot more money to whatever bank is handling your student loan than what it cost you to go to college in the first place! When you take out a student loan, you have the option to pay while you are in college. If you have the income to be able to do this, it is a smart option as it will cut down on the amount of money you have to pay back after college as well as how many years you have to pay on the loan. Each loan varies depending on your and your family’s income and the interest rates of the banks as to the amount you have to pay and for how many years. Loans are a confusing territory to navigate, especially when you have so much on your plate as a freshman (or even as a senior!). There are great resources in your college Financial Aid office to help you understand what you are getting into when you take out loans. The points I cannot stress enough are always ask questions- there is no such thing as a dumb question, especially when it involves your finances. Also, know exactly what you are getting into when you take out a loan- know how much you have to pay back and for how long. Most importantly, don’t take more than you need. Again, taking out a loan should be your last resort- look for the free money with scholarships first. Scholarships may take more work because you may have to write an essay but years from now, you will be glad you did!

Embracing Your New-Found Freedom

When you got to college, you recognized right away the freedoms that you had. OK, so it probably wasn’t be in bed by 9 p.m. or you’re grounded back home, but even if you had lax parents, rules were always there, spoken or otherwise. Now that you’re in college, it’s all up to you. But don’t go crazy just yet!

Sometimes the lack of restrictions can be a bit of a wake-up call. Yet it’s too often that this lack of rules is applied only to getting crazy. Instead, take a more holistic view of the freedoms that college offers. You have freedom in every sense, and you can embrace that from a developmental, social, and, yes, even academic standpoint.

So maybe your parents didn’t like some of the friends you hung out with. Maybe they had reason, or maybe they were just being old-fashioned. Now that you’re in college, you’ll be the only person who decides or really has any influence with whom you hangout. No, this doesn’t mean you should jump to hangout with the “wrong crowd,” but what it does mean is that you can take the chance to get to know a variety of new people. Even if your school isn’t huge, there will be plenty of people to meet and people from a lot of different backgrounds. So take advantage and make some new friends, friends that might be different from who you usually hung out with.

College is also the time to explore some new hobbies and fun freedoms. If you’re interested in an activity, be it dodgeball, rock climbing, or computer programing, there’s probably a club or group out there just waiting for you to join. So now that you have the freedom, why not? After school, you won’t have such a wealth and concentration of new activities and things to get involved in so readily available. Since you’re in college, now’s your chance! And there’s really nothing to lose when it comes to trying a new activity, so take advantage and have some fun.

You might not be sure for quite some time what you’ll major in. That’s all right, since, once again, it’s time to be free and explore. But whether you’re sure or not, take the time—and the freedom—to explore some new classes. You’ll probably be majoring in what you find to be the most interesting, but there’s bound to be more that’s interesting to you out there, and now you can learn all about it. If you despised history in high school, you probably won’t magically love it in college, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t yet unknown subjects out there that you’ll enjoy. And you’re free to choose whichever ones you’d like.

This is really just a sample of freedoms that college offers. All the choices you make, on a daily level, on a semester level, and on a level that may impact the rest of your life, are yours to make. That prospect might be a bit scary, but take your time to think about any such choices and just remember that such opportunity won’t be around forever. So, let freedom ring.