How to Manager Your Finances as a Full Time Student
Oct 10 by Alyssa Jo Soloski
As a full time student, we have the stress of our school work load on us everyday. Studying, exams, projects… we think about these things on a daily basis. Our minds are occupied with school work so having to deal with the stress of our finances can push us over the top. Its important to have a good structure to deal with your expenses while you’re in school. Most of us don’t have the time to work, even a part time job so we rely on our savings and student loans.
I was able to work two jobs over the summer to save up some money to get me through my school year, along with the student loans I receive. I use my own savings for my ‘spending’ and ‘socializing’ money. Whereas my student loans I use for bills and school necessities.
In the first month of school, I wasn’t too strict on my budget because I was not aware of exactly how expensive everything was going to be. But as soon as October 1st hit, I started writing my very strict budget.
Here is a simple outline on how you can budget:
Expense Price Where is the money coming from? How Often?
Transit $177 Student Loans Monthly
Parking $60 Student Loans Monthly
Rent $500 Student Loans Monthly
Gas $75 Personal Money 2-3x ($225)
Groceries $250 Personal Money Monthly
Socializing $250 Personal Money Monthly
Cell Phone $100 Personal Money Monthly
Now that you have an outline of your bills and where you would like to take this money out of, you can start deciding exactly how you will go about it. I like to take how much money I have wether its my student loans or personal and divide it by the amount of months you are in school.
Ex. $30,000(student loans received) - $19,000(tuition) = $11,000(money left for bills)
$11,000 / 12(months of school) = $916 per month
Do the same for you personal spending money as well.
Ex. $3500 (amount saved up) / 12 = $291 per month
After you do your math equations, you can review your outline and adjust accordingly! Maybe you have more spending money than you thought, or more money for bills so now you can get that gym membership you want!
Remember that your budget can change throughout the year, and it most likely will! I personally check over my budget and edit it a couple times a month. Expenses that you weren’t expecting might come up, but don’t panic just rewrite your outline and see where you can pull money from or change the price.
By staying on a strict budget it will really help you stay calm and less stressed about your finances. You have enough to worry about with your heavy school work load, so write out your budget and stick to it!
You got this!!