Student-to-Student: Top 10 Tips on Staying Financially Afloat at College
By: Lisa Kozleski
Alex Kulas, president of the Lethbridge College Students’ Association, gave some good advice on money matters this fall in Perspectives, the college’s student blog. Here are her top ten tips.
- Write it down
List your expenses and your income on paper. Seeing how you spend your money can show you where you could be saving.
- Organize your income
Plan for student loans and your paydays. Consider putting money for rent into a separate account that you don’t touch on a day-to-day basis.
- Maximize your income
Work – but don’t work too much. Experts say that while in school you should not exceed 15 hours a week for a healthy balance in your life.
- Get help
Most colleges and universities have many resources for you including finance offices, student associations, and scholarships and awards.
- Get a discount
Look for store flyers, shop on discount days, and see if your college or university has a discount card.
- Learn to cook
Eating out isn’t cheap. Learning how to cook and eat at home is better for your wallet and your health.
- Turn items you don’t need into cash
Have something you never use? Try selling it on Kijiji or Ebay, and sell your textbooks back at the end of the semester.
- Manage your debt
You will be offered student overdrafts, student credit cards and student storecards but think carefully before you accept any of them.
- Keep tabs on your spending
Bank online, read your statements, look at receipts, save your change in a jar, compare prices in the supermarket and don’t take out more than you need from the cash machine.
- Avoid unnecessary expenses
Make sure you really need it before you buy it.
Click here for information on financial services at Lethbridge College. You will find details about financing your education at Lethbridge College as well as an online Budget Wizard to help you make sense of the cost – and value – of a Lethbridge College education.
At Lethbridge College, we give students the tools they need to connect to the work they’ll love. During your two years of study, you’ll be fully immersed in one of more than 50 career-training programs – from criminal justice to multimedia design to environmental science to engineering. You’ll quickly start to practice the concepts you’re learning in the classroom. You’ll get to engage in applied research – finding practical solutions to real world problems. And Lethbridge College graduates are a welcome addition to any workplace – because our grads are equipped with experience and ready to go on day one.
Look to Lethbridge College. The future starts here.
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