If Money Could Grow on Trees: Money Management for Incoming Freshmen

One of the most stressful issues for many college students is having a sufficient amount of money to provide for a unique lifestyle of late nights and living on their own. It is very challenging for a high school senior to transition from high school to college, but it is even more demanding to begin paying for items that you did not have to pay for when you lived at home. The majority of teenagers live at home with free food, clothes, and shelter paid for by their parents. This is a nice luxury until it is time to go off to college and this is where the worrying may begin. From my own personal experience, I never had to pay for anything, but when I came to college I had to start paying for the luxury items that I wanted. I guess this is part of the whole growing up experience! Here are some tips to saving money whether you will have to pay for everything yourself or your parents will still provide you with funds.

Expenses that contribute to the college experience:
- Tuition -Meal Plan
-Computer -Books
-Bedding -Student Activity Fees
-Checking Account -Phone Cards/Cell Phone Plan
-Additional Spending Money

The first step should be to write down all the possible expenses and create a budget.

Books can be very expensive and it seems the bookstores take advantage of the students by raising the prices to an extreme level. I saved a lot of money by buying my books on the internet through http://www.textbooks.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/ Also, when I finished a semester and I didn’t need my books anymore, I sold the books back to http://bookbyte.com/ and this was nice to have a little extra spending money.

I received aid for my tuition by applying for several scholarships and filling out the FAFSA form Even if you think you are not eligible to receive aid, you should still fill out the form because everyone is eligible! I received a scholarship of work study( http://www.jcu.edu/admission/faqaid.htm) by working about ten hours a week for the school. There are several programs which students can work including academic departments, sports information, library, etc. I work in the Sociology department for ten hours a week and I usually get most of my homework done during this time while getting paid. It is a great experience and all incoming students should look into working on campus.

I also saved money by looking for special sales and deals on computers (http://www.dell.com/) and bedding ( http://www.target.com/) throughout my senior year of high school. There are always sales throughout the year and it would be a good time to purchase things on sale rather than right before leaving for school when the prices might be higher than usual. I also put money into my checking account every payday and this created a lot of spending money for my freshmen year.

The most important thing is to start planning your senior year of high school, if not before, and do not wait until two weeks before you leave for college!

http://money.families.com/blog/tips-on-saving-and-raising-money-for-college