College Guide
Student Credit Cards
- Because financial debt is one of the main reasons that many students end up dropping out of college.
- Because your college years can be some of your most memorable and some of your most costly. They don't, however, have to be the beginning of an adult life strapped with debt.
- Although you may still feel in limbo between your teen years and adulthood, it's time to take charge of your finances and manage them as an adult. The sooner you do, the sooner you'll be able to start saving and spending your own money.
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College Budgeting
The primary purpose of a budget is to design a realistic plan for spending limited financial resources. A student budget requires flexibility to adapt to the changing circumstances of college life. Essential steps in designing a budget are:
- Identify your income sources. Income can include your allowance from home, take-home pay from student employment, savings allocated to college expenses, interest, dividends, gifts, grants, scholarships.
- List fixed and flexible expenses. Fixed expenses are exact amounts due on a specific date. Flexible expenses include money spent on wants and needs that are irregular in nature.
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How To Choose College Classes
At some schools, the course catalog looks like a phone book. You may be thinking "information overload!" as your eyes glaze over and you begin to feel a little panicky.
If the sheer volume of possibilities is more than you can handle all at once, shut the catalog. Sit down somewhere and think about a few key things, including the following:
- The basic, common denominator list of courses that you must complete to graduate. Even if you don't know what your major is going to be, there are some classes that nearly everybody ends up taking. You'll have to take them sometime, so you might as well get started. Our advice is to get them out of the way ASAP, so you can take fun stuff your senior year or courses that enhance your major or your employment potential.
- Your major. What's it going to be? Do you have any clues yet? This is a very big decision, and you don't have to figure it out today, this semester, or even this year. But start thinking about it.
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College Roommates
Whether you are moving into the dorm as a freshman, or a senior looking for a nice house close to campus, odds are you will be living with roommates. There are very few college students who live by themselves, mostly because it is too expensive. In college towns, rent for a single apartment can reach up to $750 a month. It might not seem like a lot, and maybe it isn't if your parents are paying for it, but for the majority of students $750 a month is not reasonable.
The solution to lower rent is living with roommates. In this article I will talk about the pros and cons of living with roommates, how to find roommates, and I'll share some of my experiences along the way.
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