- When I was in college, I took out student loans.
Budgeting wasn't really on my radar because
how can you budget with borrowed money?
But I really wished I would have instilled
those budgeting habits early on
because it would have helped me minimize my debt load.
So in this video,
we're going to be talking about
how you can budget as a college student.
And we're going to take a look at a couple sample budgets
to help you stay financially fit in those college days.
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Hey, what's up guys?
it's Justine with The College Investor,
investing and personal finance for millennials.
So there's really two ways that you can break down
your budget when you're in college.
And in the most simplest of ways,
it breaks down to tuition and then everything else.
So we're going to be covering tuition,
and then your living expenses.
Now, tuition will probably come from savings,
scholarships or student loans.
So you really don't have to worry
about coming up with the tuition money
right there on the spot with a part-time job,
because it's going to be coming from
all of these outside resources.
Now, if you are working on paying
and cash flowing for tuition as you go,
a great way to start would be with free money,
such as scholarship and grants,
and then thinking about how you can pick up
extra income opportunities along the way.
So when you're managing your variable income and expenses,
because things are all over the place
when you're in college.
So you may be able to secure a full-time job
during the summer and make a couple thousand dollars.
And then during the school year,
you may be limited to just a part-time job
making a couple hundred bucks a month.
So a good idea would be to stockpile as much cash as you can
during the summer months or during winter break,
so that you can live off of those savings
during the school year.
Now, breaking it out into the simplest of terms
with tuition and then everything else,
let's actually break that down even further.
Because you want to have a pulse
on where your money is going.
So first is the tuition and fees.
But then you'll want to think about
things like health and medical.
Are you still on your parents' health insurance?
And then what about any kind of doctor's visits
where you might be responsible for a co-pay,
or you have prescription medications that you need to take?
Those types of things need to be accounted for,
or you may be responsible totally for your health insurance.
Oftentimes, a lot of college campuses
actually provide student health insurance.
So you may want to look into that
as you're budgeting for the school year.
Next you'll want to consider rent and utilities.
This is obviously going to be way cheaper
if you have roommates, which is exactly what I did
throughout my entire time in college.
When I wasn't living in the dorms,
I had a roommate or roommates,
and it was so much cheaper to budget for utilities and rent
when I could share it with other people.
Next you'll want to consider your cell phone plan
and your internet bills.
Internet could be split amongst your roommates,
but thinking about your cell phone plan.
If you're still under your parents' plan,
or you got kicked off, you'll want to check out
cheap alternatives to cell phone data plans.
Next is transportation, which can get costly.
If you have to bring your car to school,
remember that a lot of college campuses
will charge for residential parking.
Or you may have to have a parking pass
either for parking your car on the street in the city,
or parking it on campus, that can really add up.
You may want to consider getting a bike
or just straight walking,
which is what I ended up doing most of the time.
I would walk to campus and save money
on gas and maintenance for my car.
The next thing that you'll want to consider
in your budget is food.
We all love to go out to eat
or the student union food court,
but it can get really expensive.
So you can end up going to
a lot of student organization clubs and activities,
which typically have free pizza.
Or you can get a job waitressing, which is what I did.
And I ended up getting a lot of free food
from my job at the end of the night.
So that is one way that you can budget for food cheaply,
or just sharing that bill
and responsibility with your roommates
so that you guys can have potluck dinners.
Then you'll want to also budget for things like fun.
And then of course, textbooks
and school materials like a laptop
or any kind of software
that you might need for your classes.
Those are all things that you should typically look for
in a budget as a college student.
All right, now let's go ahead
and take a look at some sample budgets
to give you an idea of how this will all work.
First, we'll take a look
at the community college student living at home.
So community college Callen, let's call him that,
is working on an associates degree
from a local community college
before transferring to a state university.
So he drives a used pickup to school and work,
but he still owes money on the car.
And then during the school year,
he works 15 hours per week as a lifeguard
earning $16 per hour.
And then during the summer,
he manages a landscaping crew
and earns $22 per hour for the full-time job.
So we can take a look at his income opportunities.
And then he also has scholarships for $650,
which brings the total to an annual income of $18,800.
So now let's take a look at his expenses.
So he has just over $3,000 in tuition, annually.
He pays a $450 annually for health and medical.
And his textbooks and school equipment
is around $700 for the year.
Now his a monthly expenses include $150 per month
for rent and utilities because he has multiple roommates.
And then his cell phone and internet plan is $80 a month.
And then because he owes money on the pickup truck,
that plus gas and maintenance cost $300 a month,
and then he's looking at $200 per month for food.
Now, total expenses, excluding tuition, is $16,360,
but including tuition is $18,280.
That means his budget is under by $520,
which he has left over in his budget for savings.
Next let's consider the scholarship student
who is living on campus at a private liberal arts school.
All right, so scholarship Sally, let's call her that.
Has this scholarship that covers 100% of the tuition
at her pricey liberal arts school.
And so the school is in a small town
and she works on campus at the library.
Now she works eight hours per week, earning $12 per hour.
And then she also does some online ACT prep classes
earning $40 an hour, working about four hours per week.
So if we take a look at all of her income opportunities,
excluding the scholarships,
her total annual income is just over $19,000,
plus the $47,000 in scholarships.
So that covers the entire cost of her annual tuition.
She pays $200 per year for health and medical,
since she's on her parents' health insurance.
And she pays about $2,000 for textbooks
and school equipment
because she is at this private liberal arts school.
Now she lives on campus,
so her rent and utilities are all covered
under campus housing, which is 5,700 for the year.
Now, she just pays $215 per year for cell phone and internet
because she has a paid off phone
and she uses a cheap cell phone service like Mint Mobile.
Her transportation costs are only $50 per month
because she rides a bike
and then she just carpools with friends.
Her food expense is kind of high,
it's $650 per month on average.
So she has an on-campus meal plan
and she also buys groceries.
And then she'll also eat out during her internship.
And then fun is about $200 per month.
So her total expenses, excluding tuition
is just under $19,000
and that's the same for including tuition
since she doesn't have to cover that.
So she actually has a net savings of $125 per year.
So in both of these scenarios,
the college student was actually saving money,
but let's take a look at a couple of examples
in which that student might actually be
over budget or losing money.
So the next example is a public university student
splitting apartment with friends.
So this student has side gigs that come out
to roughly $300 per week.
Whether they're selling things on eBay
or picking up some part-time weekend positions,
it amounts to $300 per week.
Plus they're a nanny that makes $18 an hour,
and they get a small stipend from their parents
amounting to 2000 bucks
and a few scholarships amounting to $1,800,
which brings their total annual income to $26,960.
So let's take a look at their annual expenses.
Their annual expenses include tuition for $8,000.
Health and medical, which is $1,900.
Their rent and utilities is $520 per month.
And then their cell phone and internet is $215 per year
and transportation is around $1,300 for the year.
Next, food and fun.
Food is $350 per month
and fun is $300 per month.
So the total expenses excluding tuition is $17,455.
Including tuition that amounts to $25,455,
which means they have a deficit of $2,295.
So most likely she is going to have to pick up
other extra income opportunities or reduce her expenses
or at the very bottom of the list,
may have to pull out a small student loan
to cover the difference.
All right, last, let's take a look at study abroad Steve.
Public university student studying abroad in Spain.
So he's doing a semester abroad where he won't work,
but for the rest of the school year,
he'll referee some soccer games.
And then during the summer he'll earn money
working full-time as a janitor at a gym.
So let's take a look at the income.
$400 per week as a referee,
$16 per hour as a janitor full-time during the summer,
and then some money from his parents amounting to $3,000.
So his total annual income is $23,480.
Let's take a look at his expenses now.
Tuition is $9,400.
And health and medical is $300 for the year.
His monthly expenses are $600 for rent and utilities.
$20 for cell phone and internet.
Transportation is $300.
And then food and fun is $200 and $500 per month.
I mean, if you're going to be living in Spain,
you best be using some money to go travel around the country
and just travel in Europe in general.
So total expenses, excluding tuition, is $20,040.
And total expenses, including tuition is $29,440,
which leaves a deficit of $8,960.
So the semester abroad is probably
the most expensive in this case,
not saying that studying abroad is typically expensive,
because there are exchange programs in which,
they can make it a little bit cheaper.
But having a budget in place can show, in this scenario,
that we're going to have to figure out
some other ways to bring in income
or consider a student loan in order to cover the difference.
Now, just because you borrow money
and your income is fluctuating all over the board,
doesn't mean that you don't have to budget.
Doing these types of walkthroughs
or just monitoring your monthly income and expenses
as a college student is going to set the foundation
for financial success in the future and after you graduate.
Now for more information
on how to pay off student loans quickly and effectively,
be sure to visit and check out our resources
at thecollegeinvestor.com.