Saving money as a busy college student
Zion Dendy, Staff Writer
Learning how to save money is a skill that most parents teach their children at a young age. As a child, asking for things in the store would always be met with replies such as:
“No.”
“Put it back.”
“We have that at home.” and,
“You finna’ pay for it?”
“Don’t buy it unless you need it,” is something that my mother taught me as a child that I hold strongly to till this day. Coming to college would show me exactly why I was raised this way.
My mother always felt that if she bought me everything I asked for, I would never learn just how important money is. One decade later, I can surely say: she was right.
During my first semester, I would empty my bank account with countless runs to Walmart, constant date nights and the cough my 1997 Explorer would give me when it needed gas.
As money became rarer, I realized how tough living on my own was and knew I had to make a change.
The next semester I decided to take an entirely different approach. My goal was to spend, at most, 50 dollars a month and to narrow down trips off-campus as much as I could.
With the help of a few money saving experts from campus, here are a few ways to help more people save.
“First off, you have to work,” Director of Career Planning Stuart Floyd said, “I know it sucks but if you get a job you can in-turn make back all the money you spent.”
Not only does working on weekends provides a source of income, it also prevents students from wasting money. While at work, a student can literally not spend his or her money while earning money at the same time. I see this as an absolute win.
On campus work-study positions even offer an on-campus alternative to students who maybe don’t own a car.
“You can’t spend money if you don’t leave campus,” former college student Justin Brown said, “If you go out every weekend spending money will be easy for you but if you stay in and study, you’ll find you have more money when you need it.”
Better grades and more money seem to contradict, yet surprisingly they go together. If a student is in their dorm studying, they couldn’t possibly spend money, right? Unfortunately, this requires self-control. In today’s society online shopping is just as dangerous as in-store, if not more. From the palm of your hands, you can spend over $100 and not even think twice about it.
“Eat on campus,” Junior Hope Scott said. “Cafeteria date nights are just as sweet as any other date night. Plus, it’s free.”
Eating off-campus is often something that breaks college students. Students lose track of exactly how much they spend eating out and go broke like I did.
Spending money in today’s society is easier done than said and college students know this first-hand. In short, stay on campus and work until your bank account reflects it.
