By: Kenneth Edwards
Refunds have just arrived at Morehouse College, and students are already complaining that they are broke. Year after year students tend to deplete there refund in less than a week. Students must get a grip on their budgeting and look for ways to help expand their income overtime. Below are four things that can help conserve money in the hands of college students.
Determining wants from needs-Refunds come around and people have depleted their whole refund in a matter of 48hrs and lack the funds to pay their rent. Why? Because, they did not take the time to determine if the money they were using was going toward a want or need. Take time to weigh out the pros and cons of each transaction. Ask yourself, how will this benefit me in the future? Why do I need this? Remember easy come easy go! If determining wants and needs are to difficult the website below should prove to be helpful.
Determining wants from needs-Refunds come around and people have depleted their whole refund in a matter of 48hrs and lack the funds to pay their rent. Why? Because, they did not take the time to determine if the money they were using was going toward a want or need. Take time to weigh out the pros and cons of each transaction. Ask yourself, how will this benefit me in the future? Why do I need this? Remember easy come easy go! If determining wants and needs are to difficult the website below should prove to be helpful.
http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2012/05/the-difference-between-needs-and-wants-getting-spending-under-control.html
Be Cognoscente of Expenditures
Don’t Forget About Discounts-. Purchasing power creates a huge problem for college students. Since students have this money they are unaccustomed to having, students tend to be eager and more careless to get rid of it. With increase purchasing power students seem to ignore the good deal, and are more acceptable to paying full price for items. Do not forget you are in college and still on a fix income. There are plenty of places that still give out student discounts with the presents of and College ID. Even now there are smartphones that have apps for coupons to use for certain stores. Website below is a list of several apps per smartphone with coupons.
Set Aside Money- Saving proves to be a great safety net for students to not spend all their money quickly as well as helping to prepare for unforeseen or future expenditures. Saving really is the best choice when it comes to budgeting.
I truly agree with your analysis of the mannerisms of many students in regards to their refund checks and the decisions they make with them. I, for one, am definitely guilty of frivilously squandering my funds away instead of allocating them towards a greater cause or simply, saving. I appreciate your tips and I'll truly take them into consideration.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your post, Kenneth. The second point that you made is something that I always have a habit of doing. I think I'm saving some money by only getting cheap meals. In the end, I end up getting a lot of small meals and it depletes my money supply faster than I expected or wanted.
ReplyDeleteI think the last point is the most important. If you put a portion of money away from your refund, or from monthly income, etc. you won't be tempted to touch it or spend it. By doing that, you know you can only spend the money that you have left while you are able to save the the other amount.
I agree completely that students deplete their refunds by petty purchases, food, or whatever they see they want where they thought they so called needed. Refunds if anything should be invested or stretched enough to hold you out until the next semester, go back home, or get a job where their school is located.
ReplyDeleteInformative post about the use of refunds. Most students initially dont see the downside of refund checks. While this money is convenient, it is very important that before we go out on spending sprees, we understand where our refunds come from. Leftover scholarship money is ours to decide what to spend it on, but those that use loans for payment will eventually have to give this money back. It is smart to go ahead and budget these refund checks and save as much as possible, or even give it back to the government once its given to you.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the last point is the best way to handle refunds and also the most important. By my junior year I realized if I had saved some refund checks from past years I wouldn't even need any extra funds. And a big point was students having amounts of money they aren't used to having results in bad spending. I think that in freshman orientation, they should have one speech that guides us college students instead of just leaving us to learn on our own through bad decisions with college refund checks.
ReplyDelete