Money and college students are often opposites that don’t attract each other. Students need money, but find it difficult to save. A lack of financial literacy may lead to making poor financial choices that can have negative consequences of your financial wellbeing. Financial literacy is the education and understanding of various financial areas, including personal finance. Personal finance includes areas like budgeting, insurance, student loan payments, retirement, etc. Budgeting is a great way to get started on your path to financial success, and can be done while you are in school very easily.
5 Simple Steps to Start on the Pathway to Financial Success
- Create a goal: Before you put any type of budget or plan in place regarding your finances, you have to have a goal in mind. Make it simple and attainable, but still challenging. As an example for a graduate student living off of loans: try not to use your emergency credit card for expenses (especially if the interest rate is higher than your loans), aim to reduce your expenses by $20/month, or stick to your budget for five months in a row.
- Get organized: Get a mobile app on your phone for all of your banking institutions. Access to your account information at your fingertips can increase your spending responsibility. Whether a physical budget planner or online resources, use something that is going to work best for you. Don’t feel like you need to reinvent the wheel, there are so many free budgeting tools/apps online you can find.
- Create a budget: Analyze your required monthly expenditures like rent, food, or transportation expenses. Next, include your ideal expenses like a clothing budget, savings or big ticket items—things that are important, but can be skimmed if necessary. Don’t forget to Include “fun money” in your monthly expenses because it’s an important category! You still need to enjoy life, but on a budget.
- Revisit your budget: Having a budget is great, but if it is not working then it is useless. Revisit your budget every couple weeks to make sure you are on track and make changes as necessary. If you’re not utilizing your ‘utility’ funds entirely for utilities, reassign them. The more accurate your record keeping, the better a budget will serve you.
- Use resources available to you: There are so many financial literacy resources available, especially for college students. Here are a few examples:
- Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMUoHP) Financial Aid Office (FAO): https://rm.edu/financial-aid/. The FAO at RMUoHP is full of Financial Aid Professionals that are happy to counsel you at any time regarding your financial aid. Our advisors are knowledgeable regarding Federal Student Loan acceptance, loan repayment and private loan options. While students are assigned to one of the advisors below, feel free to contact the FAO via their group email: financialaid@rm.edu or Alexandria Jackson (Last Names A-K): alexandria.jackson@rm.edu | 801-734-6788, Krista McEntire (Last Names L-Z): krista.mcentire@rm.edu | 385-375-8797, or Mary Ah Mu (all students): mary.ahmu@rm.edu | 385-375-8657.
- Student Loan Hero: https://studentloanhero.com/. This blog is a great resource for students! It includes accurate Federal student Loan and private loan information that is in verbiage that is easy to digest. They also have blogs containing ideas for repayment strategies and how to get on top of your finances.
- UVU – Money Management Resource Center: https://www.uvu.edu/moneymanagement/. The Money Management Resource Center at UVU contains students that are pursuing degrees in the Financial Planning field. They are knowledgeable regarding interest accrual and repayment strategies for student loans. To make an appointment let them know you are an RMUoHP student and they will chat with you for free.
Financial Longevity
Your financial longevity is important to us at RMUoHP because we want to succeed in all aspects of your future. Set yourself up now for financial success using the 5 steps above and take advantage of the resources that are available to you. Also, keep in mind the FAO motto: Live like a student now so you do not live like a student for the rest of your life.
Guest Blogger, Alexandria Jackson, Financial Aid Services Manager
