Student Financial DietsWritten by Keith Tuomi
It's a well known fact that college students are graduating owing more money than ever. Not only are college tuition costs are rising faster than inflation, but credit card companies, car manufacturers, and a slew of other wolves are at door for student wallet. Paying off this debt takes serious self-control and some math calculations that even art students should be able to handle.The first step: Plan your expenses. Think of this as a diet for your budget. What does one do when they want to lose weight? They carefully record their calorie intake and exercise levels and use tried-and-true principle that you simply have to burn more calories than you put into your body in order to lose extra weight. This excerise is a one-month study of your financial habits. What you learn about your spending may surprise you. The first step is to purchase one of major finance programs. Quicken and Quickbooks are two very good choices, and shouldn't cost you more than $60 for personal editions. Before heading to your local software store, check in at your campus student bookstore; they may be able to offer you as a student a discounted version for much cheaper. Most of advanced functions of these programs are more relevant for running a business and preparing taxes; try and at least skim these areas of software first for later use, however for now you simply will need 'ledger' functions. This is spreadsheet-type area of software where you can enter your daily expenses. For every single thing you purchase in course of one-moneth period, you need to first GET A RECEIPT. No one can be expected to remember everything they buy, get into habit of asking everyone, down to coffee shop clerk, for that little piece of paper, and stuff into your wallet right away. Pockets are a no-no, when you pull your paper-shred covered laundry out of washing machine next weekend you will understand why.
| | Debunking the FAFSA MythWritten by Keith Tuomi
With plethora of big-business entities jockeying for money of students on path to becoming well-to-do responsible consumers with a house, car, and 1.5 children, it's often missed that US Government is first place to start when planning student finances.Scholarships, traineeships, fellowships, loans: Uncle Sam is nothing if not prolific in diversity of programs available. For most students, acroynm FAFSA is their first encounter with cold hard seriousness of bureaucratic forms, most commonly dealt with before dreaded and stereotypically cryptic IRS forms such as 1040. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is a free form and free service provided by Department of Education. If you do not fill it in you will not be eligible for federal (government-backed) student loans. However, you will still be eligible for private, or alternative student loans. Almost every school sets its own deadline for when different forms of financial aid are due. Some may be as early as second week of January and some have no deadlines at all. It is strongly recommended to check with your own school's financial aid office to find out exactly when your deadlines may fall. In order to meet a "Transaction Receipt Date" deadline for your college, it is recommended to submit to us at least 2 weeks prior to published deadline to insure submission. There are a myriad of large, well-oiled companies that will gladly take your money and 'process' your FAFSA application on your behalf. The fees for this service typically range from $50 to $100. You could also go with a private accountant, however 'personal touch' will of course usually cost you more. Wait! Do you really want to start your experience with Government forms as one of resignation that no, you are really not bright or organized enough to be able to fill it in yourself? Learning to 'do it yourself' with Government can be not only a satisfying but potentially educational experience that will teach you skills that many self-made millionares taught themselves: relying on an accountant or anonymous firm does nothing except save you some time, and in fact with big-ticket money decisions who is to say that your 'assistants' are not putting their interests before yours?
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