Managing Money As A College Student
By Laura Charleston
November 29, 2022
Image Credit: Alexander Mills for Unsplash
While it is still debatable whether money buys happiness, it certainly offers security.
Knowing how to manage money and spending it wisely can lead to a wealthy life. Financial security affects a person’s mindset and how much an individual saves and budgets. No matter how young or old you are, having the right mindset will determine your financial future and help manage your money more efficiently.
First, it is important to know the difference between rich and wealthy. Paul Sullivan is a columnist writer for the Wealth Matters column in The New York Times and the Money Game column in GOLF Magazine. He differentiates being wealthy and rich by mindset and financial decision-making. According to Wealthy vs. Rich: Key Differences | Acorns, investing, saving money and focusing on long-term goals define wealth. Rich is defined as the “lack of control over their own financial decision-making,” according to the site.
In college, everyone has a different concept of financial literacy and handling money. Some institutions offer programs or classes, while others do not.
Women Empowered To Achieve The impossible (WETATi) Academy is a program driven to educate students on financial literacy, creating and respecting money, and practical experiences. WETATi Academy Founder and Ambassador Dr. Margaret Dureke emphasizes the importance of having a healthy and respectful relationship with money.
“Don’t underestimate the power of $1 or one cent because, over time, it compounds and becomes something major. So that savings seems to be one of the ones that they [the students] really, really understood and have a different mindset now, as compared to when they first started,” stated Dr. Dureke.
The curriculum also talks about managing money and why it is necessary to learn financial literacy.
“Oftentimes, people who make a lot of money, who have not understood the principles of financial literacy and good relationship with money, often will be broke…So the more respect you have for money and better relationship with money, the better savings mindset you’ll have, the more likelihood that you would actually build wealth eventually,” said Dr. Dureke.
Managing money is all about mindset and having respect for money.
Freshman psychology major Trinity Abgen Allsop did not have an official financial literacy course and learned about saving in her senior year when she was learning about college financial aid. “That only came towards senior year because that was when I was taught the most about financial aid and loans impacting me for the next five to 20 years,” said Allsop.
She supports herself with a simple spending plan. “For the most part, I try to stick to casual budgets for the month when it comes to money. But I am not really super strict because I have common sense enough to know I can’t be spending hundreds of dollars.”
Freshman public health major Rachel Odumade participated in a scenario during middle school on saving money but wished she had learned more about taxes and financial literacy. Her scenario was a single mother with three kids, making a certain amount of money. She was not taught how to budget but instead learned how to manage her money—for example paying for bills, food and etc.
Secondary education financial programs open students to financial decisions, not on how to grow or save money.
Secondary education financial programs show students the financial decisions they will make in the future but not how to grow or save money. Odumade believes a built-in process every year teaching students financial literacy and taxes will better help people understand how to manage their money.
Freshman psychology major Ademide Adeyemo follows her own saving methods and cautious spending.
“I have 60 40… so 60% …I’m not gonna touch that. And 40% I can spend as I like, but usually, I’m not spending that much. If anything, I am spending 10%,” said Adeyemo. “Now, if it’s my parents’ money, I have different values towards that. But in terms of my own money, I’m very frugal with what I spend.”
Allsop has a simple spending plan: casual spending that includes friends, food and travel.
“I try to do like, maybe like 50 bucks every two weeks because I really don’t go out that often. My more extreme expensive, where it’s like $100 plus, would only be for like necessities,” stated Allsop.
Everyone is taught about money differently and has different ways of spending and saving it. It is an essential tool, financial literacy, knowing how to manage and respect money, especially for college students living on a budget.
Knowing how to manage money and spending it wisely can lead to a wealthy life. Financial security affects a person’s mindset and how much an individual saves and budgets. No matter how young or old you are, having the right mindset will determine your financial future and help manage your money more efficiently.
First, it is important to know the difference between rich and wealthy. Paul Sullivan is a columnist writer for the Wealth Matters column in The New York Times and the Money Game column in GOLF Magazine. He differentiates being wealthy and rich by mindset and financial decision-making. According to Wealthy vs. Rich: Key Differences | Acorns, investing, saving money and focusing on long-term goals define wealth. Rich is defined as the “lack of control over their own financial decision-making,” according to the site.
In college, everyone has a different concept of financial literacy and handling money. Some institutions offer programs or classes, while others do not.
Women Empowered To Achieve The impossible (WETATi) Academy is a program driven to educate students on financial literacy, creating and respecting money, and practical experiences. WETATi Academy Founder and Ambassador Dr. Margaret Dureke emphasizes the importance of having a healthy and respectful relationship with money.
“Don’t underestimate the power of $1 or one cent because, over time, it compounds and becomes something major. So that savings seems to be one of the ones that they [the students] really, really understood and have a different mindset now, as compared to when they first started,” stated Dr. Dureke.
The curriculum also talks about managing money and why it is necessary to learn financial literacy.
“Oftentimes, people who make a lot of money, who have not understood the principles of financial literacy and good relationship with money, often will be broke…So the more respect you have for money and better relationship with money, the better savings mindset you’ll have, the more likelihood that you would actually build wealth eventually,” said Dr. Dureke.
Managing money is all about mindset and having respect for money.
Freshman psychology major Trinity Abgen Allsop did not have an official financial literacy course and learned about saving in her senior year when she was learning about college financial aid. “That only came towards senior year because that was when I was taught the most about financial aid and loans impacting me for the next five to 20 years,” said Allsop.
She supports herself with a simple spending plan. “For the most part, I try to stick to casual budgets for the month when it comes to money. But I am not really super strict because I have common sense enough to know I can’t be spending hundreds of dollars.”
Freshman public health major Rachel Odumade participated in a scenario during middle school on saving money but wished she had learned more about taxes and financial literacy. Her scenario was a single mother with three kids, making a certain amount of money. She was not taught how to budget but instead learned how to manage her money—for example paying for bills, food and etc.
Secondary education financial programs open students to financial decisions, not on how to grow or save money.
Secondary education financial programs show students the financial decisions they will make in the future but not how to grow or save money. Odumade believes a built-in process every year teaching students financial literacy and taxes will better help people understand how to manage their money.
Freshman psychology major Ademide Adeyemo follows her own saving methods and cautious spending.
“I have 60 40… so 60% …I’m not gonna touch that. And 40% I can spend as I like, but usually, I’m not spending that much. If anything, I am spending 10%,” said Adeyemo. “Now, if it’s my parents’ money, I have different values towards that. But in terms of my own money, I’m very frugal with what I spend.”
Allsop has a simple spending plan: casual spending that includes friends, food and travel.
“I try to do like, maybe like 50 bucks every two weeks because I really don’t go out that often. My more extreme expensive, where it’s like $100 plus, would only be for like necessities,” stated Allsop.
Everyone is taught about money differently and has different ways of spending and saving it. It is an essential tool, financial literacy, knowing how to manage and respect money, especially for college students living on a budget.