Books are too expensive, tuition increases every year, rent never goes away, and in spite of $.15 beer nights, a social life gets expensive too. With every resource available to allow for a mind's growth, keeping their fiscal strength on part with their mental potency is challenge No. 1 for college students. Still, there are ways to make that financial grade.
Cut the credit\nStudents are often racking up high credit card bills, and even those who are able to keep their credit in check often graduate with considerable outstanding loans to pay off. The credit card is often turned to as the bail-out option for many students. Whether they are at an IU football game or just checking their mail, students are constantly bombarded with what seem to be good offers for credit cards. \n"One of the challenges that college students face today, is the availability of credit for things other than college-related expenses," said Walter Koon, a lecturer for the Kelley School of Business. "Too many students today find themselves faced with large credit card bills in addition to the cost of education when they finally graduate."\nRecently credit cards have become a problem for so many college students. In fact, there are now specialized agencies that focus on marketing credit cards directly to students who do not have that money to pay.\n"It goes against all principles of lending, to loan money to a student," said professor of finance David Haeberle. "It's one of the world's largest injustices right now."\nHaeberle suggests that one of the biggest problems with college students falling into debt is students want to continue to live in college the life they were living at home.\n"Students don't want to downgrade their lifestyle from the way they grew up," Haeberle said. "They want to continue to keep it up. Credit cards provide students with instant gratification." \nHaeberle's advice for struggling students, "Cut up your credit cards."
Research your research\nThe hefty cost of textbooks also causes students to rack up big bills they may be unable to pay. However, spending a little extra time can help to save a lot of extra money.\nBigtenbooks.com is one way students can save by spending less on textbooks. At Bigtenbooks.com , students from Indiana, Purdue, IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and the University of Illinois are able to compare costs of purchasing textbooks online. Students simply choose the classes they are taking from the site's database and are then shown what books are required for the class as well as comparative pricing of purchasing the books at such online retailers as Amazon, BiggerBooks, ecampus, and Barnes and Noble. \nSimilar sites are available for students from any collegiate conference. Though they require a bit more patience siphoning through results, sites like www.Froogle.com (a sister-site of www.Google.com that employs similar query/information retrieval methods) enable the cost-conscious student to search the entire Web for their class materials.
Finding cash in unlikely places\nHaeberle advises students to work in some form or another to help bring in some extra cash.\n"There are businesses in Bloomington that can't hire people," he said. "No one wants to work for six or seven dollars an hour."\nIU professor of finance Dan Greiner recommends whether they work or not students must be more mindful of their spending and read the fine print associated with anything financially.\n"Keep better track of your budget, how much is needed each month," he said. "Start to learn about investing your money."\nGreiner sees electronics purchases as one of the largest unnecessary hits that many students take to their budgets. As a generation brought up with a dependence on technology, Greiner believes students often spend too much for electronics that are not necessary.\nBut technology can be useful to students as they attempt to save money. Making purchases at discount retailers online can help students find the low prices. Additionally, there are many Web sites dedicated to providing resources to help students be mindful of their finances.\nIn April 2004, the Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition (www.wsjclassroom.com) suggested some of the top things that can help students ease the cost of schooling. First, do research, that is work as a research assistant. This was considered one of the best ways for students to earn money while being in school because it allows for a financial pay-off as well as a learning opportunity. A second often unknown option is for students with outstanding loans to work in federal or state jobs. As an incentive to draw applicants to government positions, the government will often allow for the student loans of new hires to be "forgiven." \nUndoubtedly, there are many ways a student can be taken advantage of financially. No one solution can be exploited in the hopes of a quick fix, but collectively, the load can be lightened. \n-- Contact Staff Writer Ron Neroda at rneroda@indiana.edu.
