The College Life and Money

Nothing can explain the freedom and happiness I feel being away from home for my first year in college. Just being able to come and go as I please without having to report where I am and when I am coming back. My parents, I love them dearly but they can be overprotective at times, but I guess that’s all being a parent, Everything seems to be going smoothly holding my grades down, conditioning for baseball, meeting new friends and just enjoying the college life, but the only issue that I am having is managing and budgeting my finances. I never seem to have enough money or so it,
Managing money as a college student is a lot harder than I imagined. First I figured that with the money my family deposit into my account, I would be OK, but that money just does not last. I try hard to hold on to the money I have but it just does not work. I mean I have to buy food, gas and other things I need. So after taking care of these necessities, my funds are depleted. I hate to call my parents because the first thing they will say is you need to know how to manage your money better.
After a few months of eating Ramen noodles, drinking water and riding on fumes I decided that maybe I need to talk to someone about handling my money. In my mind I felt like well I am really not spending that much but I can never keep money in my account. I called my grandfather, who has his own business, and explained my problem to him. His first piece of advice was to spend money on what you need, not what you want. He said, for example, instead of eating out all the time, I needed to use my meal card and eat on campus. Instead of buying PlayStation, rent them from Red Box. He also said something that really made me think. He said I should not spend money just because I know money will be deposited in my bank account.
I have learned during these past few months is that college students cannot manage money because we have never been out on our own and are new at these responsibilities.
I also asked my grandmother who is retired and living on a fixed income, for advice on financial management.
She advised me that I should consider creating what she called a “flex budget.” This means that I would not be accounting for every single penny I spend each month, but I would at least have a general idea of what I spend. She said that I should definitely include the necessities and prioritize how much I spend for miscellaneous items. She also suggested that I write down approximately how much money I receive each month. This would allow me to at least provide me with a basis and gain better control on how I spend and also allow me to stay with the parameters of my budget. Sometimes we get lump sums of money at one time and we don’t think of the future. We just spend without thinking about the future. My grandmother suggested I treat that money as if it does not exist. She said to force myself to spend as little of it as possible and pretend that I don’t have it. I believe that it is a learning process and right now I would rate myself a “C”, which means I am not perfect at managing my money. I am, however, a long way from when I first started. I would like to offer a few suggestions for middle and high school curriculums. Why not include as a part of the Core curriculum a course in financial management. It does not have to be a complicated course, just some basics. This course could even be a part of college curriculum. (A mandatory course for Freshmen.) I believe that just one Semester of this type of financial management course would be an excellent in our young people’s future. As we enter adulthood, we would have a better understanding of how to handle our finances. I believe if I had this type of course, I would not have made the mistakes I made.

Some adults that I have talked to tell me that many adults have problems managing money. Therefore, this course would be an excellent addition as a core subject to our school’s curriculum.