OUR VIEW: We have all used the “broke college student” phrase at least once. We, for the first time in our lives, are thrown out into the world and expected to pay for everything, and for some of us that is a challenge.

Some of us have a knack for prioritizing our money and saving, while others struggle to understand the concept of keeping track of the things we spend our money on. We have all watched some of our friends at college get their first credit card and completely blow through it in a month and go crazy— spending it on shoes, clothes, food, alcohol, etc. 

It’s hard to be on our own sometimes. Our parents are no longer there checking in with us, watching what we consume, keeping track of our bank accounts, and making sure we are doing our homework, but that is no excuse to be reckless with our money. 

We have to create good habits while we are young and can still create them. As we get older it will only become harder to get rid of our bad habits. We have to learn now by doing what we need to do, like going to workshops and taking financial classes. 

We all have that one friend who, toward the end of the payment period, is starving because all of their money went to unnecessary items and we need to take that as a lesson. Anything can be accomplished on a budget. If we create a budget for gas, food, and any other personal necessities, then we will know exactly how much we have to use for our own enjoyment. 

Now is the time to learn to not live paycheck to paycheck. It’s hard because most of us have minimum wage jobs or no jobs at all, so our paychecks are slim to none. This is a time when we are truly struggling, so now is the time to learn how to set aside money and say no to things we don’t need. 

We are all students and are all responsible for paying for college somehow, so we must learn how to handle these responsibilities now.  We will be responsible for someone else one day, just like our parents were once responsible for us.