When you are creating your student budget, there are several areas that you need to consider first. The first thing you need to determine is where you stand financially in life. You do not want to be stuck in a situation in which you cannot pay for your education. If you are in good financial standing, then you will have no problem paying for your tuition, books, room and board, and any other miscellaneous costs that may occur. However, if you are not in the best financial situation, then you need to make some sacrifices in order to make ends meet.
One of the first things you need to do when creating a student budget is to determine how much money you actually spend each month on each expense. You can find out this information by completing an expense report, which you should get from your high school counselor. Once you have your expenses listed, you need to make some decisions as to how much money you can afford to spend each month. You may not be able to save enough money to pay for all of your necessary expenses, so this will help you determine what types of expenses are the most important.
Some of the major expenses you will need to cover in your budget include: housing, tuition and books, vehicle maintenance, lunch, and entertainment. When it comes to housing, it is important to stick to a reasonable budget. You should only spend money on housing if you can actually afford it or if you are attending an after-school program that provides housing, such as a technical college. Tuition and books can be paid for through grants or loans. If you receive financial aid, be sure to use it wisely. If you have little money, don’t waste it on things that won’t be used.
Another major area that will require a lot of attention is your weekly budget. Your weekly budget will include all of your student expenses, along with some extra money that you have saved up for emergencies. You will need to estimate how much money you have in your savings each week and use this amount to cover all of your student expenses. You will also want to make sure that you spend money on the necessities, while spending very little money on non-essentials.
One big area that many students forget to plan for is their car maintenance. Even if you don’t have much money to go around, you need to make sure that you drive safely each week and that you have an insurance policy in place in case you get into an accident. Car maintenance is usually a required part of a student budget, since it costs money to go to school.
Before you use a student budget, you must first establish one. If you don’t know where to start, there are many online budgeting tools and software programs that can provide you with a great starting point. The free budgeting spreadsheet provided by Smart Budget is one of the best budgeting programs available. Smart Budget provides a student budget template, which you can use to design and print your own personal budget.