Student Budgeting
Written by Aiman Khan
Thumbnail Photo by Andre Taissin on Unsplash
Are you reeling from tuition, room and board costs, or struggling to keep up with the costs as a student? Well, you shouldn’t be hard on yourself - student life is all about spending wisely, which means it all comes down to your decision-making skills. Good decisions can take a lot of discipline to maintain, but the payoffs can be amazing. Your ability to prioritize costs and cut unnecessary spending can shape your campus life success (as far as finances are concerned).
Students find themselves in different types of situations: some of us may work full time, some part-time, and some may choose to focus exclusively on our studies. For students fully funded by the Bank of Mom and Dad, personal finance-management may not be a real challenge. Even so, it’s important to always have a budget, just so you know how much your expenses amount to.
On the other hand, for those students that are working part-time and relying on their own income for living costs, you may need to make some shifts in your lifestyle in order to get through the financial challenges of university life. Here are some ways you can get started:
Utilizing your student status
Society is well-aware of the financial challenges that students undergo. For instance, many businesses offer a student discount, provided you have your Student ID. Lawton’s offers a 10% discount to students every day on most items excluding prescriptions, stamps,and bus tickets.. Sobey’s and Atlantic Superstore both offer a 10% student discount on Tuesdays. If you’re interested, you can look at this list of businesses that offer a student discount here in Nova Scotia.
Many other small, locally owned businesses not listed may also offer students a discount. If you’re not sure, ask, and see what they say. The general rule of thumb is usually restaurants that restaurants offer a student discount, but it never hurts to ask.
Saint Mary’s Foodroom is another great resource if you’re having trouble with your finances. The Foodroom is a SMUSA initiative that offers students basic groceries and snacks and is open to all SMU students. All you need to do is sign up online using your name and A-number, select the items you need, and choose a pick-up date and time. There are some limits on how many items you can choose and how many times a week you can use this service, but it can help if you’re running really low on groceries. The pick-up location is generally outside the O’Donnell-Hennessy Student Centre, so for students living near campus, it’s a great resource!
Spending Less on Textbooks and Tuition
We can all agree that textbooks are outrageously priced. Now that a new term is starting, instead of buying your books, see if they’re available online. A simple Google search may suffice in some cases. However, you might have to spend some time on online databases that offer a wide range of books. If the version you find isn’t the most up-to-date edition, send an email to your course instructor asking if yours would be acceptable to use. Most of the time, if it’s only one or two editions away from the specified version, your instructor will be fine with it.
If you can’t find your books online for free, you should consider borrowing or renting them. Sometimes, you can find first or second-year textbooks at the Halifax public library (depending on the courses, of course). The Patrick Power Library also has a large number of textbooks available (physical and ebook versions), but you need to be very quick if you want to get your hands on them since they get borrowed out pretty rapidly.
If all else fails, try buying second-hand textbooks from other students. The Facebook groups SMU Textbooks for Sale and SMUSA Book Exchange can come in handy, and might just even save you a fortune. Students post available textbooks for sale and prices can be very affordable compared to buying them outright from the bookstore. You can do this yourself and sell your textbooks at the end of the semester. After all, for the most part, you only use these books once, and they’re not making you any money sitting on your bookshelf.
For students who are struggling with tuition costs, here’s some good news: there are a large number of scholarships available for students, as well as financial need-based bursaries at Saint Mary’s. These are often program-specific and range from Arts to Engineering. See if you’re eligible to apply, and if you are, don’t second-guess yourself. The worst thing you can do for yourself is not even to try.
Budgeting and Cutting Costs
Credit cards are a good example of “spending money you don’t have.” If you have a credit card, you probably already spend on credit instead of transferring money out of your savings. But remember, credit card debt is a very real thing that many students fall into. While you should use your credit card enough to build your credit score, it’s best to limit your usage if you’re not working regularly. For example, if you’re working retail and your manager hasn’t drawn up a schedule for your upcoming shifts, use your debit card for a little while instead of borrowing on credit. You don’t know when your next payment is going to be, and while it’s great to be optimistic, you should have a more pragmatic approach to your finances.
To avoid spending what you haven’t earned, budgeting is crucial. If you’re working at a job with regular hours (maybe a co-op, or maybe with a department on campus), you already have a steady income that you can rely upon. It should be easy for you to draw up an analysis of what your monthly income is, and what your rent and related living expenses are. Be honest with your expense assessments: if you know you have a soft spot for Starbucks, now is the time to budget that in instead of hoping you’ll change in the future. It’s always better to be prepared than to be optimistic.
If your expenses are more than half of your income, it might be time to rethink your lifestyle habits. For example, getting Starbucks on a daily or weekly basis isn’t a necessity, and is something you can cut back on. Similarly, retail therapy or ordering Uber Eats might be tempting given the current situation, but it’s important to be critical about what you need versus what you want. If you already have a varied wardrobe and a full pantry, rethink your spending decisions. It’s time to start having that “we have food at home” talk with yourself.
The money in your savings is for a rainy day - say, if you’re in-between jobs and you need a safety net to fall back on for rent and food expenses. So, if you’re in the habit of routinely taking money out of your savings to pay for things you don’t need, it’s time to stop.
If you’re banking with Scotiabank, you already know about Scene points. If the hankering for take-out doesn’t subside on its own, instead of using your points for free movies, you can use them at multiple restaurants around Halifax like East Side Mario’s, Harvey’s, Swiss Chalet, and Montana’s. The money you save can go into building your savings account. If you like to hit the malls on a fairly regular basis, consider getting an SPC card which allows you to save a ton of money on your purchases. If you’re banking with CIBC, you might even get free access to all the benefits of having an SPC card.
If you already have substantial savings, you can start looking into investing part of your money. Money sitting in your account accrues meagre interest and is also subject to inflation. The stock market can be risky but offers you more bang for your buck as far as investments go. However, if you’re new to the money markets, consult a professional before you leap into investing in stocks (and always be wary of day trading). Stock investing is a long-term plan so you need to make sure that whatever money you are investing in the market, you don’t need within the next six months, or year. You can also look into investments that are offered by your bank or by the government, even if they have lower interest rates.
As far as apps go, Mint is a great budgeting app that helps you in anything from your credit score, understanding your spending habits, and keeping you under budget. Once you’ve signed in with your bank account details, you can set monthly limits to how much you want to spend on entertainment, food, and other expenses.
Money management seems simple but it can certainly get complicated and stressful if your spending decisions are unwise. So, do yourself a favour and get critical about your relationship with your finances. Your future self will thank you for it.