A Personal finance blog for saving money and earning more and thus having a better life
Unprivileged high school students thinking of getting a university degree or people who completed a certain degree and are now contemplating to pursue a different profession usually find it difficult to finance their higher education.
This is due to the fact that higher education is becoming increasingly expensive, and the unfortunate thing is that quite a number of individuals are not in a position to afford it.
Studying abroad is a great experience, and if you have an opportunity to go study somewhere outside your country, you should definitely seize it. But if you do want to approach this wisely, you need to keep a lot of important things in mind, from how are you going to take care of yourself to how are you going to spend money.
Sadly, not all of us have good money habits when we go to college or start studying abroad. Those things are rarely taught in schools, so unless you’ve read some good books, received great tips from your parents or have good money handling skills on your own, there’s a chance that you might struggle with both budgeting and spending.
College is an exciting time for students because it marks a new level of independence in their lives. The flip side of independence, they say, is responsible and without the constant supervision of parents, a number of financial mistakes a college student makes. College students must carefully make numerous decisions that have the potential to impact the rest of their lives.
The new status of these students, who are now legally considered adults, can be challenging financially. Fortunately, the biggest challenges can be addressed with a bit of effort. Here are a few basic mistakes that, if avoided, can help college students sail relatively smoothly through to their graduation and beyond.
For most students, the college provides the opportunity to live away from their parents and make critical decisions independently. One of these decisions is choosing where to live while pursuing studies. As a student, you have the option of staying in the campus dorms or renting an apartment outside the university. Either way, you will inevitably end up with some kind of debt.
The cost of college housing, both on-campus and off-campus constitutes one of the biggest expenses after college tuition, and therefore, students should make a financially sound decision when choosing a housing option. Knowing the costs involved, benefits and challenges of each option will put you in a better financial position.
Information technology has over the years advanced and consequently offered the society new ways of doing things that are more reliable and cost-effective. Online degrees have particularly become very common because of ease and associated lower costs. Here are more reasons why you should consider taking online degrees.
When I was in college, the concept of online education wasn’t there. Distant learning was an option but that was nothing like attending live classes from your computer and hearing the professor explain things. So online education did not only fill-up the drawbacks of a distant learning but also, brought the whole learning thing inside our home.
The other day I was consulting my cousin. She wants to come to the United States for higher studies. I did some research for her. This post is an output of that research. There are careers, high paying ones, that don’t require you to have a college degree. 
On the other side, there are careers which do need an appropriate college degree? For me, I am from an orthodox family which always have advocated for education. Even knowing that career can be had without a degree. Even when my father didn’t have enough money to send me to college, he encouraged me to do so. Luckily the college I was admitted to had govt. subsidized education system.
As for my cousin, she’s been an excellent student all throughout her school. I am sure she’ll get scholarships as well. What about you? Or your son/daughter? How are you envisioning the career search? Will you go for your desire? Or, you’ll go for a career with a high potential for earning.
No one wants to graduate with a huge student loan, so why not think about reducing it whilst you’re still at college, and/or immediately after you graduate. That way, it’s not hanging over you for years?
Reducing Your Student Loan The Smart Way
The burden of student loans is much heavier than it was a decade ago. On average, a college graduate today has about $25,000 in student loan debt. In 2005 that figure was mere $10,000. Education is going to me costlier over the years. So, what should a student do?
Each year, 20 million students attend college in the United States, and approximately sixty percent of those students borrow money to cover the expenses of tuition, textbooks and fees. With college being the first major financial decision many young adults make, you’d be surprised to find out how many are genuinely confused about the application process. Many do not consider that the amount borrowed and the interest rate of the loan could impact your finances for the rest of your adult life, long after college is over.
For those who are confused, the basics are this: the average student takes out nearly $30,000 in student loans over four years. With an interest rate of 9% annually, the student can expect to pay nearly $15,700 in interest over ten years, if it took them ten years to pay off the loan. That is a lot of money in interest, over half of the original amount borrowed. The monthly payment on this amount would be $380, which is a lot for someone right out of school and making entry-level salary.
Education is very expensive and even more when you target schooling at the best institutions. It is at this point that education loans have become very helpful in enabling you advance and reach career objectives.
However, the moment you are through with your education, you must get the right method of repaying the education loan. This has become burdensome to many. Here are the five ways to tackle student loan burden.
This post is geared for my Canadian readers. They have a special program, called RESP where individual can deposit money for their future need of child education. In US state govt. offer similar programs. Wish we had a child and we were saving for his/her education as we speak. But, readers if you live in Canada and are parent, this post may come in handy for you. Enjoy the post!
If you have children, the prospect of paying for their college education may seem overwhelming. So many students are now graduating from college with tens of thousands of dollars in debt from school loans, and it is natural to want to spare your children that sort of burden.