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Smart budgeting and saving

Just about everyone, can benefit from working with a budget. If your income is limited to part-time work or student loans while you're in school, it's even more essential. Knowing exactly what you need to cover your living expenses helps you determine how many hours you'll need to work to get by, or how much to borrow. As a student, your financial situation is unique, and how you manage your money while in school can have major repercussions on your future financial health.

Even if you aren't currently facing money problems, it takes just one bad day or unexpected expense (like a car or house repair, medical bill, etc.) to find yourself scrambling to pull together funds. With budgeting, you can have a safer financial future.

iGrad Budgeting Tool

Identify your expenses

In order to get control over your finances, you will want to identify where your money goes. You can use the estimated cost of attendance on our webpage or in the Financial Aid Portal. If you want to plan for your future education expenses, estimate a cost of living increase each year.

Create your spending plan

Use our spending plan worksheet to create your own spending plan for the semester.

  1. First, estimate your monthly income and expenses. Identify whether the expense is a need or a want.
  2. Second, you will record your actual income and expenses from your financial records again identifying your expenses as needs or wants. By estimating first, then recording actual expenses, you will get a feel for how in tune you are with your spending habits.
  3. The final step is to determine any adjustments that need to be made in order for your income to balance with your expenses.

A Financial Aid Officer can assist you with these steps to create your new spending plan budget.

Changing your money behaviors

Identifying your expenses and creating your spending plan will be the easy part. The hard part will be changing your money behaviors. Along with the spending plan, you should carefully reflect on your attitudes about money. Are you ready to make a change about how you make money decisions? Schedule an appointment with us and we will help you create a process to begin these financial changes.