Believe it or not, college students have it pretty hard. Yeah, yeah—they may not be drowning with bills and debt like their parents are, but they get the early experience in adulthood where saving money feels almost impossible. College students typically have a lot of responsibilities to juggle outside of just the classroom, having bills like student loans, partial rent, car insurance, and more bills that I would not even imagine having to pay.
Let’s start with the most obvious cause of debt which is college tuition and student loans. Tuition typically costs thousands and thousands of dollars, and sometimes financial aid does not cover it all through grants and scholarships. Taking out student loans puts students behind as it starts them out in debt before they even step foot into the real world. Loans can add up over the course of several college semesters and can add up quite immensely over time. With many loans being in increments of thousands, a lot of young college students find themselves initially being in a deep financial hole. These loans can even gain interest after a while forcing students to have to cough up even more money.
Apart from loans and tuition payments, college students also have to pay for housing. Whether it’s in a dormitory, an on-campus apartment, or in their own house back at home, paying rent is quite expensive. Most students often resort to getting a roommate as paying living expenses alone is almost completely unrealistic in some cases. Depending on how much the cost of living is, students sometimes have to dump out anywhere from $500-$1000 in rent, impacting their ability to save even more.
I know what some people are thinking—just get a job and it’ll be easier, right? Wrong. Many entry level jobs pay entirely too little, and the overall income from most jobs that people acquire from ages 19-22 is far too insufficient to afford all of the expenses. A $1000-$1400 check can be wiped away easily after a tuition installment, car insurance payment, phone bill, groceries, and any other expenses. Once again, it makes it almost impossible to save and build financially over time as all of the money that you work for feels as if it is gone in an instant.
These expenses do not even account for all of the things that students must pay for. Textbooks and school supplies are not free, and food is way more expensive than what it used to be. Groceries can add up pretty quickly but do have greater longevity and offer greater convenience in saving as opposed to eating fast food, another habit that college students struggle to shake.
So yes, being a college student is not easy and, at times, feels like a hamster running in a wheel, constantly set for failure. It is immensely difficult at times to manage money, especially when it feels like it is falling in line with the expression “here today, gone tomorrow”. There are so many expenses that give you a precursor to what adulthood is truly like, often giving you a grim and discouraging view on what life is going to be like as an adult. Budgeting to maximize savings and finding a good paying job, or two, are imperative in setting students up for success and reducing the risks of falling into loads of debt early on.
