![]() To counter theses expenses, work 10 or 11 hours a week, as a work/study employee if possible, and pay cash for personal items as a better alternative to using your credit card or your financial aid funds. You are bound to have other expenses that are not school-related. Step 3: Work and pay cash for personal expenses. You can reduce an offered amount on your financial aid notification, or obtain a Petition for Re-evaluation form from Financial Aid's website, or just speak with your financial aid counselor. There are a few ways to modify your award package. This works out to a small, monthly sacrifice on your part of $25. For example, if you were offered a four year total of $19,000 in subsidized Direct Loans and you decided you could live on $300 less each academic year during your four years of undergraduate, you would save yourself from owing on an additional $1,200 in loan money by not borrowing it in the first place. ![]() After honestly budgeting your expenses, having focused on 'need' rather than 'want', you will be able to better determine if you can live on less than you have been awarded, perhaps reducing or even eliminating specific loans all together. If you don't create a formal budget, you may find yourself unnecessarily accepting, to your future detriment, all of the loans offered on your financial aid notification. Never budgeted? Write down the price of everything you buy for a few weeks to a month, then build your budget on paper or use budgeting tools found online. In following it, you will rarely have to wrestle with the question, "Can I afford this?" You will already know how much money you need for necessities and what you have allotted for less pressing items. Having a realistic formal budget aids you in controlling your finances. You cannot manage your debt without first knowing how you spend your money. When all steps are implemented, a student's debt burden can be dramatically reduced. The Bruin Budget Plan is a 7-step series of money-managing techniques. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |