The cAWElumn: Personal Finance
By Angela Zhang
Feeling overwhelmed managing your own finances as you’re easing into adulthood? In this week’s cAWElumn, a series where we gather AWE-dvice on common college student topics and concerns, we asked for AWE members to share how they budget their money, how they balance working on top of taking classes, and if they have any insightful finance tools or tips that they use! Learn more about how to deal with personal finances through their responses below. Also, be sure to check out last week’s cAWElumn on productivity if you haven’t already!
Q: How do you budget your money? Share with us how you keep track of your spendings, what you prioritize when budgeting, or any general tips!
Maricruz: I give myself a limit on how much spending I’m allowed to spend for the semester and put it in my debit account. I spend with my credit cards because building credit is important and [then I can] pay it off with the debit account. This keeps me from going over the limit because I can see how much I have left and budget accordingly
Sophia: I only go out to eat a max of once per week and try to be conscious of my unnecessary purchases. For example, waiting at least 3 months before I buy something like clothes to make sure I’ll actually like it. Be aware of your budget through financial aid/work/other income sources and make sure you’re within your budget and meeting your financial goals (whether that means being at net 0, spending within your current loans, or contributing to an IRA). You can do this through apps like Mint or a Google Sheet. Utilize your resources like applying for Cal Fresh if you qualify and use the basic needs center resources if needed!
Q: Have you had a job on top of being a student? What was your experience like? Let us know how you balance work and academics, what type of job opportunities there are for students, and what you wish you had known before working.
Sophia: In the past I’ve been a course coordinator for a SCET class, a part-time remote SWE intern, and a peer mentor for a non-profit. As long as you can accurately predict the amount of time you need for everything and don’t overcommit to work/academics/extracurriculars then it’s a good experience both professionally and to get some extra money. If you have work study, check the work study portal for job openings on-campus, and if you don’t, then try looking at the EECS101 Edstems + Facebook groups for on-campus jobs.
Sashrika: Was a reader for 3 semesters — it’s pretty fun to be part of course staff + was a pretty async job. And a great way to get started with being on course staff if you want to eventually transition to being a TA.
Kalie: I am a part of course staff along with being a student! it’s a great experience because I was able to give back to my favorite part of the class when I took it, the labs. The people you work with are chill and interesting, and being able to directly help students is a really rewarding experience :)
Q: Any recommendations for fun/useful finance tools? We’d love to learn more about what type of credit card you use, any stonks/investment tips, or any saving tricks!
Angela: One thing I recently learned is that United Airlines is currently offering travelers of age 18–23 to save 15% on flights through November 7, 2022 (limited-time deal!!)
Rusy: I use mint to track my spending! I only recently started using it but it let’s you categorize all your purchases to get an idea of what you’re spending money on. Good for budgeting :)
Jen: I also categorize but I just do it a boring ol’ spreadsheet^ I also categorize by which account I paid with
Andrea: I also used to use a spreadsheet! Another thing that I would recommend is to also make sure to allocate just as much time (if not more) in learning about/generating income as you do in optimizing spending, since there are more limited opportunities in figuring out how much you can save
Anonymous: For people with no credit history, a credit card is a good way to start building history, for example Discover it Student Cash Back, which is friendly toward applicants with no credit history, 5% on rotating categories, and matches first year cash back.
If you are interested in contributing to our cAWElumn, follow us on Instagram to reply to our stories and check out the weekly questions posted in the #random channel of our AWE Slack as well!
