ou made it out of high school and out of Mom and Y Dad’s house. You made it into college. You even have your own money from loans and your summer Job. You are now an adult. Sort of.

Managing all the aspects of student life, especially on your own, can be an overwhelming task. Couple that with the pressure of having to make your own financial decisions and you may just decide to pack it all up and head back to Mom and Dads basement suite.

The first taste of freedom and the responsibility of managing your own money can be exciting, frightening and dizzying. For some, knowing that you are now responsible for buying everything that you need can be a stressful experience. For others, thinking that you can now spend your Own money on anything you want may lead to a spending frenzy, followed by amnesiac wonderings halfway through the semester, “Where did all my money go? I was sure I still had enough to pay tuition before the deadline!”

Before you whip your wallet out to pay for a round of Legendary Burgers or call your mommy to pick you up from this horrible, horrible place called growing up, reduce the stress of handling your own finances or calm your debit-card-trigger-happy finger down by learning some basic money management techniques.

Create a budget

What a filthy word. “Budget,” you’re thinking, “Yeah, right. You mean restrictions.” Not always. Creating a budget allows for controlled spending and can serve as a tool to recognize your spending habits. One of the benefits of creating a budget is starting the habit of being more conscientious about where your money is going. The silver lining is that as long as an expenditure is budgeted for and the amount budgeted is as close to reality as possible and you stick to that amount then the starving student image may just dissolve into an urban myth. And here’s the silver lining on the cloud of controlled spending: you can actually have a budget category for fun!

Budgeting doesn’t have to be tricky, it just requires a little basic math and an honest look at your spending habits. If you’re used to having your parents or someone else take care of your spending, there are plenty of tools and resources available to help you with your budgeting decisions. Here are just some websites available to students to help with the basics of budgeting starting with our own Douglas College Financial Aid site:

* — http://www.douglas.be.ca/services/financial-aid/

budget.html ¢ — http://www.cibe.com/ca/education/articles/ student-budget-calc.html ° _ http://students.sfu.ca/financialaid/budget.html ¢ — http://www.canlearn.ca

Be honest about your income and expenses

Once you receive your student loan, tally up the amount plus any other monies you have available to you and divide that by the number of months until the end of the academic term. Add up your fixed expenses such as rent, telephone,

hydro, transit pass or car insurance, costs that have to be paid every month and your variable expenses such as

groceries, gas, entertainment and clothing.

There’s no shame in listing all your expenses, big or small. If you want to have a category for junk food, list that too. Your budget is unique to you and can be tailored to fit anytime it needs adjusting. When you have all your numbers assigned to each category, take your total income and subtract your expenses.

If you find that your income exceeds your total expenses, breathe a sigh of relief. If you find that your expenses exceed your total income or just come up even, then you may want to consider cutting out certain categories from your expenses column. It’s a matter of prioritizing.

Is paying rent more important than a new pair of Uggs

or a night out at the bar? This one’s easy: yes. Is a transit pass more cost effective than keeping your car insured and gassed up? Maybe. Do the math. Do you really need $500 towards entertainment or can you find some free alternatives

“Just by flashing your student ID, you can be eligible for discounts at too many retail stores to mention, restaurants and entertainment venues.”

to have fun? I hear going to class can be entertaining. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. Being able to discern needs from wants is an incredible demonstration of maturity.

It may also be a good idea to carry around a little notebook to keep track of your spending. At the end of each week, tally up your purchases in each category. This can help you adjust your budget by allowing you to see what your money is being spent on the most.

Pay yourself first

If you find that even after re-adjusting your expenses column you still can’t break even, you may have to get yourself a part-time job. But when you do, and before you spend your whole paycheque away, put at least 10 per cent of your paycheque into a savings account. If you can’t spare the 10 per cent, then try five per cent. The amount isn’t the point. The point is to establish the habit of saving, just in case you don’t already do so. Paying yourself first means saving a little for yourself— whether it’s allocated for emergencies or you want to have a purchase goal in mind, like a new computer, before everyone else gets a little piece of your pie.

Check out www.workopoliscampus.com for job listings around Douglas College or www.jobshark.ca for listings in and around Vancouver.

To open a transaction-fee free chequing and savings account, visit ING Direct at www.ingdirect.ca or PC Financial at www.pcfinancial.ca

Credit where credit is due

You’re strolling through the concourse during Welcome Week and a bright blue banner beckons to you. A smartly dressed young man and his smartly dressed young lady companion smile and push a credit card application toward

you and offer you an alarm clock as a free gift if you apply for their card. Don’t.

You are a student. You are already starting with a negative account balance. And if you don’t even have a part

(P auite

time job, how do you intend to pay off your credit card bill? With some interest rates on student cards reaching as high as 19.5 per cent, even a $500 maxed-out balance on your card at a monthly minimum payment rate of two per cent of the balance would take you 104 months to repay and cost you $538.50 in interest. That’s right. You would pay your balance twice. If you really want to buy something, save for it and pay for it with cash. No debt, less impact on your financial future and more sleep. Those things are worth more than any credit card could offer.

Academia

One of the surest ways to waste your money is through poor course planning. There’s nothing worse than taking

a course, paying for it and then finding out that a) it isn’t

a University Transfer course, b) the science course you took is actually considered a social science, or c) it doesn’t fill any prerequisites at all. Make an appointment to see an academic advisor to work together on a road map for your academic goals. Visit http://www.douglas. be.ca/registrar/advising html to find out more.

Another way to definitely blow money away, as well as making a dent in your academic record, is to skip class. You’ve paid for the course, you ve bought your textbooks, but three classes into it you make some new friends and they would rather hang out in the concourse, go shopping or make out than go to class. Don’t. It’s better to drop the class than skipping it altogether, ending up with a tarnished record and a damaged GPA. A lighter academic load or even part-time student status is better than academic probation any day.

Cutting corners

Just by flashing your student ID, you can be eligible for discounts at too many retail stores to mention, restaurants and entertainment venues. Combining your ID with a Student Price Card (bought on-line or at Shoppers Drug Mart) or a Student Saver card courtesy of the Douglas

Students Union increases your discounting power. Start here:

¢ — http://www.specard.ca

* — http://www.cfs-fcee.ca

Or visit the Douglas Student Union office for more information on Student Saver and ISIC cards.

College life can be an amazing experience for some. In order to make the most of your college years and to make the most of your precious student dollars, learning how to manage your money efficiently is one of the keys to success.