Arnavaz Fatemi
Multimedia credit: Laura Davis and Aaron Sheldon
Growing up, most young people nolonger spend mom and dad’s money. However, they get credit cards to substitute for what they are no longer getting.
Although the cost of going to college can amount to ridiculously high prices, including everything from transportation to books and laptop computers, it is become easier for students to get credit cards – and dig themselves into huge pits of debt.
“Students seem to lack financial organization in their life,” said David Braun, finance teacher and chair of the Business Administration Department. “They just don’t seem to understand staying within a budget.”
According to a May 2007 article published on voanews.com, almost 67 percent of students attending a four-year college in America get thousands of dollars in loans a year for school.
Paying for school alone is one major reason why students are in debt. Small, yet daily purchases, such as coffee or Red Bull, can add up to substantial sums of money at the end of the month.
However, students have money-saving options available to them.
“Carpooling with friends to save on gas can save a lot of money, especially now,” said Pierce College student Alex Pearsall.
Instead of going out to eat at a restaurant, friends can plan to stay home and collaborate on dinner.
Even shopping for clothes can be cheap.
A person does not always have to go and buy items being sold in front of the store; most stores have a sale area in the back.
Another way students can save money is the type of account they get at the bank.
“Students need to shop around for the bank that has the best situation for them,” Braun said. “They must understand the exact amount of money they have to spend, and whether or not they’ll have the minimum balance required.”
Tony Bailey, a personal banker at Wells Fargo, said students regularly overdraw on this account.
“It gets kind of steep,” Bailey said. “Funny thing is that the students don’t really watch their spending. They believe (their) parents have the cash to bail them out.”
As many people believe being a student can cause easy debt, there are just as many people who think the opposite.
“It’s easier for someone who doesn’t go to school to get in debt because they have a lot of free time, and they just go and blow their money during the day and at night to keep themselves from getting bored,” said Hycy Connelly, a psychology major at Pierce.
When someone gets into debt, it is a hard battle to get them out of it.
“It takes a lot of self discipline,” Braun said. “The key is you want to do it. You have to have the inner motivation to say that you want to get out of this debt. And you have to want to get your head above water again.”
If a transferring student plans to move to a university, student housing costs must be considered, even for the California State University system
The total cost of student living, according to the CSU Long Beach Web site, is $18,596 – of which $10,152 is just for housing. To help pay for this, students could also look into getting free money for college tuition, through making use of various forms of federal financial aid. The cost of university is excessive, don’t suffer when you could look into getting more help.
However, a student could be a lot better off getting a roommate to cut the cost in half.
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