Budgeting For Your College Education

---

Managing money is never easy, especially during the college years. To help you get started, consider planning an educational budget. Budgets are an ideal way to gain control over your spending habits. Budgets help manage money so that you can afford needed items and still have some money left over to pay for those wanted items.                                                          Create a Budget The U.S. Department of Education provides an excellent budget calculator for students to help you determine how much money you will need for the school year. This budget calculator will help you to determine your expenses and estimate your total available income. The results will most likely be a negative number. This is what you will need in order to cover your tuition and fees. The College Board also provides a College Cost Calculator in addition to an Estimated Family Contribution Calculator. Please visit their website for more information.   Hints for Using the Budget Calculator Here are some basic hints to help you to develop your budget. Follow the directions provided on the website. Remember you are calculating for an annual cost, so take your monthly expenses and then multiply by 9 months (academic year). Expenses: Your out of pocket expenses are Education (tuition), Housing, Board, Books and Supplies. The university sets a standard Financial Aid Budget each year. This budget accounts for the above but also includes transportation, personal expenses and average loan fees. You can use this information to calculate your expenses or you can actually enter your true expenses. For Education, you should enter the annual cost of tuition. For Housing, use the university budget or what you actually pay in rent. For Board we recommend that you use what the university sets in the Financial Aid Budget. For Books and Supplies, enter the amount from the Financial Aid Budget in the field Other Expenses. Resources/Income: For family contribution, we recommend you leave this blank. This is the figure you are trying to determine. Enter the information from your financial aid award letter under Resources. You can lump it all together or break it out by the different categories. If you are receiving a Work-Study Award, you SHOULD NOT include this as a resource. Remember, if you do not work, you do not receive this award. For Employment only enter your true earnings, do not include Work-Study.