College Student Holiday Spending

holiday spending

The time of the year when sales are everywhere and spenders are out in full force has arrived… it’s holiday spending time. Some words of wisdom to our fellow college students are few: DO NOT OVERSPEND. Many students have applied for and received private student loans, where the funds were sent directly to them. It might be tempting to buy uncle Harry the crossword puzzle he’s been craving, but remember those funds from a private student loan have to last for next semester as well, not to mention these types of student loans are designed for school related expenses.Shoppers, including college students, will be crowding the malls and shops looking for the deals they can’t pass up, but think twice before you buy. Avoid impulse buys at the register. We automatically expect that with the acceptance of your private student loan, you created a budget and are sticking to that budget. But in all reality some students do not even have a plan or a budget. Remember tuition bills that are due in January, remember you will have unexpected expenses that arise from attending college as well. Spending funds from a private student loan on items other than school related expensed is a bad habit to get in to and a hard one to break.Though we do not offer financial advise, we do offer tips from experience. 1) Leave your credit cards at home this holiday season. Don’t get in to the mind set that you’ll pay everything off with the money from your loan. 2) Create a holiday budget. Your friends and family know your in college and don’t expect extravagant gifts. Nice cards are a way of getting across a caring message and make for nice gifts as well. 3) Try to act like the funds from your loan aren’t even there. They are designed for school related expenses in the first place and spending money on gifts could technically be considered misusing them. Finally, think about a part time job over the holiday break. You’ll earn extra money, have less time on your hands and more liquid cash to buy the gifts you want to give.The last thing a student wants is to preached to. And by no means are we trying to preach or tell you what to do. We are trying to inform you that when all is said and done, the credit based private student loans must be paid back and the sooner you get in to healthy money management, the sooner you will have your loans paid back. The average repayment of a private student loan beings six months after graduation, and that might seem like light years away. But the reality is that repayment will be upon you sooner than you know and with the proper spending habits in place, the more likely you are to execute a proper repayment plan.

student-loans.net @ November 22, 2007