When you're on campus, the living is easy.
Two payments and you're set for the year. Utilities and cable...it's all taken care of. Financially, the only thing you have to worry about is scrounging up enough cash for beer, music and the occasional Rice Kitchen binge.
Living off campus, however, presents a whole new set of financial constraints. Rent. Phone line. Internet. Gas. Water. Food. Suddenly, you have to pay for the things that were taken for granted while living on campus. Suddenly, that 24-pack and Mongolian Beef are vying for your hard-earned money with the essentials.
What is a poor student to do?
You've got to keep a budget.
For some students, making — and keeping — a budget can be a tough proposition. But for someone like Joe Green, a student who has lived off campus for two years now, the key to keeping a budget is to keep it simple.
"I rank things in order of what I need, and then I make sure I get the necessities first," Green said. "Then, I take whatever's left and use it for pleasure."
Green, a marketing and public relations junior, said the best way to manage money is to take care of rent first.
"I go home in the summer and try to save up my rent money," Green said. "Then during the school year, I work a little bit for spending money."
In order to keep his spending in check, Green only takes cash when he goes to the bar so he knows exactly how much he spends and keeps his distance from credit cards.
Chris Cornish, a mechanical engineering sophomore, rents a house with three people and found that a good way to stick to a budget for food was to establish a system with his housemates.
"We each buy our own food for what we ourselves eat, then we rotate the essential groceries," Cornish said. "It works pretty well."
Cornish said before talking with his housemates, everyone was spending a lot of money buying the same staples such as bread.
Once rent, utilities and food cease being a financial concern, the trick to budgeting is figuring out what to do with whatever's left over. Do you use it as folding money? Do you use it on booze? An iPod? Or do you save it?
Danny McKenna, a hospitality business junior, decided to save his money, but acknowledges that even something like saving money could provide a false sense of security.
"It can be tough, but you just gotta save up some money," McKenna said. "But you can't take that saved money for granted. Don't over do."
