While learning how to be independent during your first year at college, learning how to budget and manage your finances is one of the most important things to learn how to do. 

For many students, the first year of college is the first extended opportunity they’ve had to be independent and start doing things by themselves. One of the most difficult things to learn is budgeting and keeping control of your money. 

High schools often don’t teach students how to create budgets and live smartly on their own. Many learn from trial and error. 

Sophomore Michael Bryant is a financial counseling and planning major. Bryant gave some tips for incoming students when it comes to budgeting. 

The most important thing, Bryant said, is to set a limit every week.

“Try and figure out what your minimum weekly expenses can be. Like if you can get by on 50 bucks a week […] Get that money in cash at the beginning of the week, so you can only spend that amount of money,” he said. 

Bryant said students should get into the habit of using cash. 

“There’s no using your credit card or debit card or blowing through all of your cash really fast,” Bryant said. “That is a bad plan. Don’t use anything other than cash. You want to get it in your system by using cash only so that you can only spend ‘x’ amount of dollars a week.”

Bryant also mentioned food is the number one thing students can spend unnecessary money on. 

“I would try to go to the dining halls as much as possible,” Bryant said. “Don’t eat out too much. That is how you burn through money way faster than anything else.”

Iowa State has many options to choose from when it comes to on-campus dining including coffee shops, cafeterias and dining halls.

Bryant recommends the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau website to anyone that may be interested in learning more about budgeting. 

“There are also a lot of resources on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau —  the CFPB. I highly recommend looking up ‘CFPB budget’ on the internet and it’ll pull up a bunch of different PDFs and worksheets you can fill out so you can figure out your expenses and what your income is,” he said. “You never want your expenses to be higher than your income. That is budgeting 101. You’ve got to have money left over at the end of every month.”

For some, learning how to manage finances can be intimidating, but there are many resources available to help. Questions regarding university expenses and student jobs can be directed to the Office of Financial Aid.