Money Management and Finances for College

Moving into your young adult and college years brings several practical challenges for you and your family. Most colleges cost a lot – even public colleges and community colleges are often having tuition increases – and most young people begin to take more responsibility for their finances during their time in college.

It is really valuable to begin to get a sense of how finances work. You should begin to learn about what happens with bank accounts, how to use credit and credit cards responsibly, what is a budget and how to manage it, and how do you manage paying bills. It will really help to get a handle on some of these items before you go off to college.

There are also important financial questions related to attending college. You should be speaking with your family about what is financially realistic for you. In order to understand this you will need to find out what options you may have for financial aid or college loans. Remember that loans need to be repaid – so you do not want to put yourself in a position of owing large amounts of money if your family’s financial situation and your future plans make it likely that repaying loans will be a serious strain.

Check out these resources to learn more about what you need to know to manage college costs and how you can learn about finances in general.