5 Tips for College Students to Avoid Financial Chaos

Let's face it, for so many of us, college is freedom.

It's the first time away from our parents.

At the same time, it introduces a whole nother level of financial chaos.

Potential debt, the stress of managing your own money.

And hey, even those late night pizza runs.

Let me tell you right now, it doesn't have to be that way.

So stick with me.

Today I got five tips to change your money story and get you started off on the right foot.

Hi, I'm Ralph and this is financially confident Christian.

And today I really want to talk about college.

I want to talk about back to school and how to get started your financial journey the right way.

Listen, the other night I was at the University of Delaware football game.

My son and I, we were watching the opening game of the season and I looked around and I saw all these kids, I call them kids because I'm going to be 53 in a couple weeks and to me they're kids.

But I look around and I see all these kids and I'm thinking to myself, hey, I remember back when, when I was 18 years old.

Seems like many, many moons ago, but I can remember it like it was yesterday.

My dad dropped me off.

At that time I was at the University of Nebraska.

That's where I did my freshman year.

I was a member of the Cornhusker Marching Band.

What a great time it was.

But I'll never forget the day my dad dropped me off.

We went to the bank.

He set up a bank account for me there in Lincoln, Nebraska.

And as he waved goodbye, I started thinking to myself, this is great.

I finally got freedom.

But it wasn't.

But a couple of days later, I started to realize, hey, with that freedom comes some real choices that I have to make.

And I'm going to tell you a little bit later in the show about some of the choices that I made that put me sort of in a bad spot.

But today I just want to share with you 5 tips to help you get started.

Right?

The first tip is this one.

And this is one I wish I had learned earlier.

And that's master the budget early.

Listen, this doesn't have to be something really complicated.

You can keep it really simple, but you've got to understand where your income is and what expenses you have.

Now, for a lot of college people, there may not be any income at all.

Maybe you've just got the money that your parents have set aside.

That's the situation I had.

I was a member of the marching band.

I didn't really have time for a job And I'll tell you later, I ended up finding a job, at least to bring in a couple extra bucks.

But I knew what my expenses were and I think that is so critical to start there.

What is your income and what are your expenses?

And really put them down.

Now listen, you, you don't have to get complicated with this.

There are some free apps like Mint, why you need a budget.

Hey, it could be something as simple as a Google sheet, but put something down on paper because if you don't tell your money where you're going to go, it will disappear.

So that's my first tip.

Tell your money where it's going to go.

And measure that.

Second tip.

Beware of credit card temptations.

To be honest with you, Nebraska wasn't for me.

So I transferred back home.

And I remember I was walking across campus one day right after class and, and at the time was called MBNA bank and they were really capturing the market.

But there was all kinds of credit card companies set up all over campus.

And this guy comes up to me, says, hey, would you like a credit card?

I'm thinking, yeah, I'd love to have a credit card, especially if I don't have to pay it back.

So I walk up to the counter, they said, hey, if you sign up for this credit card, we're even going to give you a free shirt.

I remember it was a University of Delaware Fighting Blue Hen shirt.

I was like, oh that's great, what do I need to do?

He hands me the application on a clipboard.

He gave me a pen, made it really simple.

I start to fill this thing out and put the name, address, phone number, that stuff was simple.

Social Security number.

Oh, easy to do.

And then it got to the next question, said, tell us about your income.

And I almost felt that started laughing at that point.

I said to the guy, said listen, I don't have any income at all.

My parents are covering all this.

He goes, oh no, that's no big deal.

Just put down there, you know, your parents candle, all your expenses.

I said, okay, that's great.

I'm thinking, no, there's no way they're going to approve me for a credit card.

Well, guess what?

He ran it through the system.

He says to me, he says, congratulations, Rob you, you've been issued a two thousand dollar spending limit.

I'm like, fantastic, this is great.

Two thousand dollars to spend.

Of course they don't tell you you're gonna have to pay that money back.

So let me tell you right now, for those month or two, man I was having a rip rolling time.

So that is why I say my second thing is to avoid those credit card temptations.

Because listen, you're gonna get yourself in trouble.

You can dig yourself into a hole.

You miss one payment, you're going to get nailed with interest.

You're going to potentially give yourself bad credit for the, for, for the starting off point.

It's a much better option to think about using a debit card first or if you're going to have a credit card, one low limit card.

If you can let your parents give you a credit card to use, just make sure that you honor that commitment.

So that's my second thing.

Watch out for those credit card into inducements.

I'll call them.

Third tip, save on textbooks and supplies.

Now listen, when I was going to school, this wasn't really an option, but now it's great.

I would say to anybody, don't buy new.

They can rent the books, you can borrow the books.

A lot of times there's online version for the books.

Shop early, compare prices because you can really save money.

I remember my dad going to the bookstore with me and I don't remember this exactly, but I want to say my first semester of books was like taking out a second mortgage.

There are so many better options out there right now.

So that's why I say my third thing is don't buy new.

Save on textbooks, save on supplies and honestly, see if you can make things stretch a little bit.

Next thing, and I've heard this called the freshman 15.

This is a great time to make smart food and lifestyle choices.

And I'm gonna tell you right now, I live this.

I remember when I was at the University of Nebraska, it was so easy to go to the dorm, go to the meal place, and then on Sundays they didn't even serve dinner.

So I was off to the pizza, all kinds of stuff like that.

There was no plan.

But then I started thinking, hey, wait a minute, how come I'm running out of money?

And I promised to tell you this story.

So when my dad set up my bank account, I'll never forget this, he wrote a check and I can't remember exactly how much, let's say it was a thousand dollars he put into the account.

I'm thinking, well, dad, you told me to just take.

And I please don't hold me to this.

$25 a week I think was my quote, stipend.

And he says, okay, son, every Friday you can go to the bank.

There was one right on campus and, and grab $25 and that'll be your spending money for the week.

And I thought, okay, that'll work.

But then in the back of my mind I started to realize I'm spending more than I thought.

So what did I start doing?

I started going to the bank and getting not $25, but $50.

And I said, oh, it's not a big deal, I'll find a little part time job and I'll put the money back.

But it's so easy to not pay attention to those things.

And so many people now at doordash and Starbucks and in delivery things.

We didn't have that when I was going to college, but I, I see so many young people now making those decisions, they just swipe it and forget it.

But that stuff adds up.

I say on my show all the time, small leaks sink ships.

And honestly, this is an area where you can really make some better choices.

So that's why number four of my tips is make smart food and lifestyle choices.

Hey, it's going to help you on your finances and at the same time it's going to keep you in better shape.

And here's my fifth and final tip.

And this is one I don't think we do a good job of in this country.

This is a great time to build financial habits, not just your grades.

So what I was telling you is I was grabbing a little extra money here and there and throughout the year.

We got to the end of the year, my dad came back to pick me up in the spring and he said, well, let's go over to the bank and let's get the rest of the money out of the bank account.

And I said to him, dad, well, I'm going to have to let you know something.

There's not the money that you expected to be in there.

He says, son, I expected that.

He had already known he had been where I was before.

And he said, I figured you were going to do that, so you got to build an emergency cushion as adults.

We need to have that emergency fund.

Well, one of the things I think that you really should do as a college student is have that emergency fund as well.

Hey, one of the things you can do, just keep $20 in your wallet or something like that and then really pay attention to where your money's going because listen, you're building long term habits.

The decisions you make right now as you're in school are going to impact your credit score, they're going to impact your savings.

You can put yourselves in a bad situation.

I know so many people that graduate from college, not just with student debt, but with credit card debt.

And I've seen so many people just a couple of years out of college filing bankruptcy because they built these bad habits in their 20s and they did not know how to break free from them.

So those are my five big tips of how to be successful as you start your college journey.

So again, here's my top five budget.

Keep an eye on your credit.

Save money on supplies and textbooks.

Keep an eye on your food, and build those financial habits that'll last a long time.

And listen, you're not going to be perfect at this.

No one is expecting perfection.

I certainly wasn't.

So if you learn from me, you know, you learn from your own mistakes.

But here's the thing.

You can be intentional.

So I'm going to encourage you right now.

Be intentional.

Another thing I'm going to encourage you to do, you're watching this on YouTube.

This would be a great episode to share with somebody else.

You know, somebody who might be getting ready to go to school or is already in school and you know they're struggling.

Send this episode to them.

Say, hey, this is a great episode to help you get started on your college journey.

If you're a parent or a grandparent, share it with your kids.

Share it with your grandkids.

And one more thing I'm going to encourage you to do.

This is a Christian show.

So one of the last things I want to encourage you, and I probably should have put this one first, is invite God into these decisions.

God is there for you.

You're going to be experiencing all kinds of new things around you.

You're not going to know exactly what to do sometimes.

This is a great time to just see to God.

Hey, God, listen, help me in this journey.

This is new to me.

I've never been on my own like this.

That safety blanket is there, Lord, but they're not right here in front of me all the time.

So invite God into these money decisions and you will see he will help you through that process.

Well, how about we pray together right now?

Father God, we just thank you for the opportunity to grow and to journey out on our own, Lord.

And as people are entering into college or they're going on their own for the first time, Lord, I just ask that you would be with them, Lord, and give them courage and give them strength and give them discernment as they try to decide how to navigate this, Lord, and.

And help them to see you in all those things, Lord, that they don't have to be alone in this journey.

Grant them wisdom, grant them foresight, Lord, and especially grant them grace, Lord, because they're going to make mistakes just like all of us have done.

And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Again, thank you for joining me today.

I hope you choose to join me.

Every day I bring you another topic that helps you on your financial journey with the whole goal of breaking the cycle of financial shame and, and doing it with confidence.

And this is a great time to start off on a foot of confidence.

So, again, have a great day.

God bless you, and I'll see you next time on the show.