Colleges include work study as financial aid, a program in which students are able to earn money to help pay for tuition and expenses. Students often look at admissions rate as their main concern and overlook the cost and location. Unless one chooses to live at home and commute to school to save money, students are making a huge decision to go to a college 7-to-10 hours car ride away or out-of-state. Many colleges are expensive especially for low income families who can't afford to pay for tuition and are likely to borrow loans. Direct subsidized loans and direct unsubsidized loans, direct PLUS loans, and Federal Perkins Loans are the different types of federal student loans (Student Aid). The Federal Student Aid website advises students and families to borrow federal student loans if they need to borrow money to pay for college.
Maintaining a budget requires self-discipline and organization. When we go off to college, we feel a sense of freedom and independence from our parents. We make our own decisions without our parents to guide us or give us advice. In the article, "Econ 101: College is the Time to Budget," Clark writes about the importance of students creating a budget for college expenses. I learned the importance of budgeting in my senior year economics class and created a budget imagining ourselves as college graduates living with roommates for an assignment called "Budget Game". Based on an income of $30,000 a year, we determined how much money we would need to pay for things such as rent, transportation, car insurance, health insurance, electricity, television and phone bills, entertainment, and food. My economics teacher advised us to put money aside in a savings account in case of any future emergencies. Clark also says students should work for their spending money to be careful of overspending (20). I agree with Clark that working for my money has made me appreciate money a lot more.
