Graduate Debt Free - Part 2

So, you want to graduate debt free? Well, it's going to take a lot of discipline and giving up some wants. It's certainly going to require you to live like a poor college student and "act your wage"! Here is a small list of "don'ts" if you want to graduate debt free:

1) Don't think you can get to be one of those college kids that gets to "only focus on school". YOU are going to have to work! Whether that be in the form of a part-time job, on or off campus, or in the form of constantly applying for scholarships and grants, you're going to have to work!

2) Don't get caught up in the status quo. I have seen so many college age kids that think they deserve to, and should, drive the same cars their parents do in their 40's and 50's. Good things come to those who wait. It's okay to live, and look, and drive like a poor college student, because that's what you are!

3) Don't forget to budget! As my wife and I were going through college, most months we were spending more than we made for the month and so it was discouraging to budget. I know the feeling, but it's important and you need to do it, every month "on paper, on purpose before the month begins." (Dave Ramsey)

I would recommend mint.com as a great and free budgeting tool. My wife and I weren't consistent at budgeting until we used mint.com.

4) Don't be greedy. Even though you are trying to pinch every penny and make sure you have enough to get through the next semester we can't forget that all we have comes from God. We need to look for ways to give even when we don't have much. If you are a Bible believing Christian then paying tithing on your income will hopefully be a priority throughout your life. We can also make sure we find ways to give our time and talents to good causes and to those around us everyday. Although you are living like a poor college student, don't forget how blessed you are to be going to college in the first place and that you are living a lot better than most of the world. Be grateful and count your many blessings.

Graduate Debt Free - Part 1

The next few posts will be dedicated to helping those currently in college or those who know someone in college with some tips from my personal experience on how to get through college debt free.

Today, I will talk about the do's.

1) Work hard. Let me just start with a quote from Thomas Edison: “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” Graduating debt free is most certainly worthwhile, so get to work! If you are serious about living debt free then you've probably already figured out you're going to have to work all through school if you want to graduate debt free unless you have a nice inheritance from someone or a substantial college fund. That was certainly not my case. I worked through school ever since before my wife and I got married in 2007 until I graduated with my Masters of Accountancy in April 2012 except for two months when I had to focus on my biology and chemistry classes so I didn't fail. There is a good reason I didn't become a dentist.

2) Budget! This will be important for the rest of your life if you want to be successful with money.   Budgeting isn't keeping track of where your money went, it is telling your money where to go before the month begins. While in school it can be hard because your normal monthly out go is most likely going to be more than your usual monthly inflow, but you still need to PLAN how and where you are going to spend your money during the month. A large amount of our income that tied us over came from tax refunds and grants/scholarships. I will expound on budgeting in a future post.

Benjamin Franklin said, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail." That is the essence of the budget, as well as a lot of other areas of life. Your budget is your plan to financial success each month.

3) Apply for government programs that you qualify for such as medicaid, food stamps, Pell grants, and housing subsidies. If you legitimately qualify for any of the above programs why not apply for them so you can successfully make it through your schooling without debt and then turn around and contribute back to those programs by making good money and paying taxes? Let me stress, I think these programs should only be a temporary situation, while you are in school and you are poor. The goal is certainly not to be eligible for these programs for very long.

When I was in my second year of my bachelors program we felt it was time for us to start having children. As we were expecting our first daughter, based on our income my wife qualified for prenatal medicaid and WIC. This was a huge help because once she was enrolled she was able to cancel her other insurance and we had "free" insurance for 8 months. If we would have been paying for private insurance we would have surely had to take out student loans based on the premium costs and the out-of-pocket costs we would have incurred.

Once we had children we also qualified for food stamps at one point because we were under the asset and income limits. This was a huge relief and help because besides rent, food was our biggest monthly expense.

Many people may have their own opinions about using these programs, but if you are serious about getting through school debt free, and you honestly qualify for these programs they can be a huge help in achieve that goal of debt free college.

4) Shop around for insurance. By shopping around for private insurance and not just taking insurance from the University I was attending, we saved over $500 a semester in insurance premiums. We also found good car insurance and would periodically compare other companies we were getting the best deal.

5) Clearly identify the difference between wants and needs. Some examples of needs: food, clothing, shelter, paying tuition, personal hygiene items. Examples of wants: a new couch, an LCD HD TV, a new car, eating out.

6) Be creative! One man's trash is another man's treasure. Be aware that people are moving out every semester and are always getting rid of things. If you help those people move out, a lot of times you can get first dibs on the best items.

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

There are many other small things you can do to be successful in getting through your schooling debt free. These are just a few that were most prevalent for me and my family. Which of these items can you implement today?

A Blog about Life & Money

I have created this blog to express my insights on two of my passions:

1) Wise money management

2) Helping people be successful in all areas of their life

My wife and I graduated from college with two Bachelors degrees and one Masters degree debt free! I want to help others in that stage of life do the same thing we did by sharing some of the key actions that contributed to this achievement. It is possible!

Now that we are in the working world and earning a salary, we find that creating and following a zero-based budget every month (I'll talk more about this later) helps us to stay in control of our money and helps us have financial peace. I want to share with those in the career stage of life, actions that I am finding help me be successful with money and that I'm learning from other resources. I also want to learn from my readers how they have been able to get control of their money and make it work for them.

I look forward to learning with you!