College students often find themselves drowning in debt before they even finish their first semester on campus. Being away from home brings all sorts of new expenses they never had to worry about before. In addition to paying for text books, clothes, and dorm accessories, they have to worry about meals and social activities with their friends.
Add in the easy access to credit cards and you could find yourself deep in debt in the blink of an eye. If that’s where you find yourself now, it’s time to learn some basic debt management tips so you can start digging yourself out.
First of all, you need to gather all of your credit card statements together and see how bad the damage is. Make a list of all your credit cards and list the balances, minimum payments and interest rate for each. Then call the 800 number on the back of each card and ask them to lower your interest rate. There is a good chance they’ll turn you down but it doesn’t hurt to ask. While you’re at it, tuck those credit cards somewhere safe and stop using them. If you keep using them you’ll never get out of debt.
The next thing you need to do is come up with a budget. Start by itemizing all of your monthly expenses such as rent, utilities, food, laundry, entertainment and so on. Then add up all of your income including money you receive from your parents and part-time jobs.
Hopefully your income is greater than your expenses, but if you are currently spending more money than you have coming in than you need to start trimming your expenses or find a few side-gigs to help supplement your income. Babysitting and tutoring are great ways for college students to make extra money.
Most importantly, don’t give up. No matter how deeply in debt you are you can dig yourself if you stick with it.
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