Financial Wellness Center Blog

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Snow begins to fall, suddenly you have a hankering for peppermint treats, and soon enough- a much needed reprieve from schoolwork. The holidays can be a glittering wonderland of tradition, warmth, and happiness- but they can also be expensive. It’s hard to enjoy the holiday season and look forward to a new year when you’re feeling financially stressed. So before you deck the halls and start adding gifts to your online cart, it’s important to make a holiday game plan and a budget. Here are some of the Financial Wellness Center’s tips and tricks for successful holiday spending.

Congratulations! You are moving into your new place! As exciting as it can be, things can be daunting. Packing up and moving can take anywhere from days to weeks to months depending on where you're going and how much you have to move. Hopefully, these tips can help you think through the process of moving and simplify your life.

Your alarm rings, it’s 8:00 am. You struggle to get out of bed and after being on your phone for what feels like forever, you finally find the will to get up and begin your day. You make yourself a fresh cup of coffee, and as you go outside you feel the cool breeze on your skin reminding you that fall has just begun. You smile, go back to your room and change into your comfiest sweater.

When I first started college four years ago, I thought I had prepared myself enough (well as much as a first generation college student could anyway), but I soon realized that I was lacking knowledge when it came to finances. The only knowledge I had about finances was from my parents, but I didn’t know how to translate that into my college experience. I remember walking into the Financial Aid office knowing that I had to take out a loan, but I was clueless about how loans worked and that scared me a little. Thankfully, a Financial Aid Counselor was able to explain to me the basic knowledge of how loans and scholarships worked and how they would be applied to my account. After this instant, I took it upon myself to become self-sufficient by learning about all the different resources on campus in case I needed any other assistance. This experience taught me about advocacy and how important that is.

If you’re like me, you probably despise dealerships and anything that has to do with car shopping. It can be a stressful, overwhelming, and intimidating experience for some, but it doesn’t have to be! What has helped me become more confident in the car shopping world is researching! Sitting down and understanding the value of a new/used car, how depreciation works, how to negotiate price value and more has given me the necessary skills I need whenever it’s time to buy a car. Before I get into this blog’s topic, I must say, while I am no expert in the car shopping field, I can tell you that the first thing you absolutely need to know about car shopping is that you have to have an enormous amount of patience. You’re probably not going to get the first car you test drive, and that’s okay! Don’t let that bring you down, just keep looking.

When you think about some of the most important decisions that you’ll have to make in your lifetime, what comes to mind? Do you think about where you are going to go to college? Who you are going to marry? What kind of career you will want in the future? All of these questions are very important, but there is one question that traditionally students don’t really give much thought to. The question of taking out student loans, figuring out how much to take out, and planning to pay them back seldom are discussed. Why? I am not sure. Should it be talked about? Absolutely. This decision could impact your life just as much as the other typical important questions mentioned above.

Unlike the majority of people, I’ve never used a debit card. Instead, I started my financial life on a credit card. I get a lot of questions about “why” or “how” I’ve done that. For me it’s easy, I get rewards like cash back or points when I use my credit card. If you’re buying essential items such as food, hygiene products, gas, etc. month to month why not get cash back or benefits from it?

Well done to everyone for finishing out the semester and adapting to the changes that we all faced. We wish to especially recognize our recent graduates and their success! Your contributions and presence on campus will be missed. We desire the best for each of you going forward in your respective careers and hope you will carry with you the many positive experiences and friendships you’ve gained over the years. As we study, we are hopefully preparing and training for future work in a fulfilling career. We focus a lot on classes and the educational track we’re on, but sometimes the “track” towards finding the right job and landing that job is not as clearly defined and tricky to follow. In all honesty, it can be hard to navigate, and we might not even know where to start.

You have probably heard about the $2 Trillion dollar government stimulus that has recently passed through congress. This legislation is the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. We want to take some time and explain how this may impact you as a college student.

Due to the recent pandemic, the Financial Wellness Center feels like it is a great time to talk about emergencies and how we can prepare for them financially. It is so important to save for a rainy day, but it’s also important to know how much you should strive to save.