Earn to Learn FL Personal Finance Training (PFT) will empower you to acquire the knowledge, build the habits and gain the confidence you need to make smarter everyday financial decisions.
Preparing a realistic budget for college is essential for students to graduate on time, career-ready, and free of student debt.
Why this matters: We checked in with our partner LifeCents – the platform behind Earn to Learn FL PFT – to discover how PFT will shape your financial future, starting with your college budget plan:
- Motivation – Personal finance often feels very complex and challenging which can deter you from taking action. Earn to Learn FL PFT, powered by LifeCents, has innovative features, design, and personalized conversations to keep you engaged and inspired.
- Discovery – Helping you identify your financial needs, interests, and goals is the first step–and often the most overlooked–in the journey towards financial security. The Earn to Learn FL PFT process is the starting point of your highly personalized and impactful user experience.
- Achievement – When it comes to improving your financial health, every day counts. Earn to Learn FL PFT tracks your progress and celebrates every step, milestone and goal that you achieve.
- Connection – Earn to Learn FL PFT helps you transform information into action by responsibly connecting you to partners, programs, products and services that can help you succeed.
Steps to create a realistic budget for a college student
- Have conversations. Before building a college student budget, chat with everyone who will be involved in paying for your education. Talk about who is paying, expected expenses, financial aid and perhaps opening a new credit card or checking account.
- List all of your expenses. The costs of textbooks and school supplies, room and board, transportation, clothing and discretionary spending should be anticipated.
- Track your spending. Once at school, monitor your spending relative to your college budget plan. Determine needs and wants, and decide which nonessentials you can trim.
- Take budgeting to the next level with Earn to Learn FL PFT. If you’re in good financial shape, start setting yourself up for the future. Create an emergency fund, plan for paying off student loans, or open a ROTH IRA.
Bonus: Earn to Learn FL Matched Savings for Education Scholarships are available to income challenged students who complete Earn to Learn FL PFT, open a FL 529 Savings Account, and engage with a Near Peer Success Coach.
Questions? Please contact your Earn to Learn FL Near Peer Success Coach for assistance to answer any of the questions about budgeting tips for college students or ask other questions.
- Stay informed: Earn to Learn FL Matched Savings for Education Scholars, Near Peer Success Coaches, and alumni, stay connected to our blog at earntolearnfl.org/blog.