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Tips on Landing That Scholarship
You’re in College and on Your Own; How Do You Create a College Budget?
How to Get a Great Scholarship
To a poor college student, there are few things more thrilling than windfalls, whether they be student loans, scholarships, or grants. Actually having money is such a novel experience for most college students that it’s easy to go overboard with your spending. The prospect of “free money” may seem so exciting that you might be tempted to spend it on items that are not necessarily essential to your education. You might even borrow more than you need in student loans just to live a more comfortable lifestyle. However, the receipt of student loans, scholarships, or grants is not a license to spend. In this post, we’ll explain why.
When you receive your financial aid award, it’s important to remember the purpose behind it. You want to make sure you’re spending it on things that are legitimate, education-related expenses. For example, textbooks, calculators, school supplies, laptops, etc. are all wise expenditures. If you commute to and from school, your financial aid can also help pay for transportation costs. What you want to avoid is using your financial aid awards for things like a new wardrobe, a lavish spring break trip, and huge bar tabs. As desirable as those kinds of expenses are, your financial aid should not be financing them for two reasons. First, if you squander all of your financial aid on unnecessary items, you might find yourself in a tight spot when you need a really expensive textbook or a new computer down the road, for example. Secondly, if you are using student loan money to pay for unnecessary items, it’s probably a red flag that you’ve borrowed more than you need. When your payment period begins, you will regret this, so try to limit how much you borrow.
Your first instinct, of course, when you receive money is to spend it, and financial aid is no exception. But if you are lucky enough to have money left over after you have covered your education-related expenses, it’s a good idea to save it for a rainy day. For one, it will earn interest, which means you will have an even larger financial cushion. Secondly, you can then rely on your savings down the road instead of having to turn to a credit card or another student loan. Thus, a scholarship, grant, or student loan is a better reason to save than to spend.
