School Archives - Page 6 of 7 - Making Sense Of Cents

Moving Back Home After College?

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Last week I was asked to share a very interesting graphic with my readers. While I was lucky and was able to find a job right after I graduated and still have that same job today, not everyone is as lucky.

Most of my friends were able to find great jobs soon after graduating, but that is mainly due to the better economy of where I live (Midwest). I of course know that there are other areas which aren’t as lucky.

However, I did graduate with a ton of student loan debt. A lot of that could have been eliminated or non existent if I would’ve lived at home, gone to a cheaper undergraduate school and a cheaper graduate school and so on and so on. However, I couldn’t have lived at home. I moved out at 18 (a day after I graduated from high school) and my dad passed away when I was 18, so I had no where to go even if I did want to move back home.

However, I don’t regret a thing. Why did you chose the things that you chose when it came to your education?

I’m not going to lie, I think the graphic is a little negative. I think it makes going to college sound a little worse than it actually is. I’ve never thought of college as negative, but I do realize that some do.

[Read more…]

How to Make Money in College

Last Updated: August 12, 2019 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

As a follow up to my post recently titled: Reader Question: College Budget, I’m going to talk today about making money while in college.

Money in college can of course pay for a lot of things. Your tuition, commute (cars, gas, maintenance, etc.), food, drinks, clothes and everything else. Maybe you also want to go on a fun vacation with your friends? Books also cost a lot as well, but luckily you can always try selling your old books online.

I really recommend not getting a credit card if you can’t control your spending, and especially don’t get one if you have no income coming in.

I’ve worked full-time ever since I was 16, but I also was a full-time nanny starting at 14. The extra money was always nice, and it GREATLY helped me with finding a great job right after I graduated from college in 2010.

I started as a sales associate at a retail store when I was 16. I also was a nanny for a baby in the summer of that year and I watched the child 40 hours a week (at $10 an hour so I definitely felt the money rolling in at 16!). [Read more…]

Reader Question: College Budget

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hey everyone! Recently, I’ve been getting several e-mails from readers about questions that they have. While I would love to think that I know everything, I know that if I post a question onto my blog, that we can get a lot more answers, which may be more helpful than what I can say in one e-mail.

I recently received one that I thought could be applied all around, whether you’re in college or just trying to save money and spend wisely, and I thought it would be a great fit for a blog post. Hopefully I can turn reader questions into a series here on my blog.

Anyways, I’ll let the reader take it away:

Hi Michelle,

I had emailed you a few months ago about a good monthly food budget for a college student – thanks for the help. Anyways, I was just wondering if you had any more tips on how to save money in college. I’ll admit, I am a big time spender while I am at school, because for some reason I think college is the time to do everything my heart desires (i.e. go to that concert, buy that silt blouse from J. Crew, etc.) You could argue a lot of it is money spent unwisely. And to be honest, I’ve already started accumulating a little bit of debt from it all…and I’m afraid if I don’t do anything about it I’m going to be some serious debt after college.

Is there anything you wished you would have known while in school? Advice or any tips for a college student as me?

It’s just that I’m moving in my first apartment with three other roommates this coming fall, and I know I’m going to have to make a lot of my own financial decisions and any tips or advice from anyone is great to hear.

Thanks!

This is what I replied with:

I would say that if you could or have time, try to find a way to pay for these things. And if you can’t control your spending, then DO NOT work in retail. Yes, the discount is nice, but this is something that majorly hurt me while in college. I worked full-time in retail and spent a TON of money on the clothes from the store that I worked at.

Also, try not to put clothing on credit cards. If you aren’t paying a monthly payment (the full amount), then you might be paying $200 (with interest included) for a $50 shirt. And that’s just insane! I like to think about how long I had to work to get that shirt I want to buy. Are those pants really worth 3 hours of me working?

I tried to keep my answer short, in order to not overwhelm the e-mailer. Of course I could go on and on and on I would love for you all to help and give us your thoughts! I didn’t want to share her identity, but maybe she’ll come out if any of you have answers for her as well.

Also, I scoured the web and tried to find some articles that may be of help. I found probably 1,000,000 articles, and tried to sort through them. Below are also some articles/resources for college budgets:

44 Healthy Foods Under $1 – This is a list of 44 healthy foods with their average cost per serving.
Eating on a College Student’s Budget – Tips on how to save money on a small grocery budget.
Budget Bytes – Possibly my most favorite website ever. If you’ve never been to this website, then you do not live on earth.
College Budget Recipes – Tons of recipes for those on a small budget.
What Does a College Budget Look Like? – 2 families and their budgets. I am not saving that these are great budgets though.
College budget 101: Get your child on track – Tips on college budgets and strategies.
How much should I budget for college living expenses? – A calculator to help you figure out your budget.
The Hidden Costs of College and How to Budget for Them – Be prepared for college expenses that you didn’t think of!
Average cost of four-year university up 15% – Tuition keeps rising, so try to save money when and where you can.
118 Ways to Save Money in College – A very long and FANTASTIC list of different areas that you could be saving money in.
My Plan to Save a LOT of Money – This isn’t about a college budget. But Jen is trying to save as much money as she can right now, and has great tips.

If you have any questions that you would like me or my readers to answer, please e-mail or comment below.You can remain anonymous as well if you would like.

How/Why I Chose my Graduate School

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Now that I’m officially done with school and my MBA program, I feel like I can fully reflect on what I got out of my graduate education. Yes, I know. Another school post and another post about how I’m done, but it’s one of the last 🙂

After I finished my undergraduate degree, I took the Summer and Fall semesters off before I realized that I wanted and needed to go back. In order for me to grow in the financial area that I’m in, an MBA was definitely needed.

I’m the type of person who needs to thoroughly research EVERYTHING. When I say thoroughly, I mean I literally looked up every ranking, review and article that I could get my hands on. And then I read them over and over again, and compared them all. Probably not the healthy way of going about things, but it worked for me.

I knew I wanted to stay close to home, mainly because I had bought a house shortly before. I also got a good job after graduation, so I didn’t want to leave because of that as well. There are a lot of schools in the area where I live, and most of them have good reviews, etc. A lot of the companies prefer if you attended a local university as well because it definitely helps with networking.

I chose a university that offered me the best value. It was a good price, with great reviews and a lot of the companies in the area like it. It was also not too out of the way, so I could easily drive there from my work and then home afterwards. I knew that I didn’t want to choose a school that would be too costly and put me into too much student debt.

Career Advantages.

An MBA was needed for my career. More people will take me seriously, and honestly, just the more letters behind your name, then the better and more professional you look to clients.

My work said it would be preferable if I went for my MBA, and I don’t regret it at all. Because of this, I will be getting a decent sized raise this month. I will also be able to do more things at my work and become more involved. It’s a good step up for me.

Networking.

I was able to meet a lot of people through my classes. And this really benefits me because I am a financial analyst (I won’t say my exact job title because then it would be super easy to find me if you know where I live) and client contacts are needed for what I do.

A lot of our referrals come from lawyers and others in the financial world that my boss went to college with.

Education.

Yes, I am a firm believer that experience trumps education most times, but I do think that education opens up many doors and possibilities. I was able to learn how different people would approach different situations, strategies and so on.

It also can help you learn about new subjects that you might not have known much about before, or it might help reinforce something that you already do at work.

For you, what matters? Prestige? Distance? Cost? Value?

I finally have my Masters

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I finally have my Finance MBA! Last night was my last class, my last final, and everything else. No more homework, group projects or a test ever again for me. Well except for any work designations that I’ll be getting (my next work designation exam is actually 2 weeks from now).

And I’ll have that designation in around 1 month or 2. It only took over TWO years, 6 exams, and so on for me to earn my professional designation as well! So this is just a good month for designations and my MBA. Lots of letters behind my name 😛

I’ve already told you all that I’m not going to walk at graduation on Saturday, but not walking doesn’t give me any less of a feeling that I have finally graduated. It feels absolutely wonderful to finally be done.

Now that I am done with my MBA, I will finally have so much more time for everything. After working 8am to 5 pm, I no longer have to rush to my night classes and can just go home and do things that I want.

Below is a list of things that I’d like to do with all of my extra time. There is no time limit, but it is nice to think about it all:

Decorate the house.

We bought our house around 3 years ago, but I haven’t had too much time to decorate everything I want. Most of the things in our house are just filler things. But I would really like to paint the rooms different colors, pull all the rooms together, and finally install some shelves in my closet.

Find a side gig.

I’m still not sure what this will be. I don’t know if I’ll go as far as to get an actual part-time job but I would like to do something. Did you do anything for a part-time job after you graduated? Keep in mind that I’ll still be working my full-time job, so I wouldn’t want something that will drain me.

Volunteer.

I would really like to volunteer somewhere. I put in an application to Big Brother Big Sister, but I withdrew and asked them if they could put my application on pause. She said it was fine. I felt bad, but I was definitely rushing into that decision. I have a lot of things coming up at work in the next couple of months, and I realized that I should probably focus on that for right now.

Find a kickboxing/defense class.

This is something that I’ve wanted to do for awhile. I’ve looked around at a couple of places but none of them seem to really be what I’m looking for.

Get my CCW.

I won a contest at a girl gun blog around a month ago. With this I won a $200 certificate to take a gun class of my choice, I’m going to take a class so that I can get my CCW. Just in case you guys were wondering, no I do not live in a dangerous area, this is just something that I want.

Pilates.

This is also something that I’ve wanted to do before. I haven’t even looked up a place to do this, not sure of the cost, or anything. But definitely something that I want to do!

Start being more professional with my blog.

I don’t know or understand what a lot of the terms mean. SEO, domain authority and so on and so on? I need to learn how to improve everything. I have put work into my blog, but I don’t think I’ve been serious enough. Now that I’ll have more time, I would like to do so.

There are so many things that I can finally have time for, and with less stress. There are so many things that I’m thankful for. What’s on your list?

For me it’s the fact that my family, boy, and friends were able to deal with my insanity and moods (I was definitely more high strung from working full-time and getting my MBA full-time). If they weren’t so understanding, I don’t know where I would be, or if I would have even been able to do it.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Getting an MBA

Last Updated: May 1, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - Leave a Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I’m about to earn my MBA with an emphasis in Finance if you all haven’t realized (I’ve made it pretty obvious!). Come this August of 2012, I will be done with school for another 10 years (until I get my dreaded Executive MBA).

Was all of this worth it? There are several factors to consider such as cost, time, and the opportunity that having an MBA gives me.

Cost. The school I attend isn’t scary expensive. I go to a state school but it is still top ranked for its business program. Not Ivy League ranked, but still good. I can definitely justify the cost, considering the fact that my undergraduate degrees were about 5 times the cost of my MBA.

I would say the school that I attended was definitely a good value. And where I live it’s a considered to be a good school, and a lot of CEOs of the big companies from around here have come from this school. My return on my MBA investment will definitely be high. In the end, it’ll be worth it. It will take just a couple of months (yes months, not years) for me to make the money back.

Time. Altogether, it took around 1.5 years for me to get my Finance MBA. Not too long, but I had to take 4 classes every semester (besides last summer when I took 0), and I also had to work full-time as a financial anaylst. I had no time for anything.

I wouldn’t say I regret anything though about rushing my degree. I’m the type of person who likes to get things done. And it’ll be really nice to just be able to relax from here on out.

Money/Opportunity. Getting my MBA will open a lot of doors for me. Yes, this isn’t true for every field, but for the specific section of the financial services industry that I’m in, it’s pretty much a requirement. More clients will start coming and I’ll seem more knowledgeable (well I’ll be more knowledgeable as well!) Also, my work already told me that I’d be getting a “big bump” in my raise once I complete my MBA.

I also would say the fact that nearly all of my professors have real life experience is helpful as well. I like how they are able to relate topics to problems that may occur in the real world.

Networking is also important. I’ve met a lot of people through my classes and this will be helpful in my career and field in the future for when I’m looking for new clients.

I started in January of 2011 and this has not been a long journey, but it has been a tiring journey. Hanging out and talking to people you know for only 1 day a week definitely gets boring and lonely!

Having a full-time career plus attending classes, taking care of 2 dogs, a house, and my younger sister definitely take all my time away. And then of course I still need to make time for the boy and my friends.

In the end, I’m also not going to lie. Getting an MBA is also about adding those three letters to the end of my name. Those credentials are always helpful.

Also, don’t forget to read my last post about whether a Business Degree is a Waste or Not. A lot of you left very interesting comments on it, but for the most part everyone agreed. Good experience and learning is needed in order to get ahead.

Have you thought about getting your MBA? What are the pros and cons for you?

And here’s a big infographic to get your brain working:

I want my student loans to be GONE

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 34 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Over at Girl with the Red Balloon, she announced that she just recently paid off the rest of her loans, and she’s now completely debt free! Go over there and congratulate her. I honestly can’t stop thinking about this, because I bet this is such a great feeling. I am extremely jealous, but I know I am close (ok I am not close when it comes to my mortgage though).

She talks about how she did some extreme things to save money and pay off debt faster, such as eating very cheaply. But she was also super determined in paying off all of her loans. I’ve always admired how determined she was with the whole process, and I wish I would buckle down more and do this.

I do wish I would’ve graduated without debt. I worked full-time in high school and while in college I worked full-time the entire time as well. I also had to live on my own due to my dad passing and this ate up a significant amount of the money that I made. I also had to (and I still am) support my mom and help her with bills. I did manage to pay off around half of my tuition bill each semester, so of course I would have more loans. The university I went to was around $30K a year (without room and board) and I also am attending an MBA program right now, so I’m not too down about being around $33K in debt for student loans when I have 2 business undergraduate degrees and I’m about to have my MBA as well. [Read more…]