Spring Break
Avoid mistakes, create a budget
LAURA SPEAGLE
Issue date: 8/7/08 Section: Athenscape
The University's Peer Financial Counseling program helps students learn how to manage their finances and educates them in other areas of financial literacy.
Counselors instruct on seven areas - budgeting, credit reports and scores, credit and debt, saving and investing, student loans, leasing and identity theft.
Some financial advice from PFC's presentations include:
- Track all expenses for two weeks and calculate all sources of income before making a spending plan.
- Avoid credit mistakes such as overspending, getting too many credit cards, making only minimum payments, carrying a permanent balance, and assuming low rates remain the same.
- View your free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com to know how it affects loans, utility deposits, employment, auto and life insurance, and big purchases.
- Instead of borrowing the full amount for a student loan, consider your present income and expected income after graduation.
- Protect yourself from identity theft by shredding documents, using secured mailboxes, monitoring credit card and bank statements, creating strong passwords, sending information through private networks, and being cautious of e-mails and attachments.
- When leasing forms of housing, be aware of all fines and fees, know what portion of rent you are reliable for, and get security deposits back by documenting previous damage.
- Regularly save 10 percent of your income by automatic withdrawal from checking to savings, and use Bankrate.com to find higher rates of return in online savings accounts.
Students can request group seminars, apply to be a counselor and review PFC's financial advice at www.uga.edu/osfa/pfc.
Counselors instruct on seven areas - budgeting, credit reports and scores, credit and debt, saving and investing, student loans, leasing and identity theft.
Some financial advice from PFC's presentations include:
- Track all expenses for two weeks and calculate all sources of income before making a spending plan.
- Avoid credit mistakes such as overspending, getting too many credit cards, making only minimum payments, carrying a permanent balance, and assuming low rates remain the same.
- View your free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com to know how it affects loans, utility deposits, employment, auto and life insurance, and big purchases.
- Instead of borrowing the full amount for a student loan, consider your present income and expected income after graduation.
- Protect yourself from identity theft by shredding documents, using secured mailboxes, monitoring credit card and bank statements, creating strong passwords, sending information through private networks, and being cautious of e-mails and attachments.
- When leasing forms of housing, be aware of all fines and fees, know what portion of rent you are reliable for, and get security deposits back by documenting previous damage.
- Regularly save 10 percent of your income by automatic withdrawal from checking to savings, and use Bankrate.com to find higher rates of return in online savings accounts.
Students can request group seminars, apply to be a counselor and review PFC's financial advice at www.uga.edu/osfa/pfc.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jacob Malik
posted 10/15/08 @ 5:54 PM EST
As a rising senior I renewed my lease the last week of exams in the spring. Before taking my last exam, I was diagnosed with primative neuroectodermal sarcoma of the kidney. (Continued…)
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