Accounting professor and faculty assessment coordinator, Suzanne Lay has some advice for students when it comes to finances. 

What do you think students need to know about money and saving?

I think the first thing you need to know is not to spend more then you are bringing in. Student loans seem like really easy money now, but don’t borrow more then you need to in order to pay tuition and so forth. Easy money now will take a long time to pay back in the future. And don’t spend all your money on fast food, it’s a waste.

What are some things that can help students budget and save?

There are some things online American institute of certified public accountants have a program called feed the pig which helps people learn how to start to budget and save. There are several programs and apps too, just depends on what you are looking for. I think a lot of the accounting and finance professors could answer some basic questions.

What do you think is the hardest part for students with money?

One of the hard things is building credit without getting in over your head. I think it’s a good and important time for students to start building their credit for when they want to buy their first nice car or home or something like that. However, often times though students will get a credit card to build credit and will quickly get in over their heads because they’ll start charging too much. So maybe get a credit card and put your Netflix account on it and pay it off every much. And that way you can show you had some credit and were good paid it on time every month. And don’t use it other then that so it doesn’t get out of control. Start building credit but do it very carefully and wisely.

Do you have a certain method to stay on top of your spending and budgeting?

I’m kinda an excel nerd I guess, my budget is on excel, so I check my budget against what I am spending every month. I also use my bank’s website because I can easily run a report from my checking account that says exactly where I spent my money this month or all year if I want to. I can kinda see how I’m doing and actually a good way if you don’t know where to start on a budget, if you have a checking account you can use that to see where you are spending your money so far and where you have room to lessen some expenditures.

What is your advice on checking savings and checking online versus writing it down?

I would encourage people to look online at least once a week, just to make sure what’s going through there is correct. I think as long as you are really keeping track and understand that sometimes charges aren’t there yet and consider that with how much you have left. I think you don’t have to write it down.

How would you suggest saving to those who have an income?

I encourage this of my own kids when they earn money to put a percentage of it in the bank for savings. Maybe you start off small with just 10 percent for a couple of months until you get used to it and then bump it up to 20-25 percent. It’s amazing how savings will start to accumulate when you really start to put something away regularly. It’ll pay off in the long run. As soon as you get your real first adult job out of college, immediately start to participate in 401 K plans or something like that. If you start off when you are 20 something you’ll have quite a bit already saved when you are ready to retire.

What do you think students spend the most money on?

I would guess food and alcohol.