subject: Use Student Loans Leverage to Keep any Student Loan low [print this page] Use Student Loans Leverage to Keep any Student Loan low
Failing to plan how best to use your student loan is planning to failIf you don't plan how best to use your student loan to get the most out of it, you are much more likely to be landing up with a much larger student loan to pay off than many of your fellow colleagues and friends at uni. And this includes those you meet up after you have been to Uni at work. This leaves you left wondering what you should have done differently to keep the amount now to be paid off that much lower. And the chances are your spending patterns are now exactly the same as at Uni and you wondering why you are always left short of money by the end of the month. All you need is to keep your monthly budgeting simple and plan what you have to spend where and when. Just list those items that are major purchases through out the coming year. This could include a new computer / laptop/ notebook. What month will you have to buy them? Will you be running a car? Have you taken into account all the running costs month by month? And what about the costs for the halls of residents or the monthly rent for where you live? What have you allowed for on general pocket money for food and drink? Do a simple spread sheet and monitor all your expenditure against that. Just the act of monitoring will keep your spending in check. Research has shown this time and time again. Now you have built up what you need to spend monthly over the coming months. And this then allows you to identify what shortfalls you will have in the future. How best to meet the monthly shortfalls not being met by your student loan.A picture of your likely spending pattern over the coming year has now been built up. Shortfalls have been identified. You now need to decide how best to meet these identified shortfalls. The easy option is to increase your student loan to meet these shortfalls. But this is really your last option. You need to find out first if there are any other options open to you. Are there any alternatives? Do your need to buy what your want and are their cheaper substitutes/ alternatives? Is it a luxury or a necessity? The other option is to sell various items you no longer need at home. These are items that you have outgrown and no longer need. Sell them to raise cash. Other extra income needs to be generated. This could also be taking up part-time jobs locally. Yes, this will bring in cash but much of it is on minimum pay. It's the hard way of raising extra cash to pay off student loans.
