By DMACC Banner staff Ainsley Schuler and Micki Anderson
On the DMACC Boone Campus students, faculty and staff often share the same concerns. One is how to save money, and people on campus had a variety of suggestions.
One common response was to live at home as long as possible.
“Stay at home more,” suggested student Nicholas Hadaway. “Don’t get an apartment, just try to stay at home with your parents. It saves you a lot of money, and I found that gas is cheaper than rent”.
Student Elizabeth Laube agreed.
“Personally, I live at home (so I can) make time to work, like on weekends,” she said. She recommended working as many hours as possible for but find a good balance, “because you’re going to need that money, but also make time for studying and homework”.
Student Addison Holderman suggested that college students work while going to school. but also said to help pay for college, “check out Pell Grants, APP program (that) crossover with ISU and other colleges nearby.”
Student Will Nelson said “Not eating out as much. Save at least a little bit of money on the side every week, or every time you get a paycheck if you have a job on the side along with college. Just don’t save all your money and not spend any of it, but don’t spend all of your money and not save any of it. Have a happy medium”.
Instructional Design staff member Sean Frommelt also hit this point on his tip of budgeting.
“Try and make a budget … If you really want to save money, start trying to figure out your monthly expenses,” said Frommelt. “Find out how much income you actually have. Try and put some of that away if you really do want to save money … It is a great time to try and start those habits. It goes by quickly and if you don’t have those habits started, it’s hard to (start)”.
One easy way to start to saving money locally is to sign up for the HyVee Fuel Savers program. Many people have heard of it, but don’t sign up. Kerry Ballantyne, Assistant Bookkeeper in the business office, mentioned this program.
“Get registered with the HyVee Fuel Saver. If you are grocery shopping, you can create an online account and load coupons onto your account, so if it is something you normally shop for … it’s already there for you”. If people are already buying groceries, then this helps them get money back from those groceries and to save on gas which can easily add up over time.
While being a college student is sometimes difficult and expensive, there are definitely ways that student can learn to manage money and create habits they can carry with them throughout their lives.