Living on your own with a limited budget can present real challenges for college and university students starting their first year.
Credit Counselling Services of Atlantic Canada has offered tips which include making a budget, tracking your spending and leveraging student discounts.
President and CEO John Eisner disagrees with the idea that credit card companies who are allowed to promote their products on university campuses.
“I find that very appalling. They offer credit cards to students who in most cases don’t have a job but yet if you and I were unemployed we couldn’t get a credit card. It does not make sense,” Eisner said.
Eisner said the only business they are doing right now is virtual.
He encourages students to come in for a free 90-minutes session to learn about money management.
“The average consumer that we see coming through our doors will tell us one of their weaknesses is money and they really don’t have the budgeting skills that they need,” Eisner said.
Eisner also suggests first-year students have their meals at home, resist impulse buying and leverage student discounts.
With tuition costs rising and many students having faced unemployment for the past year due to the pandemic, the need for budgeting has never been more important. https://t.co/2N2YUiRRnX #studentbudget #studentlife #college #university
— John Eisner (@SolveYourDebts) August 19, 2021