Top Mistakes Made by College Students

# Using your student loan money for everything, but school. Students often times use the loan money for personal things or entertainment. This money should be paying for your books, tuition and room and board. Remember it does need to get paid back so use it wisely. Unfortunately a lot of us will be paying it back for years to come.

# Credit card debt. It happens to the best of us we use our credit card a lot more than necessary. I am sure most of us can say that the bills got a lot higher than we expected very quickly. Now adults have an income and can make monthly payments on debt. Imagine for a moment when you were in college could you have afforded to make payments every month on it? Probably not which is why most students graduate with over $7,000 in credit card debt. Keep in mind if a credit card payment is missed or late hefty fees are attached to it. A credit card that had a $5,000 balance and has not been paid in a couple months now most likely has a $5,500 balance. It is a vicious cycle especially for students who don't have the means to keep up with payments.

# Lack of Budgeting. If you are in college and have endless funds consider yourself really lucky. Most college students are living on financial aid money, loan money or family members therefore are on a fixed income. Budgeting is key to getting your financial responsibilities taken care of and still having "fun" money. College students, or anyone for that matter, need to sit down and figure out exactly how much money needs to be allotted to everything. After all the financial responsibilities are paid for the rest of the money can be used for luxuries.

# Going right into a 4 year university. Universities are a lot more expensive than community colleges. Try to get all your prerequisite classes done at a community college and then transfer to the university. It is unbelievable how much money doing this will save.