Tuition Growth at the University of Iowa

Have you ever wondered why student debt has increased to the point where post-grads can’t keep up on their payments. Perhaps it’s because since 2000, tuition has more than doubled. In 2000-01, tuition at the University of Iowa was $3,204 dollars for residents and $10,966 for nonresidents, according to the Office of the Registrar. Now, in the 2012-13 academic year, tuition has more than doubled to $8,057 for residents and $26,279 for nonresidents.

Click here for charts illustrating tuition growth at the University of Iowa for residents and nonresidents since 2000.

It is no wonder that people can’t keep up with their loan payments after college. A four-year college student racks up a debt of $32,228, and that’s just if they are a resident of the state. A nonresident student who spends four years in their undergrad ends up with a debt of $105,116!

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that education comes free…in fact, education doesn’t even come cheap when you look at the final outcome. These high debts are the reason why people can’t keep up with loan payments and take years and years to pay off their student loans.

If tuition continues to increase at the rate that it has, our kids will be paying somewhere around, or over, $20,000, and that’s only if they choose a school in the state that they reside in! Ouch, makes me rethink the whole kid idea.

“Help me, I’m Poor”

As a college student who is off of their parent’s dime, it can often feel as though “poor” is an understatement. I feel as though all i do is spend, spend, spend. It often seems that the money I make at work doesn’t even reach my pocket before I have to turn around and spend it. However, I think that a lot of students would say the same thing. Often times it seems that there is no end to spending money.

Have you ever wondered how you can save up a little cash? This How To gives some helpful tips on ways that you can save money. Keeping track of your spending on a monthly basis allows you to see what things you are spending money on that you could eliminate to save more money. Setting a monthly budget also limits your unnecessary spending.

How Does She Do It: Staying Organized

Being a full-time college student who works a part-time job isn’t always an easy feat. It can sometimes be very challenging to try and keep track of everything you have going on, from bills to school to work and so on. How do people do it? I follow one simple trick to stay organized that I swear by.

Ever wondered how a college student with a lot on their plate stays organized and successfully accomplishes all of their tasks? Well wonder no more.

I have one easy trick for staying organized. You’ll just need a couple of easy things to get on top of your game:

• A whiteboard-preferably a pre-made calendar
• A few different colored dry-erase markers

Each month I fill out a calendar of everything that I have going on each week. It often comes out looking quite hectic, but by color coordinating the different categories of events that go on weekly I easily stay organized. For instance, I might put my work schedule in green, my schoolwork in pink, and family/friend events in blue.

I also keep track of all of my bills-shared and personal-on my whiteboard. It is a great way to keep myself and my roommates organized; we each have our own whiteboards and also keep one with all of our shared items in the kitchen! This allows us to see when each bill is due and how much each of us owes towards it. My credit card payments are due by the same day each month, so I keep each separate one written out as a monthly reminder of when they’re due.

While I’m on the subject of credit cards, let me share a few key tips that I’ve learned. Having a credit card is a big responsibility, and sometimes when we’re short on cash we like to turn to those magic little pieces of plastic. Here’s what I’ll tell you about credit cards, these are often how people, especially students get into the most trouble. Three things to think of when you have credit cards:

1. If you don’t have the money, don’t charge it. If you can’t buy something on your credit card and then turn around and pay it off, then don’t purchase it. This is how you end up behind on credit payments and eventually fall into debt.
2. Don’t spend unnecessarily. If it’s not something you need, then why are you buying it? This isn’t to say that people should never treat themselves, but a treat is just that. It’s something you do once in awhile, when you have the money.
3. Just be careful. When people get careless with their credit cards things get dangerous.

If you follow all of my tips for staying organized you should have no problem staying on top of things and getting everything done on time!

Debt? No Thanks

According to American Student Assistance, nearly 20 million Americans attend college each year, and of those 20 million people, nearly 60% of them borrow loans to pay for their schooling. The site also says that there are nearly 37 million people with outstanding loans.

Unfortunately, that staggering statistic will likely increase, as school tuition’s continue to rise. According to the article College Grads Facing Higher Student Loan Bills, Servicing Woes, the national student debt has surpassed the $1 trillion mark.

That being said, how can students, perhaps not completely eliminate, but at least decrease the amount of debt they leave their undergrad years with? Work, work, work.

By spending some of their free time at work, students could greatly decrease the amount of debt they end up with after four years of school.  A lot of students take out greater loans so that they don’t have to work during their undergrad years, but if they would just spend between ten and 15 hours of their time per week at a part-time job they wouldn’t have to borrow as much for student loans.

Another way to avoid a large amount of debt is to lessen spending. College-aged people are more likely to participate in frivolous spending. If students cut back on shopping, eating out, and other extra items they could save a lot more money. That’s not to say that all students should never go out to eat or never go shopping, but if students cut back even a little on their spending they could lessen their debt.

Students at Work

Students at Work: An Audio Visual Slideshow

IOWA CITY– After a night spent with the employees at Bob’s Your Uncle, a local restaurant here in Iowa City, it was surprising to learn how many students are paying for maybe not all, but at least some, of their bills.

I talked to multiple students who were working at Bob’s Your Uncle and discussed their average weekly hours of work per week and also what types of bills they were responsible for paying. Their responses varied as far as hours and also bills. However, of all of the students interviewed, they all worked at least ten hours per week and were responsible for at least one bill.

Jake Swearengen, a sophomore at Kirkwood and a delivery driver at Bob’s Your Uncle, works an above average amount per week.

“I work about 30 hours per week, which allows me to pay for my phone, my insurance, and my rent,” said Swearengen.

“I work about 20 hours per week and I pay my utilities, car insurance, phone bill, and my rent,” said Bethany Schlagel, a junior at the University of Iowa.

20 hours seemed to be about the average hours worked per week among those that I talked to.

“I work about 20-25 hours per week,” said Ashley Edwards, a senior at UI. “I don’t have to pay rent or utilities, but I do pay for everything else.”

Emily Slach is fortunate to have two sisters also enrolled at the university, so her parents purchased a house for the three girls.

“I work about 15 hours per week and am fortunate enough to only have to pay for utilities,” she said.

Trevor Roling is experiencing the cost of living his first year in Iowa City, and also the cost of being a delivery driver.

“I work about 22 hours per week so that I can pay for utilities, rent, as gas for my car,” he said

These employees are all full-time college students on top of working an average of 20 hours a week. It can be tough for them to balance everything that they have on their plate, but somehow each one of them make it work.

You’re Telling Me Work is Good for You?

In my last post, Work as a Study Tactic-Is This For Real?, I discussed how working during college can improve your GPA and help with time management. The article 7 Reasons to Work Your Way Through College lists multiple reasons why working during college is beneficial to you.

The article lists improved grades and time management along with earning money, building your resume, and career experimentation. These are the other three reasons that I see as most the most beneficial reasons to work.

First of all, who doesn’t love a little extra money. However, in my case, and I’m sure many of you as well, I have to work to get through school.

Building your resume is an essential part of working. How many jobs are going to take you seriously if you have no previous work experience? Even part-time jobs, like the jobs you work in college, look good on a resume. These jobs also provide you with important skills and experience that you can carry over into school and then eventually carry along with you into your future career.

College is also a good time to experiment with jobs. It’s a time that you can try out different jobs and see what type of career you may be interested in in the future. Experimenting with jobs in college also provides you with a wider variety of skills to carry with you into your workplace in the future.
All-in-all, working during college can be highly beneficial to you not only in college, but also in your future career. While it may seem like a pain now, those part-time jobs will help you in the long-run!

Work as a Study Tactic-Is this For Real?

According to many articles, like Students Who Work During College, it can actually be beneficial to  a students grades to work during their undergrad. This particular article found that students who didn’t work had an average of a 3.04 overall GPA, versus a 3.14 overall GPA for students who work between 1 and 20 hours per week.

Some people may be thinking “no way is that right; more work=less time for schoolwork.” However, a logical thinker could see where this would make sense. When you know that you’re going to have less time for schoolwork, you’re going to be more likely to practice better time management. For instance, say I have a big assignment due in class on Tuesday, but I also have to work both Sunday and Monday night. I’m going to be more likely set aside an adequate amount of time beforehand to finish my assignment. Whereas, if I know that I have nothing going on and lots of time to work on the assignment, I will be more likely to procrastinate and put it off until the last minute. Or, I might also be more likely to think I have a lot of time to work on schoolwork, so I’ll start one thing and forget about my other assignment instead of adequately managing my time.

So in the end, while work may make you feel stressed out and you feel as though you have no time for schoolwork, it can actually be beneficial in learning to effectively manage your time and keep yourself organized.