Volume 124 Issue 101
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSA*
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012
PAGE 17
FINANCE
Financial pains can be avoided with budgeting
STELLA LIANG
editor@kansan.com
Money is an important factor for students to consider when living off-campus. There is rent to pay and food to buy. It can be hard to juggle all of these expenses and make sure that there is money left over.
Some University students have found a solution: budgeting.
"I started my budget last January when I got an engineering co-op," said Kasey Knight, a junior from Unionville, Mo. "I calculated how much my rent and car payments were and added on about what I thought I would spend on gas, food, etc."
Kelly Welch, a University professor of business, said a budget should include a close estimate of expenses and income for the next month, or whatever time frame is chosen.
"I recommend starting by tracking one's monthly expenses in a few broad categories including income, rent, utilities, food, transportation and entertainment," Welch said. "The categories depend on one's circumstances. Items like scholarships, grants, loans, tuition and books are more lumpy and might
need to be planned for on a different frequency than monthly."
There are many ways to write a budget. If there aren't many factors, some simple math and a note pad can be sufficient. For more complicated situations, computer programs like Quicken, can help. The more difficult part of
Living within one's means isn't always easy.
the process comes after the budget is sets keeping to it. Once a budget has been written, discipline is required to follow through.
"When school started up, I had money saved but it was going fast so I made another budget," Knight said, "I work part time at Hy-Vee now to help."
Living within one's means isn't always easy. "Falling outside a budget can be especially discouraging, and it can cause one to give up entirely on a budget," Welch said.
To make a budget successful and easier to follow, certain precautions can be taken.
"Be sure to budget in a bit of a slush category, if at all possible," Welch said. "So few are able to deal with unexpected costs, or even spur-of-the-moment purchases. Also, one should realize that surpluses one month may be offset with deficits another month. Also, building up an emergency fund is also a key item."
BUDGET TIPS
- Start tracking monthly expenses
- Place expenses into categories
— Make a budget and stick to it
Try to build an emergency fund
Know where your money is going
Having a budget doesn't mean there is
no money for having fun. It just means that the amount spent on it is accounted for and tracked.
"Chooing tradeoffs carefully helps each of us gain control of our personal finances."
"I do recommend for all students to set a budget by calculating about how much you have to spend every month and put the rest into savings, but also allow yourself to
KELLY WELCH Professor of business
go out and have fun every once in a while," Knight said.
Having a budget can be beneficial. It is less a restriction than a way to prioritize and control where money is being spent.
"A budget allows one to identify where the cash flow sources are, where the cash outflows go and, most
importantly of all, how to prioritize the expenses," Welch said. "Choosing tradeoffs carefully helps each of us gain control of our personal finances."
Not setting a budget, or just not knowing where money is going can have serious repercussions.
Not having a budget isn't going to always translate into these problems, but for some students it can be very helpful in fighting against financial problems.
"Failing to budget can often result in excessively large additional expenses, which on a personal finance level include high credit card interest, lots of bank fees for insufficient funds and frequent transactions and problems with collection agencies," Welch said.
"Budgeting can be a tedious exercise, but it provides extraordinary insights, and helps individuals prioritize," Welch said.
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The KU Bookstore recognizes that some professors and publishing companies are pushing for ebook usage and are trying to do their best to keep up. Kyle Whitley is a supervisor in the textbooks department and said the store is adjusting to the transition to digital.
Hertz has designated parking spots in lots 16 and 12 on campus for its rental cars. Students, staff and faculty can rent a car for $8 per hour. Cars can be rented for as little as 15 minutes or as long as a day.
"Mostly what we are doing is providing anything the instructor adopts and working with the publisher to get that in the store," Whitley said. "We have less control over what it is — a book versus an ebook — that is all dependent on the instructor who adopts it. What we are doing is trying our best to get that product in the store at a competitive price."
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
- Edited by Amanda Gage
partment now offers a solution for students without cars like Reames. Last month, it introduced a car sharing program that allows cars to be rented for a minimum of 15 minutes or as long as a day.
Students had been requesting the program for years, said Margretta de Vries, administrative specialist for the department.
Interested drivers register for the Hertz
on demand program on the company's website and must provide credit card information for future rental use, although registering
De Vries said the car sharing program would be helpful to students, staff and faculty who struggle to arrange rides for appointments or errands and might
CLASSIFIEDS 9
CROSSWORD 4
ignited spaces when drivers are done.
IAVON SCHAKELFORD junior from Salina
Index
come as a relief for prospective students as well.
"There are a lot of students who come from far away and only bring a car because they don't think they'll be able
CRYPTOQUIPS 4
OPINION 5
SPORTS 10
SUDOKU 4
to get to anything," said de Vries. Since the program started, 126 people have signed up for membership. In February, the cars
Javon Shackelford, a junior from Salina, was interested to hear that the program would be coming to the University right around the time he would need to start applying for internships.
have been driven for 129 hours. The department goal is for the cars to be driven around 200 hours per month, de Vries said.
He tries to use the cars strategically, renting them on weekdays when the prices are lower than the standard $8 per hour. Schakelford also evaluates whether or not he really needs the car to go somewhere or if
"I use it to go to interviews in Kansas City, which has been really helpful." Shackelford said.
"If you're not careful, you can definitely drive yourself into the poor house," Schakelford said.
driving would simply be easier than walking since the rental fees can add up quickly.
Edited by Bre Roach
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
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Today's Weather
Brazilian Week is going on now. Brazilian movie night is tonight at Ellsworth at 7 p.m.
Mostly sunny with west-
ery winds at 10-15 mph,
gusting up to 20 mph.
Hi: 55
L0: 37
'Sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away
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