Weekly Feature

Hey my fellow readers, here is Thursday's deals for college students who are low on dough. There are ways that us financially challenged students can get more bang for our buck. Here are 5 ways to save: 1. Reduce the amount of times you eat out and try to stay home and make a meal. Usually you can buy more food with the money you would spend out at restaurants and the food will last for days. 2. Walking instead of driving saves on gas and money. If you're headed to a place that isn't too far, try to use what you got. Your legs 3. Buy off brand items. Most times buying items with a name brand has a fee, but those good 'ol off brands are cheaper and may be just as good. 4. Save bottles and cans for cashing in. Cashing in recyclables is helps saves the environment and you can save the green you get from it. 5. Get a cheaper cell phone plan. You don't need a huge amount of data. Find out what you need, and then let go of the rest. I hope these tips find you all well. Let me know if any of you use one of these tips or all and how it went? See you all in the pages.

How to focus better for finals

With finals coming up we are all either getting stressed out with the massive amount of work to finish OR feeling like we should just not go to school anymore. Either way, we need focus to help finish off our last couple days left. Mycollegeandcareers.com lists a couple ways to help you focus. Some of the ways are to find a quiet place to study, turn off your cell phones and block distracting sites from your computer, get a tutor and reward yourself after you finish an assignment. All of these are listed on the website along with others to help! Here is a video that gives a couple other tips of how to focus better while studying.

Poor College Students And Their Poor Eating Habits

          Every one has heard that saying, "I'm a poor college student," well this statement shouldn't be taken lightly. Students, nowadays, are poor. Tuition hikes have caused students to resort to horrible eating habits. One food that remains the poster child-food for college students is Ramen Noodles. This food, high in sodium, but low in cost, is the staple nourishment many students depend on. Especially for on campus students. Costing .99 cents a package, this affordable meal has become so common that an array of recipes have been created by other students. On the web site, Daily Emerald, an article titled Ramen Noodles:Creative Recipes for the College Student's Best Friend, offers diverse mixes to liven up the otherwise boring noodles.
          In keeping with the cheaper food for college students topic, another article titled, Saving Cash In College gives helpful tips to the student who is light-in-pocket. Tips such as buying generic foods or eating fast food to save money are explained further. Although, many of the options listed in money savers aren't always the best ways to go nutritionally, they still promote cheaper living. And to a college student, nothing is better than a good deal of good deals.

Textbooks Too Expensive to Purchase

          College students are told on the first day of school to purchase textbooks. Some classes have multiple textbooks that are required of students and say that having them is integral for their success in the class. In spite of the initial promptings, less and less students are shelling out the dough for them. An article done by Edward Nawotka titled Are College Students Buying Required Textbooks? 75% In US Say No talks about this in detail. One statistic that is listed in the article is that 75% of US students don't buy textbooks. I can definitely see the truth in that number. As a student, I try my absolute best not to purchase books or if I have to I will rent them on Chegg.com or buy the old editions off Amazon.com.
          Every quarter I begin with the mindset that "I probably won't need a book," and then see how things go without one. I don't really need to explain why I choose not to buy textbooks because it is obvious. Tuition costs are crazy. I like to wait things out. Sometimes I even barrow another student's book if I desparately need some information. What I have gathered from the many years I have attended CSUSB, is that buying books are a waste of money. If you go to class and are a good note taker, then earning that A won't be hard. Books don't guarantee good grades. If anything they are unecessary and are just another way to gouge money out of students. It's not right. It is upsetting to think that these book publishers redo a few chapters in a book and then charge more. Students are hip to this and have found ways around paying for brand new books, that they will only use for a quarter.
          I was in class with a student who gladly announced that he had never bought a textbook. He was close to graduating and said he got amazing grades and had been very successful in his dealings. He claimed that he had never needed a textbook and thought they were a waste of money.
          It truly makes you wonder. How can a student survive without the one thing instructors force down your throat every class? It is very possible to make it without buying textbooks. There are many ways around this routine as listed above. If worse comes to worse, you can buy the book and then resale it to another student who will take that exact course with the exact instructor and hope they'll be using your book.

Where is our money going??

Classes at four year universities are becoming more expensive and scarcer. I started out as a transfer student from a local community college to commute to a California State University. The community college I attended was Riverside Community College, there I had no problem getting the classes I needed AND I was able to pay for my classes, parking, and books without breaking my bank. When I transferred to California State University of San Bernardino my luck changed. My first quarter was alright and same with my second, but my third quarter was not the case! My third quarter I had the toughest time enrolling in classes I needed and fit my schedule. There is the argument where maybe I need fewer classes, therefore it is going to be harder to fit it in a two day schedule; I see that as being partially true. The argument that I think validates this case more is the fact that classes are being cut. Chancellor from University California, Riverside said in an article from NY times “I’d be lying if I said what we offer students hasn’t been changed and that there hasn’t been a degradation of the learning environment”. This should make my peers angry with concern of where our money goes. If our money was going towards our education, making it the best it can be by promoting the professors or congratulating them with rewards, new books or parking structures, then I’m sure the students will be more accepting to the increase of tuition. But when there is an increase with tuition and an increase of classes being cut is when students need to have a voice protesting against the way the administrators are spending our money.

weekly feature

Since college student's pockets usually aren't very deep, here are some websites that are FREE to sign up but have GREAT deals to purchase. Groupon and Livingsocial have specials available for local businesses around you! Have fun and save at the same time!!

No Jobs For College Graduates

          The reason every student attends college is to land a great job in the career of their choice. The large amounts of money spent on books, racked up loans, late nights spent studying, will all be worth it once the student receives their degree, which in turn will get them that awesome job they've always dreamt about. Although, this is the fantasy for many students, waiting for the pay back might have to be added to the list. Jobs have become more and more scarcer since the economy took a hit. This has forced graduates to take jobs that are lower level such as bartending or waitressing, to provide them with enough means to live until they land a job in the career of their choosing. The article In Weak Job Market, One In Two College Graduates Are Jobless Or Underemployed goes more in depth about this phenomenon.
          Achieving the "American Dream" is the goal students work for, but as the years go by, that concept becomes more like a mirage. The article Half of Recent College Graduates Lack Full Time Job Study Says  talks about students having a hard time finding full time work, let alone a job that allows them the chance to utilize their degree. A graduate from Cal State Fullerton talks of her embarrassment dealing with the reality of having a degree and working at a bank. The article also goes more in depth about the statistics of graduates and jobs. Check out these articles. Hopefully they will be interesting to you all.

How do they sleep at night?

The Cal State system is at its absolute worst. With tuition rates raising each quarter, semester, and year students are forced to make some tough decisions. They either have to drop out or take out more student loans than they can afford. The most unfortunate part of it all is that Cal state administrators are making a “cushy” six figure salary. To be honest the pay isn’t what really upsets me it’s all of the little extras they are getting on top of a very generous income. According to an article published in the Orange County Register the new president of Cal State Fullerton will receive, on top of her $324,500 a year annual salary, an auto allowance of $12,000. Another Cal State President will receive a $303,660 annual salary with a $60,000 housing allowance and a $12,000 auto allowance.

Something doesn’t seem right here… With the newly proposed tax cuts, Cal State students are being told that tuition is being raised, class sizes will get larger, and classes will be cut. For someone to be so dedicated on helping students further their education and strive to make their goals a reality they sure don’t mind making it financially impossible for us to do so. Seriously, how do they sleep at night? "While we understand the administration has limited options, higher education is the state's main economic driver, and we cannot improve our economy without an educated workforce," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. on calstate.edu. Excuse me Chancellor but you won’t have an educated workforce if you keep raising tuition and keep approving salary increases for Cal State Presidents. Maybe instead of asking the students to pay more, ask the administrators to give up their housing allowances or car allowances, or maybe, just maybe, NOT take a salary increase but do the right thing and say instead of taking my 10% increase I am going to put the money back into the school and keep more professors. Ranting aside, I am proud to be a Cal State student I just wish they would trim the so called “fat” from the top then squeeze it from the bottom.  

 

Keep on Pushing on

                Higher education is slipping out of our hands as fast as it is taking our money.  With rising tuition we have bigger class sizes, fewer course options and less full time teachers… Welcome to the real world, where everything does not make sense. It would make sense if the outcome of raised tuition was smaller class sizes and more classes to choose from, but that is not the case. It is discouraging to hear about class availability becoming slimmer and slimmer. An interesting article from Foxbusiness.com discusses the implications of raising tuition in California. The article is informative to help see how it will affect the students, the schools and California.

              As a student who would like to enter in the field of teaching higher education, I find this news to be discouraging. We work our butts off and strive to be the best students we can, in order to graduate in (timely matter) and then land our dream job (or at least something close to it). I am sure I am not the only one who is discouraged about the rise of tuition. Hereis a link that will help jive some ideas of how to stay motivated to graduate and keep on pushing towards that dream career. The five tips they discuss are good starting points if you’re really feeling down.  

CSUSB's Outrageous Payment Plan

          Hello my fellow readers today I would like to talk about the so called, "payment plan" CSUSB offers and how horrible it is. Also how it could be improved. Cal State's payment plan is as follows, you have to pay a third of your tuition, and then you have a whole month to pay the rest. Wow! What a thoughtful, and considerate offer. Not really. I do think that a payment plan option is a good idea. Many students rather pay with their own money opposed to using student loans. Other students don't have a choice, but to use their own hard earned cash, due to not qualifying for financial aid or loans. Their only option would be to pay in full or to utilize the payment plan. My problem with it is the short window they offer students to pay. ONE MONTH! How preposterous! Maybe that length of time was reasonable ten years ago, but with the sky rocketing tuition, the time allotted needs to be extended. Ten years ago, tuition cost less than $1200 a quarter. I definitely think paying $400 initially then having a month to pay the rest was a fitting plan for the way things were, but with the major financial changes, our school payment plan should have changed too. It's no wonder we have so many students dropping out of college. Check out this article written in 2008 describing the climbing drop out rate for college students then, High Tuition Costs Force Students to Dropout. Here is another article written by a student, telling of the last resort of dropping out that more and more students are having to take, High College Tuition Increasing Dropout Rate. I understand that universities are being ran, now more than ever, like businesses rather than institutions who pride their selves on making higher education reachable for most. Because of that, we can expect things to be done based off the premise, are we making money and not based off of how understanding are we being to the students struggling to pay tuition.
          I have a friend who did not want to receive student loans and couldn't receive grants, so she decided to pay cash for her tuition. I remember her every quarter,stressing out to make her payment in such a short time. She told me once, " They want me to pay it in a month, but I don't even make enough in a month to pay them in a month." Obviously there was and still is a glitch in this "payment plan". Sadly  to say, my friend dropped out due to tuition and her lack of money.
          If I had it my way, the payment plan would go as follows: students will be expected to pay a third of tuition a week before that quarter begins and then they will receive the rest of the quarter to pay off their balance. If the student does not comply by the deadline, then a hold will be placed on their account until payment is made. To me that is more reasonable for the state our school's economy.

Students and Faculty Protesting Cuts

          Students and faculty have been largely affected by budget cuts in the last decade and have made it clear they aren't happy about it. Protesting seems to be the route most students are taking. This tactic may not put things back the way they were, but it gives a voice to the silent.
          At Santa Monica Community College, on April 4th of this year, students raised hell, protesting the huge cuts this year. The students who are already low on cash, feared their future in school. You can check out the rest of the article to get the full story  on, Hikes Caused by Budget Cuts.
          Another example of students protesting is the March on March. This is an annual protest against budget cuts, that students and faculty attend.It is held at the California State Capitol. This year the protest held 10,000 people. Some students made a commitment since the budget cuts began, to go to every protest march. For the extended article check out College Students Protest Cuts to Higher Education.
          Protesting allows for the unheard to be heard. Students and faculty alike choose to use the First Amendment to its advantages. Freedom of speech may be the tool students and faculty need to persuade the powers that be.

"Broke as a Joke"

                I’d like to dedicate this post to the picture “Broke as a Joke”. As a college student I am able to completely relate to this shirt. On freemoneywisdom.com they discuss some ideas to help college students save money. One of the tips they gave was to cut expenses, such as going out to eat, use of transportation and entertainment. For commuters this would be a more difficult task. Having to take the bus from city to city would be worthwhile financially, but it would waste a lot of time as well. Cutting out entertainment? That is was easier said than done. There are ways to have inexpensive entertainment, such as buying a board game and having your friends come over, or getting a redbox movie (just don’t forget to return it). Being a full time student is rough, you deserve to enjoy yourself, the trick is to plan it out and be smart with it.      

             Another tip discussed was to stay busy. The idea here is that the busier we are the less likely we are to spend money. The article suggests doing homework and studying, which makes sense because it is school that is making us broke. But sometimes you need  a break from studying and school. This is where buying a board game or deck of cards can come in handy help with this freetime.

            Freemoneywisdom.com had some great ideas, some you may like to adopt or tweak a little but they can definitely help with any financial struggle you may have while in college.

Anything But A Visa Credit Card: An Argument Against the Lack of Common Payment Forms

          For most students, paying for tuition is a stressful process. The idea of loads of money, that took them long hours to make, being sucked out of their account as if it was never there can be disheartening. Students who don't have the luxury of mom and dad paying their way, do not take financing their education lightly; especially when the payment options are limited. At CSUSB, the payment options are, to me, unpractical. The Bursars office accepts payments in the form of cash, visa debit and/or credit card. The credit cards they accept are Master Card, American Express and Discover. They accept Visa debit cards, but not Visa Credit cards.
         Compared to American Express and Master Card, Visa Credit cards are way more common.(Check out this link on most used credit card statistics.) Knowing this concept, why wouldn't CSUSB, modify their payment options to enable students to pay for tuition with what they have? If the board would take into consideration the socioeconomic status of the majority of its students, then they would see the need for a Visa Credit card option. Most students can barely afford paying their high tuition, let alone a bill from American Express that expects you to pay all  moneys used, in full. This complete inconsideration for students is more relevant now than ever. I have experienced this horrible payment system and have almost exploded due to not having the appropriate payment form required.
          Just this year, I had to pay my tuition. I waited in line at the Bursar's office and when finally making it up to the window, I was informed I had the wrong payment form. I thought, like other students have thought, that my common Visa credit card would no doubt be accepted. Not at all. They said they only took Visa debit cards. Already fuming from the shocking increase in tuition and now on the verge of a meltdown, I had to leave Cal State and go to my bank to have them take money out of my credit card. This inconvenient, inconsiderate, event happens every quarter. I am appalled that this has been going on for so long. We need consideration from the board and we need it now. It's very sad that the simplest ways to help improve student satisfaction in the midst of so much dissatisfaction, are being avoided.