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For students living away from home expenses add up quickly |
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Thursday, 15 April 2010 |
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By SARAH PENTZ
Staff Writer
Being a student is a day-to-day challenge especially, if it's the first time away from home. No curfews and no parents looking over your shoulder is every teenager's dream come true. The feeling of freedom is grasped tightly by first-years in college leaving them with holes burned in their pockets.
Students often forget being away from home means more responsibilities,
more things to pay for which lead to more money slipping through their
fingers. Coming up with a game plan on where to spend money is a great
idea for students.
Affording a post-secondary education means
planning early. The first step to planning for your financial needs is
determining the cost of a post-secondary education. The Niagara College
website lists some expenses you will encounter throughout the year.
Tuition is listed as $3,000, rent is $4,000 and pocket money is listed
at $700. (See accompanying fact box for more information.)
If a
student were to work the entire 20 weeks of summer at 40 hours a week at
$10 per hour, that student would make $8,000 before taxes and
deductions. Sadly, this still isn't enough to cover the necessities.
Morgan Brown, 20, of Chatham, Ont., is a second-year student at Brock
University. She says she's had a lot of trouble financially since she
started university.
"I'm not an OSAP student; therefore, I don't get
money from the government each semester," says Brown.
Luckily
there are also other options for students other than applying for the
Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) or relying on parents for
financial needs. These options include getting a student line of credit
from your bank, talking to the Student Accounts department in the
college about payment plans or working part-time throughout the school
year.
Brown says she's fortunate because her father co-signed a
student line of credit.
"Even though I have a line of credit, I still
feel like I'm struggling to pay rent every month and supply for
groceries. Trying to balance money is hard when you're credited only so
much money for the year, at one time only, and that's all you have.
After that it's done, but the student line of credit is a great idea for
students, considering the low interest rates," says Brown.
Going
to your bank to request a student line of credit is a great idea.
According to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), its Royal Credit Line for
students has one of the lowest interest rates offered.
Applying is
easy; all you need is confirmation that you are enrolled at a Canadian
post-secondary school, an estimate of your education costs (tuition,
supplies, fees, accommodations, food, etc.) and a list of your financial
resources (savings, bursaries, summer employment, etc.). For more
information on the Royal Credit Line for students from RBC visit:
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/personalloans/rcl_for_students.html.
Having a part-time job throughout the school year is probably not a
typical idea of the "college life," but you have to do everything you
can in order to not break the bank. If finding a job is too much of a
struggle, Niagara College has a last resort for students.
Lynn
McCarthy, of the Student Accounts department in Niagara College, says
the college has a Personal Payment Plan Agreement available.
"We
don't advertise this as a way of paying tuition, but it's a last resort
for students if they aren't eligible for OSAP or cannot get a line of
credit through the bank," says McCarthy.
The Personal Payment Plan
requires pre-authorized debit transactions on a bi-term schedule with
the payments due on the 15th day of each month. McCarthy says a student
who is on the Personal Payment Plan has to be reliable and responsible
for making payments on time.
For more information on other sources of
support for students, visit
http://www.niagaracollege.ca/finaid/other_scholarship_support.htm.
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