What are you doing after college? Do you have a job lined up? Are you going to live at home for the summer? Are you ready for your loan debt to kick in?

 

If you are like me, you’ve heard some of these questions over the past year, and especially this semester.

 

May 7, the day we’ve been working towards for years, is right around the corner. Soon, we will be college graduates. That feels a little crazy to me!

 

Yet, with the excitement of entering the next stage of our lives, there are also many new financial responsibilities. Which sounds super fun, right?

 

I recently conducted a short survey among our senior class, to see where a majority of us may soon find ourselves financially. Out of the 162 of us graduating next month, 89 completed the survey.

 

Some highlights of the survey results are as follows:

• 31 percent of surveyed seniors will be graduating with more than $20,000 in college debt.

• 58 percent of those seniors will begin paying off their debt by the six-month grace period.

• Of the other 42 percent (37 responses), 22 students plan to attend a graduate school and 15 will graduate debt free.

• 80 percent of the surveyed seniors plan to begin paying housing fees after graduating.

• About half (51 percent) of surveyed seniors have a full-time job waiting for them after graduation, but 19 percent will graduate without having any job lined up.

 

For more specific percentages, view the survey results at the end of the article or to the left.

 

No matter which of these specific situations you may be in, we are all about to embark upon a similar financial journey into the “real world,” as many might call it.

 

In light of this, I reached out to the Instructor of Business Administration, Heather Vaccaro. As Vaccaro also teaches the personal finance course, I asked her for financial tips. Here is what she offered:

 

10 Tips for Post-Graduate Financial Success

1. Develop personal and financial goals.

   • The more you define and refine your goals, the easier it should be to establish a plan for achievement.

2. Create a budget and stick to it.

   • There are plenty of online tools out there (MINT, Level Money) to help you with budgeting in a way that you can carry with you. “If you find you continually overspend each month, you should revisit your budget and make adjustments,” Vaccaro says.

3. Do your research.

   • When it comes to buying a car, shopping for insurance, investing in your future, and doing other things financial -- always do your research. Make sure you are acquiring information from reputable resources to make informed decisions.

4. Start building credit.

   • Do this little by little. An easy way to build credit is to pay off student loans on time. You do not have to use a credit card to build credit.

5. Invest in retirement immediately.

   • The beauty of compound interest is on your side the earlier you start to invest. Most employers offer programs that take contributions from your paycheck and invest it automatically into a retirement account.

6. Make the most of your grace period.

   • If you have student loans, you have a grace period of six months after graduation before you must start paying them back. Take this time to research approximately how much your monthly payments will be and start building that into your budget.

7. Get a roommate.

   • Find someone you can share life and expenses with. This will take some of the financial load off you, especially as you are starting out.

8. Get renter’s insurance.

   • This is a relatively inexpensive way to insure your personal property against theft and damage. Your landlord should have insurance but it will  cover only the building, not your personal belongings.

9. Create a slush fund.

   • Life is meant to be lived, not just survived. Make sure to work into your budget some money for fun.

10. Live within your means.

    • Know your limitations, personally and financially. Do not compare your situation to your neighbor (or your parents). It is going to take time to build financial stability.

 

I hope that these tips can help make this new journey a little less stressful for us all and allow us to focus on enjoying the present moment.

 

To my fellow seniors: Whatever you may do, or wherever you may go, may your life’s journey be met with  financial peace and may all your hard work pay off.