(bls.gov)
The approach of graduation can be the most stressful time in a student’s college career. It’s when most seniors will be searching for a full-time job, trying to finish classes without giving in to senioritis and figuring how to take on full financial responsibility soon after they are handed a diploma.
“I’m really scared about graduating because I just don’t have a job in place yet,” said Brittany Sweeney, a senior business major at SMU. “The thought of living on my own and supporting myself makes me uneasy.”
Many college students find the thought of graduation daunting but students who save and budget their money can lower their financial stress level and enter the working world feeling ready for the next stage of life.
“Students need to start looking at their money in terms of yearly budgets with rollover from each month. Recent graduates shouldn’t even keep more than $100 in their debit accounts, they should always invest it,” said Dan Le, a consultant for Deloitte Consulting.
Matthew Lawrence, a recent SMU business graduate, tells students to watch their spending after graduation.
“Young graduates should not make any big purchases after college. They should save their money as much as they can by packing lunches more than they go out to eat, living at home and saving money on rent and starting to put money away into your retirement fund,” he said in a recent email interview.
Students who are staying in Texas after graduation do have some advantages over students who choose to leave for the east or west coasts. Texas is one of the most affordable states to live in, with no income tax, lower housing costs than the coasts and the 20th- lowest unemployment rate in the country.
Students can take steps to make the transition to handling their own finances easier by breaking down their budget into necessities and auxiliary expenses.
“Thinking of your money on an annualized basis and dividing it by how much you make in total will help students to see how expensive everything actually is in percentages and it will allow them to cut out extra expenses,” said Le.
Sweeney, who will stay in Dallas to work, already plans to cut out unnecessary costs after graduation.
“I will definitely eat in more, wait until movies come out on DVD, do more window shopping than actual shopping, and do my nails at home. I feel like I’ll have to do more things that don’t have a price tag,” she said.
The first step for students is to get a full-time job. Lisa Tran, assistant director for SMU Hegi Family Career Development Center, says students need to think about what the right job might be.
“When searching for a job, you must rank what is most important to you in industry, function, location, and fit,” she said.
Though Lawrence said that he took months to feel comfortable in his first job, he isn’t missing his college years too much.
“After my work started picking up, I really started to like life outside of college. I now feel that I like ‘post-grad’ life better than college life. It’s a more routine life, you get paid and you don’t have to sit through boring classes anymore,” he said, who now works in Houston in finance.
Nicolle Keogh, a 2011 SMU graduate, advises students to look forward to this time of transition.
“Save up, get out of your comfort zone, and enjoy being financially independent,” she said.
