Top Money Moves for College Students

Introduction

Welcome back to another episode of Black Girl fly. I'm your girl Tanisha calm. And I'm Shana Dixon.

And we are continuing conversations about money moves through the decades. And so let's talk about college. Oh, big one big one big one. I made any mistakes in college?

College Tuition and Tips

I was gonna say I mean, I mean, there's so much I think you have to kind of understand our like backgrounds. Like for me, me going to college was a huge financial choice. Like, I don't know if I've ever told you guys this. But I was all set from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was all set to go to the University of Minnesota. So much, so I only applied to two schools. And I got in I think I got an early to U of M. So I was like, whatever it doesn't, if it doesn't work out, I'm just gonna come with you. And so it wasn't until I got an interview of him. I didn't get in my second option. Yeah, just Bellman I didn't get in. But so I didn't get in and out. Just all said, I was like, I'm gonna go. And my uncle was like, you're going to college next year. Right? Okay, I'm just gonna go to University Minnesota. And he he experienced the south. And he was like Shonda, you got to come out and check out the south. And I was like, Well, you know, a trip. Let's go. I was into it with my mom at the time. I was like, Okay. And so we went to the south, and we went to a bunch of different schools, like we drove the South, like, we went all the way we went, I think we went as far as Tennessee. And then we went, like three different schools in Tennessee. We went Mississippi, we went to Louisiana. We went to I don't think we went to Texas. But we went like all the Alabama we went to like all the southern states, and at the time, he was in Mississippi, Mississippi. And so the first thing that shocked me was the price difference.

Wow. University, even in state

girl, the University of Minnesota in state i think was like 40 something 1000 at the time. Wow. And these schools was like, Oh, it's 30,000. Protestant. And I was like, Oh, yeah. And then they had all kinds of waivers. Like, like, so I didn't have to pay out of state. Yeah, so that was a big deal. For me. Like, for me, I was thinking I gotta get in school. And you were behind me in school. I was like, at, I think you're like five years younger than me. So I was like, I got enough time to get in, get a degree and get out and graduate and get a job. So I can help my sister go to college. Like that was my whole thing. I was like, this cheap University. And when I found out they were cheaper, I was like, Don't not doing that. And I literally, that was a huge factor in choosing the school to go to.

That's funny. I on the price. What? Like, I didn't even look at the price. I mean, when I talked to adults, they were like, Well, what about the scholarship options? And I was like, okay, whatever. Look at that paperwork like I did. Yeah, I did not understand at the time that the college that I chose to go to was actually the most expensive. It was. Yeah, I think it was top top three, it was number one. My year, it was number one. And she didn't say in the state in the region. She said in the country, she went to the expense of the entire country. And, you know, my entire college choice was based on a feeling Wow. But, but I had one I mean, I applied to University of Minnesota also. And I was kind of going to go there. I never visited actually, I don't think I ever visited that story. But there were like, two there were two colleges that were seriously considering one of which was Spelman in. One was Duke. The other one was do cuz I love their basketball team.

You don't even play basketball.

I don't. But I love to watch when I was in high school. And it didn't even matter like if they had my major so going into that when I went to school, to me, that's important. I was an education major. And so I was like yeah, teachers whatever. so I actually I wanted to be a chemical engineer. None of the schools that I was actually looking at had that program.

Okay, first lesson guys don't do consider financial implications of college. Like there's a wide range and I do have to tell you though, looking back on it, I have people from all different colleges, because we don't care. More importantly, it's that you got into your career field, that and even even looking at like recent grads, I want to look at someone who did internships, I want to look at someone who got involved in their major in college. I'm not really concerned about there's some trade off. So I'm gonna lie depends on your industry. But I would highly recommend people in hindsight is 2020. But if I were to do it again, I would have gone to community college hands down for the first years, hands down, that would have been the path for me, because I didn't even know what I wanted to do. And so I think having that opportunity, so explore would have been, I get that I've heard a lot of people say that I know that it's super cheap. I wouldn't have done that by even knowing what I know today. Like, schools. Yes, they've increased the time I was there. But my school was pretty reasonable considering like, if if you could have made it through college at my school with no student loan with no debt, yes, like, because there are scholarship options you could apply to you're blue in the face you and you can get like $500 here, $1,000 here. But I'm just saying like, you can do that. And then this myth about you not having to work while you're in college? Who says that?

Yes. So there are a lot of things you can do to reduce the cost. Yeah.

And then to so like me being an out of state student, I, so let me tell you what I did. So when I first got there, I qualified just off the basis of my LSAT score, and like whatever for them to waive my out of state fees. And guys, if you're like for a lot of colleges, if you're minority, if you are from English, in some states, there's so few out of state students that they are trying to get people from different places to come. So they're willing to work with you to wait. Yes, ask the question. Questions. Yes. And so like, I honestly so became keepin it real. I qualified when I came in for academic scholarship to waive my est B's. At some point in my college career. I dipped below, GPA. But then I was talking to people, I was like, hey, what can I do? Yeah. And they gave me a work study that allowed me to continue to waive my essay fees. Yes, I was like volunteering at a study hall. So all I did was do homework. To study is the truth. Yeah. And they still waive my out of state fees, and good. And quite frankly, I think that a lot of people don't realize it, but because you don't know like, Guys, I hate to break it to you, especially these first generation parents, but your kids are kicking it on financial aid,

I tell people to go to college, because this is the best time of your life, you're not gonna have no real responsibilities. No one's expecting anything of you. So have as much fun as you can just pass, that's all you got to do is pass.

So I agree with that. But I don't think that that is reason enough to walk out of college with a lot of data on it. But I think you gave a lot of concrete tips that people can consider. So when we think about out of state and state, does that only apply to public universities? I don't think so. No. Okay. So cuz I don't think we had that as an option at my school. But that's definitely something to consider. In state usually gets a lesser fee. When you're talking about work study, I did that. And then talking to people, one crazy thing happened almost had to like leave school junior year, I had a lot of scholarships coming in. But they lower you in those first two years with these plentiful scholarships, and then all of a sudden, Junior year they disappear. And so I almost had to leave because I couldn't afford it. And I couldn't get enough loans to cover the balance. But I went to our multicultural center. And I basically talked to the director, I was like, Yo, like, I'm not gonna have to leave because I can't pay for this. Like, I can't get a loan. Next day, student aid or financial aid communist like, oh, yeah, we found some money. Here you go. So apparently, he talked to somebody they may know.

You know, by the way, I went through a similar thing with a friend. They have money, they have money. And if you ask, I had a friend sound happens, actually one of my good friends, her good friend, we weren't that close. But it was like a friend of a friend. She worked in financial aid office and she'd be like, do you know we have money but nobody asked? Yes. Like we have money sitting there that is designated for people. And no one comes in and asks, but you have to ask nothing to ask for it. And another thing I did was I took summer classes at other cheaper divers to save so much. And so that was twofold for me. Like one is actually in your school. Typically summer classes are cheaper. Yeah, by the way, then taking on additional credit hours and then the the fall spring seasons because they're trying to entice you to go right so that's one thing Yeah, too. It can decrease the amount of time that You have to put in your degree. So yes, so this summer off, but it is a lot better for you to be in school for three years versus four, from a perspective of you miss an income exactly right, exactly. The earlier you can get in the workforce, start getting a salary and all that will pay dividends. And so somebody else did, too. You could do AP classes while you're in in high school in high school. I didn't. So I did, but I didn't take it serious. I don't pass. You pass the test. Yes, very important.

So those credits, so I had people I had friends who went into college who had like he had five classes down because they did AP courses. And in public school, by the way, AP courses are free. They even do joint programs, like in different cities, they do joint programs with community colleges, for you to take classes while you're in high school enrollment.

Yes.

Why didn't anybody tell me? Oh, my mama did. Right. And our parents did not die, right? What else did I do? So I did that but and also in summer. So if you can go to a different university, you can take a really hardcore, that's what I did. I took calc three in the summer, because I knew at my school, it was so hard and like the fail rate was so high. So I took it at University of Texas, one of their campuses. And it was so easy. And it was much shorter. And like, I just got the credit, and I moved and it was super cheap. Like so there's just so many benefits to doing that. But I think I was really the only one taking summer classes that are all my friends.

Yeah, me too. I'm like, Well, no. So after I did it, one of my friends I told my friends because it was well even I did it at my university one year. Yeah, took summer classes. And I told my friends and they were like, Oh, do you can do that. Like we like? Yeah, I felt like it was community of first generation college students that we just didn't know.

Yeah, like most people just go home. Yeah, summer. Yeah. Because that's what you think you're supposed to do. Yeah, right. And so there's so many things that you can do. Everybody talks about how colleges, and I do want, it can be expensive. But these are ton of hacks that you can do to make it better for you.

And even one year, my summer classes, I got a grant to take classes at my college from the Multicultural Center, because they want you to finish early. They don't want you to get behind yet, like because

So did you know this though? So colleges have to have a certain success rate of people who attend their school to people who graduate? Yeah. So there is a correlation to your success that your university wants you to have.

So mail them for all they got.

Yeah, yeah, there's really so much that you can do. But it's all I think about asking the questions. Yeah. And looking for opportunities. There were so wait. So there's two more things I want to talk about? Because I'm one one that I want to know, while you're there right now. Yeah. So we both went to pw eyes predominantly white institution? Yes. And I think there were some additional advantages that we could take into consideration. Because just like the university needs to be successful, because you are successful, particularly for students of color, people are looking at their metrics. And so they have to create these programs, you know, so I think I didn't go ever go to a, you know, like on PBIS, or HBCUs. I didn't go to those. So I'm not sure what advantages they have. But like PWI, specifically, have some some advantages for people of color that you want to ask about if you're on campus.

Major vs. Salary

No, that's good. That's a good point. There's just there's tons of opportunity there, though, guys, I just don't take it at face value that they gave you this thing that says that this how much you got to come up with? Yeah, that's not always the case. Everything's in negotiation. But I wanted to talk about and I think this is super important while you're in college, is you have to look at how much you can earn for the degree that you're getting, which I also did not do.

Well, so I told you, I went into college thinking I had to be prepared to help you out. Not that I did. But then I was like, Oh, look, she added she she she made it in a really a period. So me having it that no it was the Heiko had no clue.

No clue at all. But that's what I was worried about. But but so like, Guys, none of my friends did. So I was one of those weird people. Like literally, I went to the Career Center. And this is how I changed my matrix. Let me tell you the story because it's interesting, I think. So I told you guys, I went to school thinking I was gonna be education major. And in my first year, I was literally I was mapping out credits. Like I was like, okay, these credits go to this. I had somebody Oh, that's another thing. I had so many friends that wasted so many credit hours, like switching majors doing this and all that stuff. And so they ended up like I had a friend who ended up doing like a whole extra year, just because the credits that they were going for didn't apply to their major. They didn't check Yeah, so anyway, so I was in their math and stuff. So my first year, I went to the Career Center, and they were like, Oh, the average school teacher come out of college makes $37,000.

I was like, 37.

And no. And so mind you in, in when I was in high school, I had a job. And I think that job would pay me like 15 bucks an hour. So I was like, Wait a minute. So I did four years of college. And I was before I went to college and spent all this money I was 15 times 40 times 52. I was making 30,000. To tell me I did all this to make 37 that don't seem like a good idea. So I want to tell you what I did happen my career. So I was like, okay, teacher down here. Let's go all the way up to order by salary. I am dead serious. I kid you not. I'm in a in a book, like, okay, so it's set. Number one was engineer. Engineers came out making 70,000 I think at the time, I was like, engineering seemed a little. And I'm real bad inside. What's next? You said accounting? I was like, I can do accounting. So no, I'm not joking. The next day, I went to the career. Office, I changed my major to accounting. Yes, I did two, two semesters. Oh, county, B. And I made it I had to take a calculus class. I couldn't. It was really hard math class. I couldn't. I like this seems real hard. Let's go back to the Career Center. I'm not joking. Guys. I went back to curriculum. Number three, finance. Finance needs this calculus class. No, I can't do that. And that is literally, I kept my accounting major until I couldn't pass the book. I can't even what math it was weird math, it no longer had numbers. And I was like, I can do the next one. And they don't require this class. And that is what I graduated in. Wow. And I didn't wait one credit the whole time. I was like, okay, so an education, all these require for all majors. Let me take all these first. Accounting, I was like, Oh, let me take these. And being when I realized that the calculus wasn't my friend. I was like, and I seriously, I built my plan of how I would take classes based on making sure they would all fit in if you needed to change. Yes. My my friends, like what are you know, but we made it our senior year, we started looking for jobs. And I do have to tell you, I had a friend who got a undergrad degree in psychology. She worked in mortgage after graduation. And what 2007 I graduated, so and 15 years later, she's still working in mortgage, even though she went back so she had to go back and she got a master's in psychology because you can't do anything. You know, with undergrad degree in psychology when I got a master's. And what happened is she did want to make the transition to psychology, but she had moved so far up in mortgage that she would take a pay cut to go back to work in psychology.

College Money Tips

Wow. That's crazy. I'm like, and I feel like we can go on Yeah, a couple other things that came to my mind while you were talking. Were like, Ra I think you were an RA. I was living off campus. Yeah.

So I moved off campus because because campus housing was way more expensive than get an apartment, and then it came with the requirement to get a meal plan. And then I also worked. And my friends guys, my friend was so crazy. So I told you guys, I did a work study. Plus I had a job and then I worked. By the time I made it to my junior year like my freshman year I didn't work. My sophomore year. I think at the end of my sophomore year, I started looking for different opportunities. Yeah. And so I work and it was funny because because in a college town, it's a lot of competition for jobs. And so I only got a job because my best friend at the time, her like Aunt owned the gas station. In this small town where I went school, they hired because I was her friend. And guys, I was literally selling beer and tobacco. And anybody who knows me knows that I knew nothing about me. I had a friend who came up and he would stay with me because I had to work like nighttime sometime. And he's like, I just feel like it's a little unsafe and he would Come and sit with me sometimes. And I was like, I gotta unless you know, a new job or somewhere where I can get in. I gotta do what I got to do. Yeah. And just so you guys know, I left undergrad with $15,000 worth of student loans total for my whole experience, and I had no cash going into it. Yeah. So yeah, for years $15,000.

Now, I'm going to admit, I didn't do any of that, that Tashaunda had did, but I somehow ended up in the most expensive school in the country. But I landed in the number one major by happenstance that knowing that, and it didn't really help me out anyway, that didn't go into that. But yeah, I think I'm milk scholarships. I worked, I was always had like three jobs. I was able to study abroad. And I think that's when I started thinking about finances was the study abroad. Yeah, because it was going to impact my graduation rate. I mean, my graduation time in on campus housing was like 20,000 a year, it was just in, I started looking at numbers. This is when they tried to take my, they tried to kick me out, basically, because I couldn't pay. So that's when I started getting conscious about it. But I ended up very lucky and only had, I'd never had a credit card in college. And I didn't talk about the free T shirts. Yeah, um, like, I stayed away from credit cards, because I had a bad experience in high school. And then I graduated with $30,000 in debt. And so I think it was just kind of miraculous, and I was very lucky. But I encourage you to do the planning part. how big my experience was duplicable there was a lot of grace, and mercy.

Because I could have royally screwed up my life in so many ways. Yeah. No, good point. Guys. I hope you guys heard that there's so much that you can do. If you know somebody that's looking, nobody tells us this, like I told you is first generation your parents don't know. So they can't tell you. You know, and even like, people who had people who went off to college, I know. And I didn't want to mention this. I know so many super intelligent people who couldn't finish college because of this part of it a financial Yeah, figuring out how to how to make this work. And it the tool. The The reality is, is that a person who gets a college degree makes more than a person who does not, and I'm not gonna go into all that detail and whatnot. But if you want, and I'm not even saying that it's required for everybody, but if you want the opportunity, you do have to do it. Right.

Takeaways

Yeah. And there are a lot of different ways to do it. Right. So you just got to figure out what works for you. And so that was a lot anything you have for the feel like now we can be college counselors like questions? Yeah, please hit us up, because we've been traumatized.

When we made it through girl, we made it we made it to the other side. Anything you want to just lastly close out but the people and now guys, If college is something that you want, it's not unattainable. There are so many resources, there's so many things that you can do to really make it more easily accessible. So just think about it and and approach it differently. Don't just take my mom always told me this. Don't just take people's word for it. Make them tell you NO and NO won't hurt you. It's just the word. So I mean, amen. So until next time, folks, I'm your girl. Tanisha Nicole, and I'm Dixon and we are black girl flag.