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Student Budget Template
What Is a Student Budget?
Although being a student is definitely fun, at times it may not be so easy particularly when it comes to finances. This is why we would recommend using and keeping track of a Student Budget which will allow you to keep on top of finances and ensure that you are not left without any cash at any point during your studies.
By budgeting, you can organize all of your finances in one go and this will give you an accurate foresight into what your financial situation will look like throughout the week, month or even year. In most cases, students use and monitor a college student monthly budget rather than weekly or yearly budgets.
To get an accurate idea of your budget, you need to be honest and be sure to note down all forms of income and expenditures. Make sure you do not forget anything, especially when it comes to expenditures. Note down all forms of expenditures that you regularly spend - even if you think that it may be a small and irrelevant amount. Apart from the obvious college student food budget, think about your travel costs, bills, subscriptions, and any other outgoing costs which happen on a regular basis. Of course, it is impossible to plan and foresee some expenditures, particularly those related to medicine and repairs.
A Student Budget template can be downloaded by clicking the link below.
How to Budget as a College Student?
Budgeting as a college student is extremely important and if you are starting this for the first time, it may seem like an impossible task. With most young people relying on parents to budget whilst living with them, moving out for the first time and having the responsibility to budget appropriately may come as a slight surprise.
In order to budget effectively you must:
- Firstly, you need to select a time frame for which you want to calculate your budget. In most cases this is monthly due to most income (salaries etc.) coming in on a monthly basis;
- Second of all, you need to calculate all of your net monthly income. This should take into account any salaries, bursaries or any other forms of stable income;
- Next, calculate your expenditure per month. This is the trickiest part as often people may forget to add something to the list or they may think it isn't significant enough. All expenditures should be included no matter how big or small and this will usually include schooling costs, supplies, rent, groceries, transport, subscriptions, bills, loans, insurance, and entertainment. It is important to keep these numbers realistic, do not underestimate your expenditures otherwise, this will defeat the purpose of planning a budget. Calculate an average for these expenditures - of course it won't be possible to get it right down to the cent, but it should be as close to as possible;
- Compare the differences between your income and the money you are spending. Regularly update the document for accurate numbers and adapt them when and if required.
Still looking for a particular template? Take a look at the related templates below:
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