College Freshman? Check this out!

As much as we may not want to start thinking about it yet, a new school year is right around the corner. To those high school graduates about to start your first year of college, there are a lot of things to prepare for. Here are some tips to start preparing now:

- Create an academic plan. The idea of planning out the next four years of your life can be daunting, but doing it will save you frustration and time in the future. Since you have to sign up for classes in the summer anyway, try meeting with an academic advisor and make a rough schedule of when you’re going to take your major classes over the next eight semesters.

- Make a shopping list. Sitting down and making a list of all the things you’ll need at college is a good idea. A better idea is to make the list in more than one sitting and over time instead. Why start a list now? You can add to it as you think of things over the next couple months, and you will probably be better prepared when the semester rolls around.

- Talk to your roommates. Most likely, you’ll be rooming with complete strangers. But they don’t have to be complete strangers. Reach out to them once you find out who they are. Not only will it ease your mind to know a little bit about them, but you can also figure out who’s bringing what. No need for two microwaves.

- Apply for a student loan. If you’re looking for a student loan, The Horizon Community Credit Union Smart Option Student Loan by Sallie Mae is a great choice with three great repayment options and competitive interest rates. You can even apply for a loan through our online banking; also you can check balances, keep track of transaction histories, and make transfers.

- Open a checking account. You might want to consider a student checking account; it doesn’t require a minimum balance and doesn’t charge for the first debit card. If you choose to get a debit card, you’ll have an easy way to pay for everyday expenses like food and gas. For those emergency expenses that come up, a credit card might be a good back up as well.

- Get your parents involved. And for the parents that want to be a little more involved, we provide See/Jump Authorization. See Authorization allows members to log into their own account online and monitor balances and transactions for another account simultaneously. Jump Authorization allows members to actually conduct transactions on that second account while still being logged into their original account. As an extra precaution, we could set up an overdraft protection from your parents’ accounts to your account so you don’t get charged any overdraft fees.

Some other tips to help you financially once you get to school would be to create a budget and stick to it, keep track of your spending, and take advantage of student discounts. Overall, using this summer to prepare will give you a lot less to worry about at school.

Post by: Noelle C.