Summer To Do List – The Necessary but Boring Stuff

1. Check in on your student loan totals

Especially as a recent grad this is critical, you need to figure out exactly what you owe and when interest will start accumulating. For some reason the website that I used every year to apply for OSAP is not the same place I use to figure out my total loan due…thanks for the confusion. For all Canadian students, check out the National Student Loans Service Centre, make an account and figure out the total you owe and your loan status. You don’t want any surprises.

2.  Budget

Yup, I went there. I know from my previous summers that as soon as I start bringing in money from my summer job, spending limits go out the window. Make sure you figure out how much you need for the school year..and be realistic, and make sure you put that money away. Also take into account that you may want to travel after graduation, the more in advance you start saving the more money you’re likely to have.

3. Check-in on your bank account

For those that have recently graduated your student bank account may expire/change. When this happens you’re likely going to have fewer monthly debit transactions, and fees! Keep on top of this because you don’t want to lose money on fee’s you could have avoided.

4. Take a Summer Course

If you either want to get ahead or have fallen behind a summer course might be a really good option for you. This means studying, doing homework, midterms and exams, but in the end it’s all for the best.

I’m sure the list could go on, but I don’t want to overwhelm anyone here. Keeping track of things like student loans and your bank accounts will definitely help save you hundreds of dollars in interest or fee’s. It’s not fun but having that not so fun summer to do list is key to financial awesomeness.

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That being said I’ve realized that there are a lot of different factors/sources of money that go into paying off some people’s tuition for the each semester compared to mine which lacks much complexity at all (since I have worked co-op jobs throughout university the government no longer gives me much in the way of student loans, I haven’t applied since 3rd year and no longer can receive the Ontario provincial credit because my degree program is 5 years in length)

Paying for Tuition-Sources of Money

These obviously vary by individual, but these are possible sources of money for students.

• Money made from a Summer Job
• Government Student Loans
• In Ontario the 30% off tuition rebate
• Scholarships/Bursaries/Grants
• Line of Credit/Loans through the bank
• RESP’s set up by your parents

All of the above are sources of money that you can use to pay for the semesters tuition, some options are much better than others and to be honest if possible try to avoid getting a line of credit or additional loans through your bank unless you need to. Those have higher interest rates and/or start charging you interest as soon as you take the money out versus. government loans where you don’t start getting charged interest until after you graduate.

Paying for Tuition-Strategic Plan

Below are some points to consider when it comes to strategically paying for tuition and how best to use the funding sources mentioned above.

• Government student loans sometimes can cover a nice portion of your tuition AND you often receive more money in the first semester than the second, this means you will probably be relying more on your summer work $’s in the second semester.
• Based on timing the Ontario tuition rebate is often late, this won’t be possible to use during your first semester but instead can be all used towards your 2nd semester (this might require additional some job $’s to be used instead)
• If you have enough RESP $’s to cover everything don’t use your student loans to pay off your tuition, get it direct deposited into your bank account and if you don’t like risk it can collect interest in a high interest savings account. Chat with your parents about RESP’s it can really help you with the planning of your tuition payments.
• For those that saved up quite a bit of money over the summer or through a variety of $ sources and have money sitting in an account unused until next semester you should really consider investing in safe stocks that have dividends. You are more likely to get a stronger return than a savings account and also won’t spend the money if you can’t access it (since it’s tied up in stocks). Once it’s time to use the money next semester cash out/sell your stocks and you’ve made a bit of money instead of letting the $’s just sit around
• In most cases if people don’t find they need government loan dollars they will no longer apply and sign there forms to keep interest free status until after grad. If you are a savvy investor sign up for the loans and invest the money you receive. By doing so you can then turn the money around and pay off a nice portion of your student loan before you start getting charged interest.
• Not much can be said about scholarships and bursaries, they are just awesome, reduce stress and most of all are helpful for students. If a scholarship leaves you ahead in dollars on tuition payments(summer money, government loans etc.), once again put the access money in a high interest savings account or invest it.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully I haven’t confused you with all of the info above but if you really want to make use of the money sources you have it’s best to really give it a think instead of just paying your tuition and letting whatever other money you have sit and not collect interest.

The simplest thing to do for those that don’t want to invest is to just put whatever money you aren’t using for tuition, books, living expense and put it in a high interest savings account. Don’t touch the money or use it unless it’s really necessary, because there’s always next semesters tuition to worry about as well. Earn a little interest here and there until it’s time to use the money next semester.

Those who want to take on a little bit more risk can invest in “safe” stocks like utilities (ie. Bell) or even the banks who provide dividends. Why not make use of money sitting around? And there’s the option for people that are risk takers to invest in options, I have yet to do so based on my lack of understanding and a little bit of fear.

There are a variety of options for students when paying for tuition, but what is most important is for you to keep track of the outstanding loans that you do have. It will not be the nicest of surprises when you notice that you owe a lot more than you thought when you’re close to graduating.

It’s been about 8 months now since I’ve been at school and to be honest I’m a little excited. Soon I’ll start reminiscing about all of the good times since I’m almost done, but I’ll stop while I’m ahead. Don’t sweat tuition payments there are a lot of options out there for you to get by

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