Hi everyone- Meet Jen (not her real name)- Jen is a single parent who worked for minimum wage as a full-time employee in a dead-end job for a number of years. She worked long hours, weekend and sometimes evening. Being a single mother, Jen knew that she had to work twice as hard to make ends meet. However, Jen was determined to make a better life for herself and family and so she decided to head back to school. Knowing that schools were expensive in this part of the country, she was determined to graduate debt free and so she did it with her favorite quote in mind “If there is no struggle- there is no progress”. Here’s how she did it.
Stick to a budget. Jen knew that the first thing that she had to do was create a budget and stick to it. She purchased a Digital Planner which came with a Personal Monthly Budget, a savings plan, a loan schedule and a retirement planner. She carefully planned and tracked her income and expenses every month and deposited every extra amount that she didn’t spend towards her tuition. She also made sure to stick to a grocery list each time she went grocery shopping which worked out well for her.
Take advantage of the company’s tuition program. A lot of people do not know about the different programs that their company offers. Lots of companies offer some type of tuition reimbursement program which helps their employees upgrade their skills or some type of career enhancement. Taking advantage of these programs were a huge relief to her but they helped cut her tuition fees by almost half.
Start paying off tuition whilst in school. For some people, their only option to further their education is by taking a loan or line of credit. A Student Line of credit tend to offer a lower rate of interest than a regular and allows you to make repayment right away. In some cases, the interest starts to accumulate once you finish your studies. In Jen’s case, she decided to go with a small student line of credit as a backup for her tuition when she couldn’t make the payments from her own funds. She also used the digital planner to calculate how she would save on interest by making extra payments.
Have an emergency fund– Being a single parent, Jen had no one to turn to if she lost her job or in the event that she encountered an emergency. Before she started her studies, she made sure that she had enough emergency funds. When she did have an emergency, she was able to dip into this fund and slowly replenish the funds when it ran low.
Bring in extra income– Jen knew that her one income would not be enough to reach her goal and so she found herself a second job teaching English online for 5 hours a week in the early morning. This worked out well for her since she was able to perform her second job at home whilst her son slept. As a result, she was also able to put these funds towards her tuition.
Bonus– Jen knew that this journey would be challenging, and to her it was important to have a positive mindset. Someone once said” Impossible is just an opinion” Jen was determined to graduate without a huge debt load, she knew it would be hard but not impossible and from the beginning she braced herself for it.
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Every great dream begins with a dreamer.
Harriet Tubmant
