So, this year will be my third year at community college, hopefully my last before transferring. I got lucky with scholarships from my school up until this point, and so far I've paid under $500 out of about $5000 for my tuition (not including books). I'm expecting to pay about $1200 out of pocket for my last two classes before transferring. I'll probably get, at most, $5000 total in transfer scholarships once I leave.
I have about $9500 in a savings account right now. I ended up getting a new (used) car this year, and am in the process of selling my old car. I'm expecting to spend between $1000 and $2000 on repairs depending on what exactly is going on. But, I'm expecting this car to last for a long time, so I'd rather fix it now before anything gets worse. That'll bring my savings down to around $8500-$7500. I'm expecting to get around $1200 for my old car, so that will help significantly.
I only make $700 ish a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. I live at home and commute, so I spend about $90 in gas each month during the school year (it's expensive here). We have no public transit, so that's not an option. I spend about $45 on my phone bill and $200 on car insurance each month. Whatever's left goes into my savings. I'm planning on asking my mom if there is a way to lower my car insurance, because she picked the plan for me. (Total expenses per month: $335)
For the next two summers, I plan on not taking any classes and getting a second job for some extra savings. Once I transfer, I'll probably have around $12,000 per year in tuition for three years. I plan on taking out the maximum amount of government loans I can get (can't qualify for the pell grant), and using a mixture of my savings and private loans (if needed) to cover the rest. I'm going into mechanical engineering, so I'm not too worried about loans, but I'd prefer to minimize it.
So, how am I doing? I'm the only one of my friends that is paying their own way in college, so I have nobody to compare with. Is there anything else I should be doing?
Submitted August 12, 2018 at 11:53AM by KiwisaurusRex https://ift.tt/2w0Im5f
