Budgeting one term at a time

Planning by the term fits the way student money arrives: aid and refunds come in a lump at the start, while rent and food come due every week. This page sets out a simple way to build a budget for one term and carry it through to the break.

Count what comes in

List every source of money for the term, including any aid refund left after the school bill is paid, savings, help from family, and pay from a job. Federal Work-Study pay arrives as you work the hours rather than as a lump at the start, so count it by paycheck. Use the amounts you can confirm rather than the ones you hope for.

Your school's account statement shows the refund once aid has been applied. Check it early in the term, since a missing document can hold up aid and push back the refund.

Count what goes out

Start with fixed costs, such as rent, a phone plan, insurance, transportation and books. Then estimate the costs that change week to week, like groceries, meals out and personal items. Your school's cost of attendance estimate for living expenses is a useful check on whether your figures are realistic.

Remember the costs that land between terms. Housing may close over winter break, meal plans may stop, and summer often brings rent with less aid coming in.

Your term budget

• Refund, savings, family help and pay
• Fixed costs for the whole term
• Weekly amount for everything else
• Costs over the break that follows

Turn the total into a weekly amount

Subtract the fixed costs from the money coming in, then divide what is left by the number of weeks until the next aid arrives. That figure is what you can spend each week on everything else. If it looks too small to live on, it helps to find that out in the first week rather than near the end of term.

Keeping the term's money in a savings account and moving one week's amount into checking at a time makes the plan easier to follow. A simple spreadsheet or a notes app on your phone is enough to track it.

When the numbers do not work

Talk to the financial aid office if your costs are well above your aid. The office can review a cost of attendance adjustment for documented expenses, such as childcare or a required computer, and can explain any remaining loan options. Many campuses also run emergency grant funds and food pantries, and the dean of students office usually knows where to find them.

Ask early, since emergency funds can run out partway through the year. A campus financial wellness center, if your school has one, can sit down with you and go through the budget line by line.