Cheap Summer Fun Series

Ahoy there, readers! Savvy Student would like to introduce our new "Cheap Summer Fun" series. Come here for great summer ideas that won't require damage to your piggy bank. This week, we're bringing you Reading at the Beach!

I know, I know, you're thinking - "Everyone knows about reading at the beach, it's not a secret club." However, we're bringing you great, cheap book finds and information on the beautiful beaches of Massachusetts. Our goal as Savvy Student is to help make your beach plans easy and stress free - giving you more time to relax.

Libraries are, of course, a great option for finding a good book - but most people prefer to know what they're looking for, rather than navigate each isle or consult a card catalog . Below are some great book review sites, as well as a few recommendations from the people behind Savvy Student.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Shelter Me by Juliette Fay
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
Anything by James Baldwin (Giovanni's Room is a good example)
The Vampire Chronicles by Ann Rice (the original vampire series, 10 novels)
Freakonomics by Levitt & Dubner (followed by Superfreakonomics)
Something Borrowed or Something Blue by Emily Giffin
Game Change by Heilemann & Halperin
Lies My Teacher Told Me by Loewen
The Kite Runner by Hosseini
The Time Traveler's Wife by Niffenegger


Book Review Sites:
The Week - http://theweek.com/topic/sub_section/arts_life/books
NY Times - http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/
San Francisco Chronicle - http://www.sfgate.com/books/

Other than libraries, second-hand shops are a great alternative for finding stacks upon stacks of cheap reads. One great option close to Brandeis is Diskovery in Brighton. We have provided their address below for your convenience.

Diskovery
569 Washington St
(between Bigelow St & Brackett St)
Brighton, MA 02135
(617) 787-2640
*If you're allergic to cats, beware - two friendly felines inhabit this local gem!

Just Google "secondhand bookstores" to find one in your area.

If you are tapped out for funds there are other great ways to get books. Friends are your number one resource. Not only can you borrow books from them, but they would be able to give you personal recommendations too. And, if your friends are away from Brandeis for the summer you can always resort to using your trusty PC or Mac and visit online libraries at educhoices.org or other sites such as ReadPrint.com.

Now for the best part - the beaches! Publicly owned land is usually well taken care of, and only a few bucks to get into for the day, if not free. Sure, there are totally free and enjoyable grassy knolls and parks everywhere - but sometimes you just want to feel the sand between your toes! Savvy Student recommends looking for nearby State Parks. These are usually cheaper and less crowded than National Parks or well-known ocean beaches. Below are some great finds in Massachusetts.

Picnicking:
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/recreate/picnic.htm

Swimming:
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/recreate/swimming.htm

If you have a weekend on your hands, try camping at one of these parks for about $12/night (depending on the park) to maximize your beach time! This is especially nice for those of us who live more than an hour from the nearest beach. Be sure to search for the parks in your area, and don't be afraid to cross state lines - MA parks, for instance, tend to be less expensive than NH parks. Savvy Student is working on a camping blog, to be posted soon, so be sure to look for it!

Where are your favorite beaches or summer reading and relaxing spots? Let us know, so we can include them in future posts.

Sincerely,

Savvy Student

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Food For Thought

In our search for tips and tricks to help save you money we came across the USDA Fact Sheet for College Students. Please visit their website here to learn about safe food handling. Although this may not seem like it fits in with personal finance- it does! By keeping your food fresh, it will last longer and ultimately save you money.

Also, as a college student it can be quite difficult to plan meals out in advance and buying groceries can be a budget buster. Instead of buying food that will ultimately go to waste we found a post on EHow with suggestions on what to buy in order to keep your wallet in check. If you are interested in the article follow this link.

College can be challenging enough without the burden of cooking and grocery shopping. Food is a necessity and because of that, it is easy to discount how much money goes to waste when food is discarded. Even if you are on a meal plan and don't spend money on food waste can still occur from stale pieces of pizza to a half eaten plate of food at the dining hall. At Ohio State, College Green the student run publication reports that students throw out at least $250,000 worth of food each year. That may not seem like it directly impacts you, but expenses like these incurred by a university can potentially impact the bottom line.

So, the next time you are eating out or at the grocery store think about what you will eat and what your budget for food truly is.

To all our Frugal Foodies, let us know what you think. Did you find this information helpful?

Savvy Student

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Lower Loans and Less Debt, Myth or Reality?

For many, “student loans” are scary; they are synonymous with multiple years of having no money, sending your entire paycheck to your lender, and working just to repay your college expenses.

Recent changes by the Department of Education to the federal loan programs are designed to benefit all students. These changes allow the Department of Education to maintain more control over federally backed student loans, while Sallie Mae and other lenders will be confined largely to servicing loans held by the government and collecting on defaulted loans.

These changes will eliminate fees paid to private banks acting as intermediaries in providing loans to college students, freeing funds to expand the Pell Grant program and help low income students (allowing a maximum grant of $5,975 by 2017).

Further changes have been made to help borrowers by expanding the repayment options, and allowing some borrowers to qualify for partial loan forgiveness for working in particular jobs. For complete details of Stafford Loan Entrance Counseling, Promissory Note signing, Loan Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, visit www.studentloans.gov. Parents may also apply for A Parent PLUS loan at this site as well.

As a result of completing the Financial Aid process, a student may also be awarded a Federal Perkins Loan. Very different from a Federal Stafford Loan, this loan has only 1 repayment plan—10 years with monthly minimum payments of $40 and a fixed, 5% interest rate. If this loan is awarded, a student will be sent instructions to do additional Entrance Counseling and sign a second Master Promissory Note. This loan also has some great benefits, including up to 100% loan forgiveness for borrowers working in specific fields (including some teachers, nurses, law enforcement or corrections officers, firefighters, medical technicians, librarians, those working with high-risk children, and others). Visit http://www.campuspartners.com/documents/4884FactSheet.pdf for more information regarding this loan.*

*this program may be experiencing several changes over the next few years.

Families interested in private loans should research their options carefully, and consider which loan is right for them. Information about private loans can be found at www.borrowsmart.com or
www.studentlendinganalytics.com. Each private loan has its own origination fees, interest rates and repayment options.

Student loans are designed to help borrowers reach career goals without paying for their education up-front. And while their on-time repayment is mandatory, lenders can be very helpful during the sometimes-difficult repayment period.


Happy borrowing! Savvy Student :)

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Money Management and more...

Budgets, credit cards, savings accounts, who has time to read through all of the fine print much less understand the terms and conditions? It is very understandable, yet unfortunate that money management is so difficult. Schools do not place much importance on personal finance, rather it is thought to be common sense or something our parents pass along. However, how can knowledge about a topic be passed along when it is rarely understood?

Savvy Student is here to connect you to materials and information about money management, in the hopes of making the process that much easier. In digging for information we have come across a great financial guide, Money Talks, which comes to us from the Office of Mayor, Thomas M. Menino in conjunction with the Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing.

The guide, which is meant for teens, should be referenced by anyone not well informed about money management. We hope you will access the guide from the link above to learn about credit scores and credit cards, checking/savings accounts, as well as consumer tips on false advertising, Bait and Switch tactics and car buying.

Let us know what you think,

Savvy Student

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Credit Cards: Can You Handle Them?

As you go through life you experience many different rites of passage. At sixteen you can drive, at eighteen you can vote and of course at 21 you can drink (legally). Establishing credit and having a credit card also seem to fall into this category as passageways to adulthood. Having a credit history allows you to one day buy a car or even a house.

Getting a credit card, however, seems almost too easy and too often consumers are overwhelmed by their choices so they don't do enough research to select the most appropriate card. As a consumer, you should shop around for the best credit card or loan like you would shop for any important purchase, but this is easier said than done. Discover, Chase, Bank Of America, American Express, Capitol One, Visa and Mastercard all have different benefits and this list does not even include all of the credits that are available to consumers. Once you select a credit card or even a loan, such as a student loan it is very easy to get confused by the rates and terms of the card. All the fine print may be overwhelming to someone new to the world of credit and the terminology is not so easy to decipher. Because of this, it is unfortunate, but true that you can easily damage your credit thus impacting future purchases such as a car or home.

To prevent this from happening, we have found a great resource for you from studentloanintelligence.com. They have created the Student Loan Buying Guide which is a publication of Greentree Gazette Corporation. The guide is filled with "Shopping Tips" for students and families looking for their first loan or for ways to better manage their credit. Suggestions include asking questions about interest rates and rate shopping as well as tips for receiving tax benefits as a student loan borrower.

The Student Loan Buying Guide is full of great articles and useful information. Please check it and let us know what you think. Did you find the articles helpful?

Savvy Student

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Tricking Yourself Into Saving

We know some of you study psychology—so how about some mind tricks that will help you learn to save your money?

The next time you go shopping with a budget (and you should certainly have a budget), keep track of how much you fall under. For example, if you go grocery shopping with coupons (and you should definitely use coupons), check out the section of your receipt with the amount you saved listed. Deposit this amount into a savings account as soon as you get home. Trick yourself into thinking that the amount you saved from taking advantage of sales and using coupons is like a payment to yourself.

Another excellent money trick involves treating any extra or surprise income as separate from your budget or your spending plan. For example: in addition to your income, your grandmother sends you a $25 check as a gift. You weren’t expecting this money, so pretend like it’s not even there by depositing it immediately into your savings and forgetting about it. This works especially well if you open a savings account separate from the one tied to your checking account—you’ll put the money there so quickly that it won’t have a chance to spark dreams of new shoes or dinner out. You’ll remember it when you absolutely need it and it’ll even have accrued some interest!

These ideas are all about avoiding those moments between acquiring your cash and spending it—those exciting minutes during which you imagine all of the wonderful things you can buy and do with the extra money. Get yourself into the habit of putting your money away and forgetting about it. The time will come when you will need the money and you’ll remember it then.

Happy saving,

Savvy Student

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