College Freedom

College Freedom

The time that you have been waiting for is finally here: you are going to be a college student. The time has come for you to be on your own. The long wait to be 18 years old and attend college is here. You are about to enter college and you think you have all the freedom in the world. The freedom you have been waiting for the past couple of years has now come along with some questions that you don't have answers to. Where am I going to live? Who is my roommate? Am I going to like campus food? These questions are the most asked questions by entering freshman. There are many questions to ask, but the most overlooked questions are Do I have what it takes to be a responsible independent? Will I be able to manage my time? After a few months into college, some of the things you might notice or experience is the importance of being a responsible independent, one who is able to manage time and money successfully.

For the past 18 years of your life you have depended on your father and mother in every aspect. They were the ones that did your laundry, prepared your meals, provided you with a home, and they even solved most of your problems. Having someone to depend on has kept you from worrying about how you are going to make it to the next day, literally, and has deprived you from the exposure to the problems of the real world. Graduating from high school put an end to one journey, but it has opened another journey which begins in college. Once you get to college you are on your own, and you are expected to be a responsible independent. One important issue that you have to face in college is financial management. Now that you are in college, you have to make the decision on how you are going to manage your money. We all know that college tuition is expensive, but we don't take in account other factors when we are going to manage our money. Unlike high school, in college you have more expenses, which include books for every class plus accessories, and campus living and dining if you are staying on campus, which are the main ones. Most first year college students don't have a problem managing their money on these expenses for the first semester. The problems come after paying the tuition bill and the books and accessories for each class. Most of us forget about the next semester's tuition bill and books and start spending money like it is nothing; for example, deciding to go out every weekend and party. At first it might not seem to you as something to pay close attention to, but as time goes by you have spent probably more than $200 a month.

Another expense that most first year college students overlook is hygiene and snack expenditures. One of the main reasons why this happens is due to the fact that they never had to worry about it, since they were living with their parents who provided everything for them. In addition to, the inexperience of deciding what to put in their priority list and in what order. This inexperience of worrying about these necessary items put most of the first year college students in a hole when they find themselves with no money left because they spend it all in going out and partying, and having no hygiene and snack items for the present week. Finding themselves in this position, they turn to their parents for money, which is what a student who don't know how to manage his or her money ends up doing. Putting your priorities first, like setting aside money to purchase these important items, and knowing how to manage your money successfully is a direct respond of some one who is responsible.

Scheduling your time in college is far more complicated than what you think. For the past couple of years, the person that awoke you in the mornings and made sure you went to school was your mother or father. Now that you are going to be on your own, they are not there for you to depend on, so you have to relay on yourself. You now have the responsibility of making sure you wake up on time and make it to class on time. You probably think that this is going to be an easy task to manage, but there are some other things to take into consideration; for example, making time in the morning for breakfast, which is extremely recommended