Life happens: Students plan post-graduation budgets
A trip to the emergency room. A flat tire. Life happens.
East Carolina University students encountered all that and more in the Making Cent$ of Life After College event sponsored by ECU’s Financial Wellness Hub on Nov. 18 in the Main Campus Student Center.
Themed around the classic Game of Life board game, the event was a fun way for students to learn about budgeting and how unexpected events can impact carefully laid plans.
Madison Roady, right at table, talks with an advisor about monthly food expenses.
Students were given a monthly salary based on their major and desired job after graduation. In addition to full-time work, some considered going back to school for a graduate degree, including Hannah Wilson of Greenville, a sophomore accounting major. Wilson attended the event with other students in her honors leadership and service course taught by Karen Kus, executive director of engagement and impact in the Office of Expert Services in the College of Business.
Money matters
With the upcoming holidays and new year, it’s a perfect time to review your budget. The Financial Wellness Hub offers one-on-one financial coaching, group presentations and programs covering a wide range of topics including budgeting, managing credit, student loan repayment, saving and investing. Here are some tips:
- Have a weekly budget check-in. “If you check your transactions every week, you’re more likely to see something going wrong or catch a fraudulent charge,” said Kevin Sutton, director of ECU’s Financial Wellness Hub.
- For ease, put all the apps for banking, budgeting, accounts, credit cards and bill pay in one folder on your phone.
- Make a financial plan.
- Save. Can you eat out once or twice a week and cook at home the other days?
Armed with a budget sheet and play money for one month, Wilson made financial decisions at more than a dozen tables, where ECU staff and faculty volunteers figured up monthly expenses, from student loans, taxes and insurance to housing, food and transportation. Students subtracted those costs from their starting budget and paid money due at each table.
Wilson is already looking to save money. In addition to entering ECU as a sophomore after completing her associate degree in high school, after this year, she plans to live at home while earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees. She plans to work while getting her master’s degree.
At the last table marked “life happens,” students rolled oversized dice on the floor and spun a multicolored wheel to determine their fate. Wilson’s was an emergency room visit that cost $280 out of pocket. Despite that, she finished on the plus side with more than $1,300.
“I’m pretty happy with it,” Wilson said. “I was so scared I was going to be losing money.”
Hannah Kelly, a freshman from Pittsboro, is studying biology and nutrition with plans for medical school. She started with a healthy annual salary as a physician.
“Definitely what was most surprising was how much Uncle Sam took at the very beginning,” Kelly said. “What was interesting was how much the little stuff added up.”
For Kelly’s “life happens” card, she had a flat tire. “That actually happened to me in February, but it was a lot cheaper than I ended up paying (here).”
ECU freshman Madison Roady, an intended nursing major, said the simulation was different than what she expects for the future. She hopes to have a roommate when she’s starting out, which will help with living expenses.
“I’m much more of a saver than what that is because it was very much spend, spend, spend. I think it will be different,” she said.
Kus served as a volunteer de-briefer, talking with students as they reviewed their budgets after completing the exercise.
“My favorite comment was ‘living is expensive!’ Other comments included ‘I didn’t realize how expensive taxes were’ and ‘didn’t realize how much things add up to,’” Kus said. “I think many were thinking rent and food, and not thinking about all the other things like gas and car insurance, etc.”
Kevin Sutton leads the ECU Financial Wellness Hub.
ECU’s Financial Wellness Hub, led by director Kevin Sutton and a team of graduate assistants and undergraduate interns, hosts events for the campus community throughout the year. They offer one-on-one appointments with students, staff and faculty to discuss spending and saving habits, debt, setting goals and strategies for financial health.
“What we do a lot with the undergraduate population is talking about that transition and financial autonomy. Coming in as a freshman, this might be the first time they have the freedom to spend money however they’d like. It might be their first job, they may be getting an allowance from family, they might be using student loan refunds, they might be supporting themselves — we see all those things for our undergraduate population.”
Students identify how they could have — or should have — spent money differently based on their budget and goals. “Those are fun conversations to have because you can see the lightbulb go off or you can see this person’s on their own and are happy growing in their confidence.
“We also see students who are seniors and about to graduate, seeking greater financial autonomy, specifically those who are student loan borrowers,” Sutton said.
While the weight of student loans can be stressful, his staff can review information and discuss what a new graduate’s monthly plan to pay off student loans or debt could look like.
“I see the concept of debt having a greater negative impact than the actual amount of the debt. A student could be just as stressed taking out $7,000 as they are taking out $70,000. Especially if it’s the first time they’ve had to take debt,” Sutton said. “It’s interesting when we talk about debt, the same with income too, sometimes it’s less about the amount and just more the concept of being in debt or the concept of having my first job. It can be freeing or confident-building, or negative self-talk comes out if they get their hours cut at work, or they take out that loan.”
Budgeting is the main thing that has been found to be helpful, which Sutton recommends for students, employees, alumni or retirees, whatever the lifespan, he said.
“Even though people sometimes think it’s a simple topic, it’s pretty general throughout their life. And the recommendation, no matter where you’re at on the spectrum, is to have a weekly check in,” he said.
He and his team recommend a general process of looking at your overall finances, what you spent money on the last week and credit card transactions.
“Maybe I spent a little more money than I would have liked to, or maybe I feel proud,” Sutton said. “And for those in relationships, have everyone in that dynamic come together and talk about shared goals. The benefit of that is you’re destigmatizing negative money stories that people might have. It just normalizes discussions.”
His recommendation is to identify long-term and short-term goals for accountability, and cheer on each other for the wins.
Sutton acknowledges that a lot of things discussed with clients are things that people already know, for instance, meal planning helps save money.
“That’s not a novel idea. But having that conversation with someone is prompting them and asking questions for them to be the ones to set their own next steps,” he said. “People may come in embarrassed or scared or whatever negative feeling they might be having, but then they leave feeling empowered. Even if they’re empowered to spend $10 less next week, the feeling is what tends to last more than the actual solutions or steps taken.”
ECU’s Financial Wellness Hub started in 2021 and is one of the first in the UNC System. Sutton joined ECU in 2023, and he has served as a mentor to similar office start-ups across the state and country and offers seminars and workshops at other universities. Visit the financial wellness hub website for more information.