The Super Senior (Musings About Fun, Graduation & The Real World)

Today’s graduation tips moves away from the classroom and more to everyday life.  In your last semester at college, your spending may get a little out of control:

• Weekend Leisure Expenses
• Grad School Applications
• Graduation Photos
• Graduation Apparel (Stoles, Gowns, Invitations, etc.)
• Moving expenses

If you are currently working, hopefully these added expenses will not hurt you too much, but its important to keep track of money coming in and money leaving.

Be sure to budget out everything, as the last thing you’ll want to do is get into debt when entering the real world.
A great financial blog that we’d highly recommend is Get Rich Slowly.  If you’re not really a blog research/reading type of person and prefer a book in your hand, check out the recommendations of the top 25 finance books available.

This is the first of hopefully many in a series of graduation tips for seniors planning on graduating this year.  While the focus will be on seniors, we’re sure most of these tips can be used by students in any grade level.

Today’s post focuses on teaching assistants, one of the most under utilized yet useful resources a student can have.  Teaching assistants often hold the answer to tests before they are administered, control grades for their students, and can write a mean letter of recommendation when needed.

Here are 3 major reasons why you SHOULD talk to your teaching assistant:

Project Extensions:

It’s easier to ask for an extension on a paper or project once you’ve built genuine rapport with your TA.  Most won’t mind and will be friendly to extensions.  They’ve been through college, they know stuff comes up, and well… they’ll be backlogged with other students’ papers already, so what’s an extra day to them?

They Grade You:

In a lecture hall of 300+ students, they are the ones giving you grades and directly deciding if you made the A- or B+ cut.  Get to know your TA, understand what he or she is looking for in papers and projects, and what expectations they have for their students.  Spending 10 minutes a week talking to your TA could make or break your GPA for grad school, no joke.

Argue Grades:

Hopefully it does not come to this, but if you are borderline between one grade or another, knowing your TA will make it that much easier to argue for the higher grade.  I think it goes without saying, they will be more lenient and willing to negotiate your grade if you had attended office hours all semester.

photo credit: luismi1985

So you’ve just finished up four tumultuous years of college and chances are you’re broke.  If you’re lucky enough to have a family that wants to celebrate your huge accomplishment then you’re going to have a party.  Don’t feel guilty about the gifts you receive.  Chances are some of your relatives will give you more money that you could have imagined.  Be gracious and thank them properly.  Your older relatives are recognizing your accomplishments and know that you probably have little to no money left after four years in school and not working.  Besides putting the bulk of the money in your savings account, here are a few more ideas for you graduation money:

1. Take a trip.  Think about it: when will you have a chance to go anywhere in the world with nothing holding you back.  If you don’t have a job that you’re starting right away then this is the perfect time to go away for a week or two.  When you start working you’re going to have precious few vacation days at your disposal so take advantage of this opportunity.  If you still have your student identification card then you can probably cash in on some deals that are offered only to students.
2. Treat your parents to a nice dinner.  You always hear about parents taking their kids out to a nice dinner after graduation ceremonies, turn the tables and take them out.  They’ll resist you paying but let them know it’s not going to be a common occurrence and they’ll gladly go.
3. Buy a suit.  You’re going to need a suit for your job interviews and it’s worth it to a buy a nice one instead of the one you’ve had for years that you only wear to weddings and funerals.  Consider it an investment in your future.  Remember you can only a make a first impression once.
4. Get the work done on your car that it needs.  Wherever you start working you’re going to need reliable wheels.  While you have a little dough it’s time to take care of your car instead of waiting until you’re making a meager salary.  You’ll be happy you took care of it early on.
5. Upgrade your wardrobe.  This is the best time to go on a guilt-free shopping spree.  Feel free to go to the mall with carte blanche.  Buy clothes for all seasons while you have the chance to spend freely.

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who is an industry critic on online college reviews. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik

Talk about a weird story, it seems that many students from McKinney High School in Texas got more than they bargained for from this year’s yearbooks.

School officials say they are appalled by altered photos - including heads on different bodies - in hundreds of McKinney High School yearbooks delivered this week.

Besides the head and body switching, some necks were stretched, one girl’s arm was missing, and another girl’s head was placed on what appeared to be a nude body, with the chest blurred.

Full story about the yearbook photoshop fiasco (Yahoo! News).  We hope they get the revised version printed and back in time!  If there’s one thing great about high school yearbooks, it was the last 10 minutes of each class period where teachers would let you sign them!  Not to mention BFFs reserving full pages in your yearbook to write “Have A Great Summer!”

Graduating or just surviving those remaining upper-division courses is probably on every senior’s mind just about now. The joy of being almost done, of all-nighters paying off, and the anxiety to join the real world and “get on with life” flood in at overwhelming speeds.

But when you graduate, where will you be financially? Have you been saving up money or spending it all on books, booze & tuition? With graduation does come a little nest egg of money from family and relatives, but be sure not to squander all that away and start thinking longer term! No, this is not a sponsored post where we’ll be promoting some great savings account for college grads or money management program. Rather we’ll just provide a few quick and dirty tips in hopes that your account balances don’t go negative and you’ll be on your way to a successful career soon.

Forbes.com recently published an interesting article about 5 kids who built up businesses and each made a million-dollars before even turning 20. Give a read to these young entrepreneurs!

Our advice for graduating seniors:

1. Know when your student loan payments begin!

Most student loans have a grace period of 6 months, but not all. Double check to see what kind of payments will be required and when they start. We’re sorry to be downers, but unless you are one of the lucky few college students who did not need to take out loans, you’re already in debt. Hit these payments hard and fast and get out without paying ridiculous amounts of interest. Not to mention, if you’re planning on going to law school or med school, you want to get these loans off your shoulders or at least under control.

2. Move home after graduating!

Assuming this is an option and you do not abhor your parents with every muscle in your body, consider moving home.
In doing so, you save so much money, which can be used to save up for that new car, pay off student loans, buy new clothes, or get those new gadgets you wanted. The costs of living by yourself has increased so much and in this recession like economy, it’s somewhat dangerous to take on so many monthly expenses straight out of college. By living at home, you do not have to pay the ridiculous security deposits, monthly rent, utility bills, internet bills, laundry, and food! You save upwards of $1,000 a month.

And yes, parents can cramp your style a little… but they love you.

3. Open an online savings account

The interest rates you get from online banks such as ING Direct or Emmigrant Direct almost triple those you get at your average Wells Fargo or WaMu.  Look into opening an account at a credible FDIC insured bank and start building up interest for your savings (or future savings).  Also, you should check with your current bank to make see if you will be charged any additional monthly fees (if you signed up for a college savings account, you may be charged monthly fees upon graduating).

4. Start your job hunt now

“99% of everything done in the world, good or bad, is done to pay a mortgage.  Perhaps the world would be a better place if everyone rented.” - Thank You for Smoking - Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart)

If you have not already begun, start your job hunt now!  See our recent post on 5 Ways You Can Stand Out From Other Graduating College Seniors

Have some tips for us or other seniors and would like to share?  Comment below!