College Money 101

By moneygodmother

When visiting with nearly 1200 incoming college freshmen last week, we talked about money and making good financial decisions. I suggested they might want to track their spending through on-line banking, if they didn’t already. Using on-line banking to pay bills and conduct other financial business is a good idea for nearly anyone.  Why?
It’s easy to see your cash flow…and it does flow, right out of your account. Plus, on-line banking is:
1) Accessible 24/7
2) Easy to do
3) Updated nearly immediately after transactions
4) Safe, providing your Internet connection is secure
5) A quick way to pay bills–no checks, stamps, snail mail needed
6) Helpful for making deadlines, if you set up auto-pay for bills.

As computer literate as most teens are, I suspected the majority of these freshmen were connected to their financial institution.  They just weren’t using on-line banking to its full advantage yet.
A quick survey showed the majority–about 54%–used on-line banking only to check the balance in their account, probably right before they went out for the weekend.  About 15% did pay their bills and another 13% had already linked their financial account to  their university account.  It was the remaining 18% that I hoped would learn the benefits of on-line banking soon.  How about you?