The Student-Parent Connection: Preparing for Senior Year

The Student-Parent Connection is a new monthly feature here on College Money Insider. During the upcoming school year, we will have a student and parent share their thoughts and experiences as they save up for college and prepare to go through the college application process. Today’s post is by Jessica Avery!

If you have any tips to help students save up for college, feel free to leave a comment below!

Hi! My name is Jessica Avery. I am 17 years old and I am a rising senior in high school. Being a senior means that college is right around the corner, and now is the time I have to plan.While looking for colleges I want to attend next fall, I try to keep in mind cost. Obviously college is expensive, and I need to start saving my spending money for college now, so that I don’t have to worry as much when I am actually in school. My parents are paying for my college tuition, so right now my main priority is saving enough to have somewhat of a comfortable lifestyle when I’m first starting out in school.

Now, I know myself pretty well, and I know that I really like to spend. This would especially be an issue in New York City, where I recently toured New York University, and learned that everything is so expensive. I love the city, but it costs so much!  It’s going to be expensive anywhere I go really, so that is why I have to learn to control the money I earn from my job.

To make sure that I am keeping a solid amount of money in my bank account, I opened a savings account at the same time I opened a checking account. Every time I receive a paycheck, I put a good amount of my check into savings. To make sure that I am fully aware of what is in either account, I find that my bank’s mobile app is very helpful. It makes me keenly aware of what is where, and I actually get to see my account grow, which is very encouraging. College is expensive, but I think it will be do-able since I started saving early.