Graduate School Money Management Tips

Handling your own money is a very important responsibility, it requires a complete understanding of the financial basics, organization skills, and a desire to stay ahead of all those documents. One of the first steps towards conquering money when applying for graduate school is to have a “financial money box” of some sort, where all documents are properly organized and kept secure.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many people I know have gone through hardships due to their lack of organization with their financial documents. It’s imperative that we spend some time putting everything together and labeling it for future reference.

In order to keep this “file box” properly organized, you’ll need a few materials detailed below:

Large file box, preferably letter-sized or bigger. Don’t forget to look for folders with bright tags to help you keep your files properly organized and distinguishable.

• Start by getting six folders, these will be the basic folders for your box. Tag them with the following names: Bank Statements, Bills, Financial Aid, Insurance Policies, Receipts/Warranties, and Taxes/Income.
• Inside of these folders will go the numerous different categories that apply in each. Break them down and subdivide each folder with each tags as below.
• Inside your “Bills” folder, make an “Unpaid” folder inside it, inside place four different folders for each quarter of the year. Then fill each with the documents you already have.
• Next take the “Bank Statements” folder and do the same thing you did with the bills folder, make one folder inside this one for each quarter. A total of four folders inside this folder.
• Then focus on organizing your “Financial Aid” folder by dividing it into “Scholarships” “Grants” and “Loans” placing each document in the appropriate file.
• For the “Insurance Policies” folder simply put all your insurance policies inside of this folder.
• Next, the “Receipts/Warranties” folder mark sub-folders with the following names: Home, Auto, and Personal. Filling each of the files accordingly.
• Finally, the “Taxes/Income” folder needs to be divided with quarterly folders as well. It’s very important that you save all your paystubs, W-2s, and other income details the IRS might ask for later.
• If you feel like we missed another aspect of your financial life, please add another folder.

This is a very basic record keeping routine every graduate student seeking for financial aid and success should do. Especially if you are required to present all these documents when applying for a graduate student loan in the future. Taking everything into consideration, all your files are extremely important. Regardless of how you elect to pay for college, keeping accurate records of all your finances is a crucial life lesson.