Freshman Pitfalls #1 - Incidental Expenses

After some time off from posting, I am starting a summer series about pitfalls first-time freshmen need to prepare for and to avoid.    These have been gathered from my experiences with the students on academic probation who were in my Learning Strategies classes in the spring.

The first one is running out of money before the end of the semester.  This can cause several problems:

• There are still professors (like me!) who prefer papers be submitted on actual paper as opposed to being submitted electronically.  Many students run out of money and cannot pay for printing through the school or cannot afford to buy more ink for their own printer.
• Many professors use power point slides that they make available to students.  It is much efficient to print out the slides and take class notes directly on them if they are available before class or print them out after class and transfer class notes onto the slides as a study strategy.  In many classes, these slides are quite numerous and, again, we are back to the cost of printing.   It is much more difficult to learn from the slides when looking at them on the computer.
• Not being able to pay small fines for an overdue book or other bills which puts a hold on the student’s account and they cannot register for classes the next semester.

Some solutions can include:

• Limit the number of expensive drinks from the snack and coffee bars.  (You would be amazed at the number of students bringing large, expensive coffees and smoothies to class.)
• Budget your money.  Put some away for use at the end of the semester.
• Get a part time job, on campus if possible.  Having a job will actually make you use your time better and you will have more expendable income.

The next post (and a few others) will deal with time management – perhaps the number one adjustment a freshman has to make!

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First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.   Click on the upper right link.