Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from September, 2021

My One Year Student Loan Payoff Update

  January 28, 2022 marked my one year anniversary of paying off my student loans . Reflecting back on choosing to pay off my student loans leaves me with several take a ways that I want to share with you! In September 2020 I decided to become debt free by utilizing the debt snowball method to pay off all my debt. Before this I had struggled to save and really understand basic financial principles. As a first-generation college student, I received a scholarship to attend undergrad for free, but the scholarship did not cover summers. During the summers I took out student loans to cover costs without paying interest rates or how much I was taking out. By the end of undergrad I had amassed a little under $17K. Fast forward to graduate school I received another scholarship that covered my education. At the time I was a teacher in a new very expensive city and I had missed the cutoff to have my paycheck last me throughout the summer. So, I decided to take out a loan for two summers to keep
Post a Comment
Read more

Fall Refunds are Here for College Students

 It’s my favorite time of the semester…REFUNDS! A few weeks after the semester begins all of your financial aid pays out and if there’s any left over you get a refund! You will know that your receiving a refund if there’s a negative balance on your account. It’s the one time in history where you actually want to see a negative balance!  Figure 1: This is a thumbnail of my latest YouTube video where I am in my office with a surprised look on my face.  This semester I paid $241 in fees and I received a $500 grant for individuals who work at community colleges. Oh yeah  did I mention I work at a community college too part time as a tutor? Anyhoo, since I had already paid off my student account I received the $500 as a refund. If you’ve been watching my YouTube videos or reading my blogs then you already know this money is going to debt.  Figure 2: This is a photo of three $100 bills and three $50 bills. With refunds posting to accounts daily you want to make sure that you are constantly c
Post a Comment
Read more

One Year Debt Free Journey Update

September 8, 2020 was my one year debt free journey anniversary. A year ago I got sick of payments and not managing my money well. Each month that I would get paid I would give most of my money to payments. It was ridiculous and I could no longer stand it. This inspired me to get my money together through financial literacy.  Figure 1: This is a thumbnail of my latest YouTube video on “ADL: One Year Debt Free Journey Update” where I am sitting on the couch with a surprised look. I remember seeing a post on a friends Instagram where she talked about paying off all of her credit card debt and she talked about this guy named Dave Ramsey. I looked him up and started listening to his podcast and I have been hooked ever since! Since then I have gotten on a real live budget and cut down my expenses. In the beginning this was not easy.  I don’t know if I ever would have imagined not getting my nails done, eating out, or saying no to all things entertainment. I even cut out cable and got a stre
Post a Comment
Read more

Second Year Doctoral Student: What Courses Am I Taking?

 August 30th was the beginning of my second year as a doctoral student in the Higher Education program! I honestly have no complaint on my first year and I’ve learned so much since then. Since I’m always talking about education I thought I should tell you about the classes that I am currently taking. This semester I am enrolled in Law in Higher Education and Qualitative Research. Since I work full time and my university pays a stipend for two courses I keep my load light. My academic advisor also informed me that this semester may be tough so six hours should be fine. Figure 1: This is a thumbnail of my latest YouTube video on “Second Year Doctoral Student: What Courses Am I Taking?” where I am smiling while seated in my office wearing a black shirt. After reviewing both of my syllabi y’all this Law in Higher Education course may be a tough one! There are multiple weekly readings of at least 60 pages EACH, discussion posts, and a large paper. The professor is also a stickler for APA fo
Post a Comment
Read more

Get Your College Textbooks for Little to No Cost!

  So  it’s the first week of classes and you’ve seen your very long and expensive booklist. You  don’t  know how you’re going to afford your books and you’re pressed for time! What do you do next? With the start of classes for my university beginning this past Monday I have had multiple students reach out to me inquiring on how they should pay for their  books. This is what led me to recording my latest YouTube video on this topic and creating a helpful list of where you can find your textbooks for little to no cost.   Figure 1: This is a  thumbnail of my  latest Youtube video on “Get You r College Textbooks for Little to No Cost”  of me in a yellow Black Girl Mag ic shirt smil i ng at the camera . One part of my job as a Disability Services Case Manager is to provide students with alternate text formats or eversions of books  when they are not readily available to the student . I typically do this  by  looking through several databases or by emailing  the publishers. Bookshare, one of
Post a Comment
Read more