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Student Finance: How to manage your money

13 March 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa

financial savvy — Over 60% of South African students are in debt and spend more than the average South African adult.

For many students, university is their first money-management experience, and it is therefore crucial for them to prioritise basic personal-finance knowledge in order to avoid poor money management, and not knowing where their money is going.

Various other educational institutions, facilities, and initiatives such as Student Connections highlight student financial wellness as a topic of importance at higher-education institutions, because of the following reasons:

1. Low retention rates (university dropouts)
2. Loan default (graduating with student-loan debt)
3. Financial hardships affecting future success (low academic performance)

According to LinkedIn, a business and employment-oriented service, the spending and saving habits you develop in college are likely to stick with you throughout your adult life.

A personal finance study conducted by University of the Free State (UFS) Economics and Finance Lecturer, Cecile Duvenhage, revealed trends on how much students spend, and what they spend it on. Her outcomes discovered that students believe money buys them worthwhile experiences; it also revealed that over 60% of South African students are in debt, spending more than the average South African.

According to Duvenhage, the best way to optimise your use of money is to understand three things:

1. The psychology of money – relationship with money, your goals (reality, beliefs, perception, experiences, repeated messages)

2. The science of money – where is your money? What are you using it on, and how to make more (investing, savings, assets, liabilities, expenses, and income/pocket money)

3. The art of money – creating a financial game plan to stay afloat (knowledge, context, personal goals, game plan)

The Guardian website also highlights important tips for managing your money:

- If you’re struggling to manage your personal finances, ask for help. The earlier you get support, the less susceptible you are to overspend

- If you have financial aid, be sure to complete and send back your signed agreements in order to avoid delays in obtaining your money

- Add up your income, and then deduct all your essential expenses.

- Essential expenses include: tuition fees, rent/accommodation, electricity, and other accommodation expenses, groceries/food, and travel costs

The article, 6 common money management mistakes college students make, advises students to “live within your means, and [to] make choices based on the money that you have available.”

The article further recommends that students download a free, easy-to-use budgeting app such as Fudget: Budget Planner or Intuit Mint on their cellphones, which automatically creates a basic spending plan to personalise according to their means.

For enquiries or assistance with money management, contact finaid@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

SRC visits the US as part of Global Leadership Preparation Programme

2012-06-07

The Student Representative Councils (SRC) of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses will be travelling to the United States from 10-24 June 2012 on an intensive leadership development programme.

The Global Leadership Preparation Programme, initiated by the Vice-Chancellor and Rector, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, has been designed to ensure that South Africa’s next generation of leaders understand their unique place in a global context, the interconnectedness of global and local society and various possibilities for change.

The group of 36 students will be visiting Washington DC, Boston and New York.

“As a university we recognise that students who lead on campus must be prepared to also lead the country, which requires amongst others greater understanding of the impact and influence of global developments (social, economic, political) on nation states and campuses. This includes knowledge to deepen democratic participation and real representation – issues we know that often are contested in important student governance structures such as SRCs,” says Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs.

The group will be studying among others the impact, influence and limits of the United Nations in global leadership; the impact of transnational companies on economic policies of African countries; the impact of American universities on African leadership; the impact of international philanthropy on African development and the impact of American public institutions on learning among the disadvantaged: lessons for South Africa.

The programme complements and strengthens other leadership preparation programmes of the UFS, such as the Leadership for Change Programme and the Gateway College Programme – an intensive orientation programme for all undergraduate students. It will give students a competitive advantage in leadership over more local programmes and initiatives that seldom look beyond the campus, or even beyond the country, in preparing the next generation of leadership.

“We value this initiative by the university leadership to give us the opportunity to explore and spread our wings and gather as much knowledge as we can get to raise the bar in terms of student governance and leadership. The university is amongst the few in the country that sees the need to strengthen and develop its student leadership by exposing it and allowing it to understand its role in a global context. This is a chance that we take seriously and we intend to use it to the betterment of the institution,” says Bongani Ngcanga, President of the Central SRC.

“While we welcomed the initiative taken by the university to design this programme, the SRC questioned and debated heavily on the merits and real contribution of such a programme. Only on approval of the academic and development profile of the programme did we accept its merits and now are excited about the value thereof. This opportunity goes beyond the term of the SRC and will develop and equip us for the great positions we will hold in the future. I am looking forward to meeting influential lobbyists, profound academics and strong politicians,” says Richard Chemaly, SRC President of the Bloemfontein Campus.

Upon their return, the SRCs will set a new benchmark for future councils, raising the bar to that of internationally acclaimed student leadership. One of the objectives of the programme is to produce written, reflective statements about the learning that resulted from the trip and to start dialogues in order to improve student governance and governance as a whole. Workshops will also be presented for aspirant student leaders on leadership lessons learnt from an international perspective.

Members of the SRCs are covering part in the cost of the programme and generous contributions have also been received from outside the university.

Media Release
07 June 2012
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: +27(0)51 401 2584
Cell: +27(0)83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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