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High School Seniors, meet Rowdy Cents! (10-Steps about applying to UTSA and getting your money matters in order before you start college!)

home page updated 11/16/09

 

Rowdy Cents says, "Stroll the site for what matters to you."

Downloadable Documents:

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1. Budgeting and Expense tracking worksheet in MS Word
2. Budgeting and Expense tracking worksheet in MS Excel
3. Budget Tips for New UTSA Students in PDF format (updated 6/11/09)
4. Making Financial Goals and Priorities worksheet in MS Word
5. Costs of attending UTSA and Being a College Student in MS Excel
6. Opportunity Costs worksheet in MS Excel - compare taking 4, 5, or 6 years-to-degree (updated 6/10/09)
7. Glossary of Types of Savings Accounts in PDF format (8/20/09)
8. Money-savers by Rowdy Cents
9. Money-wasters for UTSA students by Rowdy Cents in PDF format (8/20/09)
10. How to Run an ASAP Degree Evaluation in PDF format - for admitted UTSA undergraduate students with earned credit hours
11. Mid-term Money Blues in PDF format (10/27/09)
12. High School Seniors, Meet Rowdy Cents in PDF format (11/16/09)

Pages, in alpha order, with links and topics:

About us - raising the personal finance literacy awareness of UTSA students and focusing on time management and the length of time it takes for the average UTSA student to graduate (page renamed 8/19/09)

1. Graduation Initiative
2. Institute for Financial Literacy
3. Project on Student Debt
4. UTSA Fact Book

Climb - taking 4 years or more to get a degree; what may be the best money plan

1. Fast Facts about time-to-graduation - National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
2. Calculate Your Opportunity Costs - Rowdy Cents' MS Excel Spreadsheet -plug in your scenarios about time to degree
3. How to Run a Degree Evaluation - Steps for admitted UTSA undergraduates to generate an online degree evaluation
4. ASAP - Automated Student Access Program for UTSA students

Educate - going to college, choosing a major = a career, college costs (UTSA), paying for college

1. Worth of the college price tag - US News & World blog discussing worthiness of a college degree and the price
2. Life goal -why go, what to do, how to pay (College.gov)
   • Careers -explore careers, education & training required, salary expectations
   • Majors -explore majors for careers wanted, plan for and find a college, pay for college
   • One long-term benefit of a college degree - article about "low education leads to low income"
   • Time to a degree
3. College costs -understanding costs and options from College Board.com
   • Texas colleges -college locater, college match-up from College for All Texans.com
   • UTSA -what to expect for tuition, fees, living expenses, etc. (based on 2008-2009 academic year data)
   • Community college -best to start college there - myth or reality
   • Opportunity costs
4. Affordability -financing options from College Board.com
   • Financial Aid - Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
   • UTSA Financial Aid Office
   • Family contributions -aid estimator with or without family contributions -Smart Student Guide to FA
   • Scholarships and Grants -search the net for money for college
   • UTSA scholarships
   • UTSA grants -on Fin Aid web page select GRANTS (federal, state, institution)
5. High School Seniors, Meet Rowdy Cents - 10-Steps for applying to UTSA and having your money ready to start college

Follow - knowing where the money comes from now and where it goes by budgeting & tracking expenses

1. Budgets, tracking expenses with MS Word document - Rowdy Cents' Worksheet
2. Budgets, tracking expenses with Excel Worksheet
3. Budget Tips for New UTSA Students in PDF format (updated 6/11/09)
4. Quicken budgeting online tool
5. Mint.com allows for multiple accounts tracking, expense tracking, and net worth calculation
6. Article - The First Big Test: Watching Expenses, Some Students Clamp Down as They Gear Up

Follow by setting financial goals (subpage of Follow) - planning for and prioritizing future wants and needs

1. SMART goals guideline by Top Achievement
2. Writing down financial goals using Rowdy Cents' MS Word form
3. Prioritizer - Calculator for prioritizing financial goals
4. Teaching about Budgeting - resources for teachers of young children through college age
5. Financial goals, First Step from Smart About Money
6. Goal Setting's Big Payoff - article by Dave Ramsey, financial adviser, writer, radio and TV personality)
7. Financial fitness - Young Money online article

Go - taking personal finance on-the-go and taking a detour from the Paseo Dinero

1. Portable Audio Version - downloadable to MP3 players, this is the Money Smart Podcast Network covering topics on personal finance basics; a public service of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
2. CashCourse portal - the National Endowment for Financial Education; short modules on financial basics, paying for ollege, college life, and world of work; calculators & worksheets, economic survival tips, interactive Budget Wizard

Jump - avoiding the DEBT pothole on the Paseo Dinero

1. Debt Analyzer -how much is too much debt
2. Take the Life or Debt Quiz
3. College Debt - how much is too much college debt
4. Credit ratings and credit scores importance
5. Strategies for coping with consumer debt
6. Taking longer to getting a degree could lead to more debt
7. Debt worries - stress, depression, even suicide
8. College students and bankruptcy
9. Getting help
   • UTSA Counseling Services
   • Reputable debt management and credit counseling services - Texas Attorney General web site

March - being a bank accountholder; being unbanked has a downside; locating a bank & at UTSA

1. Why have a bank account - Get Started - article from Fed Reserve Bank Atlanta
2. Banking on the UTSA main campus - Frost Bank
3. High costs of non-bank services when you need to cash a check
4. "Down side" of check-cashing services - a YouTube video
5. Locate a bank near you with the features you want
6. Bank rates, types, security - Bankrate.com
7. Checking Account 101 - basics in having and managing a checking account from Bankrate.com

Money Journey - globe-trotting Rowdy Cents' home page

Play - having fun with financial games; knowing vacation tips and "staycation" tips

1. me, SAVE? - video vignette about types of spenders - feedthepig.org
2. Track-o-matic and Get it on Credit - cartoon videos
3. $avingsman -cartoon video
4. Practical Money Skills for Life - games and quizzes
5. Credit Card Simulator - practice using a credit card and payment choices; money quizzes
6. Credit Card Skills Builder - practice using a credit card and payment choices
7. Texas Reality Check - flash player version- Texas cities, jobs, salaries, education-levels
8. Texas Reality Check - non-flash player version
9. Show Me the Future - education-levels, salaries, expenses (geared somewhat toward a younger crowd)
10. The Debt Ski Game - jump on the debt ski and ride the waves of life

Reach - money saving tips for all and for college students; money-wasters for UTSA students

1. Mid-term money blues - (a PDF file) tips about what to do when your money is running low
2. Couponmom.com - many coupons to print and save money
3. Amazon, eBay, half, and Barnes and Noble - for buying text/class related books
4. Chegg and CollegeBookRenter - for renting textbooks
5. American Opportunity Tax Credit - 2009 tax credit for books and supplies - some limitations apply
6. www.textbookaid.org - more about text book aid
7. March - your money to the bank and find out why
8. Money-wasters (PDF file) - avoid these as a UTSA student

Run -the race of time; managing time in your life and in school

1. Time management and study skills - UTSA Tomas Rivera Center resources
2. Study Guides and Strategies - interactive schedule and "to do" list; preparing for college, learning, studying tips
3. ECampus Tours - campus life and dealing with school pressures
4. Blogs about time-saving tips, money-saving advice, and life-coping strategies:
   • Lifehacker
   • Zenhabits
   • Productivity501
   • Dumb Little Man
   • School is a Game (written by a college student)
   • Get Rich Slowly
5. Campusgrotto.com -blog and advice for students and prospective students
6. spendster.org -"stuff" stories - money and time wasted

Stretch - spending wisely, saving money and a strategy to do, money-wasters for UTSA students

1. Begin with Financial Goals - Rowdy Cents' MS Word form for writing financial goals
2. Financial calculators - English version --online calculations of savings, mortgages, credit card payments, using interest rates
3. Calculadoras Financieras - en Espanol
4. Savings strategy - the 70-20-10 plan
5. America Saves - join the campaign to be a saver
6. Glosssary of types of investment (savings) vehicles -PDF
7. Money-saving tips - PDF
8. America Saves - join with others in America to save money
9. "Savings Strategies: Coping with Consumer Debt" - America Saves newsletter feature article

Walk -on the Paseo Dinero or the "Money Walk" and making decisions that impact finances

1. Life Decisions - financial impacts of marriage, children, education, retirement, etc. (from Smart About Money)
2. Paseo - Rowdy Cents' theme from the UTSA 2004 Master Plan

PAGE UPDATED 11/16/09

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