22, $42,000 - 8k debt.

[jmpride05]

Hey guys im in need of some advice.

I work 20 hours a week as a Personal Shopper while attending a public four year school for my bachelors.

I make $42,000 a year only working 20 hours a week which is great for my school so i can have time to study and work. HOWEVER, i always find myself broke between

Rent $600
Car payment $250
Insurance $250
Phone $100

Credit Cards $200 a month over $8k in debt between 3 cards.

I want to get out of debt while in school because i have student federal loans to take care of my education of $13k a year for 2 more years.

I got a $3,400 excess check from Financial Aid.

Do I?

Use that money towards negative equity of what i owe on the car and then sell it since i can use public transportation for school and work in my city. Saving me $500 a month.

Use the money towards rent or my living expense?

Put it in a savings or MMA?

or find another job that will pay me better, although I dont know about any job without a degree working 20 hrs a week that will pay me $42,000 a yr?

[disneysteve]

Welcome. Tell us more. What is the balance and rate on each of the credit cards? What is the balance, rate and current value of the car? And why is your phone bill so high? It might help to see the rest of your budget, too.

[jasonnoguchi]

Always pay off the highest interest debts first. In this case, I would assume its your 8k credit cards. After that, its the car. If you can help it, get a better paying job too.

[Vytautas]

Drop the car and insurance if that wont affect your life to dramatically (sounds like it wont). You can then use that $500 a month combined with any excess loan funds to repay your credit cards. You might also want to consider getting lower rent (I've been able to consistently find around $300 / month rent with a roommate).

If you want to just get rid of your CC debt all of that may not be necessary but you can also build up an emergency fund to give you some more time finding your dream job after graduation.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by jmpride05

Put it in a savings or MMA?

Definitely, definitely MMA because the UFC is now legalized sport and is fast displacing boxing and pro-wrestling....

Hmm? Oh, not that kind of MMA? Well, any savings will work.

The phone bill could probably be cut down too, if you really want to.

[melinuxfool]

If saving money is your priority, why not just live in a campus dorm? It's a lot cheaper than an apartment.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by melinuxfool

If saving money is your priority, why not just live in a campus dorm? It's a lot cheaper than an apartment.

That's often not the case which is a big reason why many students choose to live off campus - it is cheaper. That is especially true if the school requires those living in the dorm to be on the campus meal plan. If a few people share a house or large apartment and do their own cooking, it can be much cheaper than living on campus.

[Caoineag]

Originally Posted by melinuxfool

If saving money is your priority, why not just live in a campus dorm? It's a lot cheaper than an apartment.

Back when I was in college, I did the math and it cost me $900 per month (mainly due to the outrageous food plan) to live in the dorms with a roommate. Groceries and rent on my own cost $400.

[am_vanquish]

Originally Posted by Caoineag

Back when I was in college, I did the math and it cost me $900 per month (mainly due to the outrageous food plan) to live in the dorms with a roommate. Groceries and rent on my own cost $400.

Many schools are now making it mandatory for all freshman to live on campus and purchase a meal plan. Heck, my wife is 22, married, moved across 3 states for nursing school, and took a year off of school to establish in-state residency ... and we STILL had to apply for a waiver so she didn't have to live on campus (because it was her first year at the new university). They let us out of the on-campus living but we still had to buy a meal plan for her first year. It's outrageous how schools can nickel and dime you to death. We barely got them to let us opt out of the mandatory student health insurance plan even though we're paying my employer $250/month for better coverage.

To the OP: $42,000/year is a very generous paycheck while in college (I made $5.25/hr when I was in school 2 years ago). That's about $3500 gross per month. The expenses you mentioned in your post only add up to $1,400/month. Even with food, gas, utilities, it seems like there's a decent chunk missing. Where's the rest of this going?