By managing your personal finances and maintaining good credit, you will contribute to your success in college and after graduation. Being proactive about your financial management will reduce your stress and help you plan for your future!

Step 1: If you receive financial aid, use VIP to apply your financial aid and pay your tuition. Your financial aid is not automatically advanced to pay your bill (this applies to partial aid, as well as full financial aid). You must login to VIP. https://vip.sc.edu/ If you do not apply your financial aid to your account by logging into VIP, your classes will be dropped! Make sure your mailing address is correct on VIP. Any important information from Financial Aid will be sent to the address listed on VIP.

Step 2: Know the requirements for maintaining your scholarships and financial aid.
Your academic success is affected by your financial aid and scholarships. To retain your eligibility for Federal Financial Aid you must be making Satisfactory Academic Progress; that is making steady progress towards your degree.

As an Undergraduate student you must:

1. Maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0
   
2. Full-time students must earn a minimum of 24 credit hours per academic year. Part-time students must earn all credits that are attempted
   
3. Complete all bachelor's degree work in the equivalent of 12 full-time semesters.

As a graduate student you must earn a minimum of 12 credit hours per academic year

For more detailed information of these standards visit the Financial Aid and Scholarships web site at http://www.sc.edu/financialaid/sap.html

Go to http://www.sc.edu/financialaid/academicret.html for information concerning your university and state scholarships. For further questions concerning including Financial Aid and Scholarships visit http://www.sc.edu/financialaid/

Step 3: Develop a personal budget.
Write down your available money and your expenses. Know how you are spending your money! Find ways to reduce your spending and put the extra money into a savings account. If you get in the habit of saving money in college, you’ll be more likely to continue this habit following graduation. Visit
http://www.cuestnet.com/carolinacfcu/education/uym/uym2main.htm to gain an understanding of credit, learn how to establish your checking account, and to begin setting goals for your finances.

Step 4: Understand how to use your checking account.
Make sure your account works for you (for example, are you being charged fees/surcharges at the ATM?). Balance your checkbook by recording each withdrawal and deposit in your checkbook register. Also, compare your checkbook register to your monthly financial institution statement.

Step 5: Use your overage checks from financial aid wisely.
Your overage checks should be used for needs (paying rent), not wants (buying a new stereo). Don’t spend this money all at once, especially on unnecessary items. If you are given more money than you need at the time, and you have student loans, you can return it to your lender. Remember, you will have to pay this money back when you graduate. Don’t accumulate more debt than necessary!

Step 6: Understand the reality of repaying your loans.
To monitor your student borrowing, you can create an account on the federal Department of Education’s loan tracking system, http://www.nslds.ed.gov. There you can view your Stafford and Perkins loans. Your lender contact information will be available as well as details concerning any loan consolidations. Understand what the possibilities are for monthly payments on your student loans. Find out how much you have borrowed at http://www.nslds.ed.gov and then go to http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpaymentchart.phtml
The calculator can generate charts that compare monthly payments, total payments, and total interest paid over the lifetime of the loan. Be aware of your student loan debt and borrow responsibly!

Step 7: Limit your use of credit cards.
One credit card (with a fixed rate and no annual fee) is sufficient for emergencies (and building your credit, if you pay the entire balance on a monthly basis). If you don’t pay the entire balance each month, think of a credit card as a very expensive loan…money you have to pay back with relatively high interest rates. Don’t sign up for extra credit cards even for a free t-shirt or retail store cards. Your credit report has long-term effects (7-10 years) on your buying power and employment opportunities.

To learn information on credit card use and what to avoid, visit http://www.carolina.org/creditcards.html

Step 8: Visit the Career Center and use the Career Library resources.
A few of the most helpful books on financial management include:
A Car, Some Cash and a Place to Crash (see the Money Matters chapter)
Welcome to Your Financial Life
Life After Graduation: Financial Advice & Money Saving Tips
http://careerweb.sa.sc.edu/shelflist/

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