College is not cheap. No matter where you go to school, you'll find yourself piling up in debt and expenses.
It's not even the big stuff like tuition or housing that will render you penniless sometimes. No, it's the small stuff like toiletries, gas money, textbooks, money for food, streaming services (some might say that you can cut this expense, but Netflix is quite literally the only thing keeping me going right now), and laundry.
A lot of the time, you are expected to handle all of your expenses the same as an adult with a full-time job would do. But you aren't. You are a struggling, busy college student with crappy part-time jobs where most of the money you earn going to tuition.
So it's no surprise that week after week most college students find themselves barely making ends meet. But that's OK.
Most of the time, I drive myself into even more debt by trying to pretend I am not strapped for cash. I'll go out with friends even though my bank accounts will probably hit the negatives if I do so. If I'm out shopping with my friends, I'll buy something I don't even want just to make it seem as if I am some high-earning adult who can afford to splurge every now and then, but I'm not.
It's OK to admit to people that you aren't doing well financially. Because chances are with the extreme rates of tuition every college student is paying, they are probably in a similar boat.
I used to hide my financial status by buying new clothes instead of wearing my old hand-me-downs from my sister. I didn't want to have to see that look of pity on their face whenever I told my friends I couldn't go out with them because all there was in my bank account was a bunch of zeros. But now, in a way, I have come to accept and be proud of my less-than-satisfactory financial status.
It's no secret why I am always strapped for cash. If anyone has the nerve to ask you why you wear such outdated clothes, you can go ahead and direct them to Google, where they can look up what the average cost of college tuition is in the U.S. How would they like to be shoveling all that money out every semester with absolutely no financial aid while still trying to keep up with all the other expenses that come with living?
You don't have to keep up a facade, it's no secret where your money is going.
You are putting what little money you have into your future, and there is nothing wrong with that. So it's OK to miss a few night outs with your friends if it means that one day in the future, you'll have a job that pays you well enough that you'll be able to make up for all those missed dinners and then some.
