School of Fintech: Managing Your Finances as a College Student

An exciting transformative period awaits you as you brace up for your college life. It’s more than an academic journey, given that more significant social and financial exposure requires you to cultivate responsible money-management skills. You might sometimes feel overwhelmed as you try to balance your social life, studies, and financial responsibilities.

Regarding financial literacy and responsibilities, college students can hardly afford to overlook fintech to master money management like a pro! If you aren’t aware of how digital technologies are transforming money-handling habits among young students, it’s time to explore the fascinating domain.

By adopting fintech tools and practices, college students can optimize their money management skills. So, if you are busy applying for your scholarships or grants, understand the potential of fintech to ease up finances in your college life.

Why are college students embracing fintech?

The revolution in digital technologies has transformed the global financial landscape. Thankfully for college students, fintech solutions offer multiple benefits tailored to their specific requirements.

Think of digital wallets, expense-tracking tools, budgeting apps, and mobile banking apps. Isn’t it easy to keep track of your finances with a plethora of fintech tools? With greater accessibility, convenience, and real-time financial insights, fintech companies are helping cultivate financial literacy among young adults.

Financially resilient students at graduate or undergraduate levels remain organized while managing finances. This enables them to make informed decisions, whether it comes to clearing their student debt, contributing to their employers’ 401 (k) account, or saving money.

How can students manage finances using fintech?

Whether applying for your FAFSA through fintech platforms, starting a SIP, investing in the stock market, or splitting bills with your friends, fintech apps can transform your money-handling habits. Let’s delve deeper into how fintech has been redefining the financial lives of students.

Expense tracking and budgeting

Well, deciding to pursue your graduation might be the largest financial commitment you ever made! How about managing your finances and sticking to a budget throughout your college life? You won’t want your loans to haunt you long after you graduate, right?

A study reveals that 47% of millennials using budgeting apps are more confident in money management. Fintech companies have launched several apps to help students stay at the top of their finances. Some of the popular expense-tracking and budgeting apps include:

• YNAB (You Need a Budget): This is a budgeting app commonly used by students in the USA. It focuses on creating a proactive budgeting system and encourages students to save more.
• Mint: Mint is a comprehensive fintech app that syncs with your bank accounts. Students use this app for categorizing expenses and getting personalized recommendations on budgets.
• PocketGuard: This is an app that enables students to create a personalized budget. Besides, you can track expenses and monitor spending habits using this fintech app.

Some of these tools are designed to send notifications as you exceed your budget limits. No wonder these tools can help you gain a comprehensive overview of your financial health. Accordingly, you can identify where you are draining resources and curtail your expenses.

Digital payment solutions

There’s no denying that cashless transactions ensure greater convenience and security in managing expenses. You might already use digital wallets such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal. Apart from making contactless payments at your hostel or locality, you can also keep track of your account statements.

Therefore, fintech payment solutions allow students to track their expenses, split bills with friends, and enhanced security features. Besides, there are some peer-to-peer payment platforms such as Zelle or Venmo. These apps enable seamless fund transfers between friends. This way, students find it easy to handle shared expenses such as utilities, rent, or group outings.

Since you can review the transaction history at any time, monitoring your expenses becomes easier.

Student loan management apps

Managing student loans shouldn’t give you nightmares! Of course, you wouldn’t like to graduate with debt. While you stream income through your side hustle or job, it pays to count on fintech platforms for valuable loan management tools.

Let’s take a look at the popular loan management fintech tools for students.

Student Loan Hero: This app offers student loan repayment calculators that can help you strategically put aside those funds before making other expenses. Besides, you might find their guides on student loan forgiveness programs valuable. Student Loan Hero also recommends personalized repayment plans. Your student loan burden wouldn’t weigh too heavily with the right approach.

LoanBuddy: LoanBuddy is…