Monthly College Budget

It’s no surprise that college is expense. A capitalist society breeds rising education costs, and that means students must learn to budget well to receive an education. The Monthly College Budget Excel Template is an easy for a new college student to plan out their finances well before the school year begins.

How to use the Monthly College Excel Budget

After downloading the Excel page using the link below, the template will open with some pre-populated data to help guide you. Skip the first area with the graphs and the “Monthly Cash After Expense”. The first column to fill is the “Monthly Income”. Under each month, enter the amount of cash you will receive from various sources each month. The total will calculate at the bottom. Do not enter information for the following months unless you are absolutely sure you will be receiving that income.

Next are the dreaded monthly expenses.  Fill in the costs for each category, from room and board down to car insurance. Leave a “-“ in any categories that don’t matter. Since these numbers are more stagnant, you can fill in a few months ahead.

Once this is done, the percentages, totals, and yearly costs will be calculated in each horizontal column. Move above to the categories you skipped earlier and view you’ll see the over/under of income and expenses for each month entered along with visual graphs to help you budget. Once this is filled in, you will be able to track and budget your spending for the school year.

Tips on using the Monthly College Budget

• Use the sliding bar under the line graph to choose which month you want to view individually, or go down to “Year” to view it all.
• Adjust your monthly budget as needed. You don’t want to fall behind and end up spending more than you’re making.
• Print a copy for each month and keep it in a visible place to remind you about your expenses.
• Start a new template for each year. If you start school in September, don’t backtrack to January for the next semester. This will throw off your budget.

Download the Monthly College Budget

Template courtesy of Microsoft