Advice to all grads: Tighten purse strings

By Joshua O'Connell
Posted Monday, May 26, 2003

Graduation time is here for both college and high school students alike.

Back when I was in high school, I was given nuggets of wisdom about college. However, those gems, while fine in preparing me for the big step toward life in the real world, weren't the diamonds in the rough I was hoping for.

One important lesson I learned quite early was to save money as much and as often as I could. Once the bottomless purse known as the parents aren't within yelling distance, it doesn't matter how much money you're making, it's never enough.

Nights out with friends or significant others, nights in nursing a pizza (delivered, of course) and the hundreds spent on textbooks each semester suddenly have to come out of a well that becomes incredibly shallow.

I saved over $1,000 when I went to school, and despite working part-time, I found that the money was gone by March, causing me to re-evaluate whether a CD was considered a "necessary" expense, or if even the late night food was.

Needless to say, the local economy started to weep once I tightened the purse strings.

I also wish that tips about how to best use my new-found personal freedom were offered.

It's easy to fall into the trap of not keeping up with school work, and then suddenly finding a lot of material waiting for me to learn before a midterm or final that of course was no more than a day or two away.

It's even easier for life to spin out of control with a job, extra-curricular activities, and the normal personal problems that come up, complicating things even more.

No matter how alluring the particular night's entertainment ("The 90210 reunion is on tonight - let's all get together and watch it!"), sometimes it's just better to take a step back and get some work done. Those 10-page papers don't write themselves, and despite how good it sounds at 3 a.m. the morning it's due, it probably isn't nearly as good as it could have been when I was of sound mind and body.

While these pieces of advice have been lost in the shuffle, one that I took from high school is to look forward to what's ahead.

College offers more freedom and opportunity than high school, and life outside the ivy walls offers even more. I've only had a taste of what I can do, but I can't wait for the last year of college to pass so I can take on my next challenge.

This column originally ran May 26, 2003 in the Connecticut Post.

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