SoFi Blog

The beauty of college is it’s one of the only times in your life where your primary responsibility is to learn and grow. But all of this freedom to expand your horizons can come with a hefty price tag.

The average cost of tuition at a private undergraduate college during the 2018-2019 school year was $35,676. The rising cost of attending college has also caused student loan debt to skyrocket—Americans collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt .

When faced with the reality of tuition costs, room and board, books, school supplies, and other living expenses, a college student’s budget can be extremely tight. If you’ve been left wondering “how to make money as a student,” one way is to improve your personal cash flow.

Finding a side hustle that works in your busy student schedule can be a great way to combat the high cost of attending college. Here are some tips on how to earn money in college, without taking too much time away from your studies and social life.

Having hobbies that you enjoy can add significant pleasure to your life. From skydiving to knitting, or archaeology to photography, hobbies can provide endless possibilities for fun and engagement. Some of them can be fairly inexpensive (and there are even hobbies that cost nothing, or nearly so), while others can cost some pretty big bucks.

To add to the picture, what’s affordable for one person may be pricey for someone else. If your hobbies fall into the big-bucks category, based on your financial circumstances, you may find that you’re spending more than what you can finance from your income alone—and, in that case, you may be going into debt to continue to enjoy the hobbies you love.

So, is it worth it? Are hobbies worth going into debt for? Only you can answer that question, but we’ll provide observations and insights for you to consider in this post, including ways to budget hobbies effectively if you’d like to better manage expenses. And, if you’ve found that you’re already in more debt than you’d like from the pursuit of hobbies, and you’d like to get out of that debt, we’ll offer up some practical tips.

If you think you’ll need to apply for federal student loans to pay for your college education, filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) is mandatory. Filling it out is relatively straightforward, and doing so may successfully qualify you for multiple types of federal funding. But, you may find yourself needing some guidance in filling it out, and that’s perfectly normal.

To find assistance, check to see if a local high school or community college is offering a financial aid services FAFSA prep event. If so, consider attending because you may find it helpful to listen to people experienced in filling out the application. They can offer strategies and tips that can streamline the process, and answer your questions.

The Millennial generation has become synonymous with student loan debt, swiping right and left on dating apps, and taking a political stance, whether for the right, left, or anywhere in between. These associations also have a tendency to bleed together: beliefs about money, love, and politics all impact one another in interesting ways.

So, for this Valentine’s Day, we surveyed over 1,000 millennials (ages 25-35) across the U.S. to see how they are navigating these topics and found some trends that surprised us.

When you’re working on your tax return each year, it’s tempting to get through it as quickly as possible, then forget all about the stress it caused.

But tax season is actually a great time to take a look at the year that’s behind you and use that information to plan for the years ahead—especially if you’ve made some major transitions in your life.

If you’re newly married, new parents, or new homeowners, for example—or expect to be sometime soon—your tax situation may change. And so, by extension, will the ways you budget and invest for the future. Look at it as an opportunity to sit down with your spouse, maybe with a glass of wine, and strategize.