Alexis chose to go to college.

She’s ready to invest in higher education so she can pursue the career that most interests her. She’s been accepted for admission at several colleges, and she needs to decide which school is right for her.

I’ve always loved computers so working in IT sounds like a great fit for me. I used Money Path to look at the starting salaries for a bunch of different IT jobs and, once I get my degree, I can start out as a network and computer systems administrator getting paid $59,000 a year. All I have to do now is choose a college. I’ve narrowed it down to two that have everything I’m looking for, and I just heard from both of them about my financial aid packages. I put that info into Money Path, and the app factored in tuition, my academic scholarship, housing, and all the other things I’ll have to pay for. That made it easy to see which school is less expensive, so that’s the school I’m going with!


Money Path also showed me what my monthly student loan payment will be after I finish school. I panicked a little bit when I saw $352 a month! That’s pretty high, and I really want to start saving to buy a house within a few years after I graduate. So I went back to Money Path. I used the employment income calculator to figure out that, if I get a part time job working 12 hours a week while I’m in school, I can cut my monthly loan payment down to $203 a month! Much better. If I stick to a budget, I can start out saving almost $5000 a year, which means I’ll be ready to put a down payment on a house within five years after I graduate. It feels good to have a plan.

College Data Points Background
Career: Network and Computer Systems Administrator at a growing manufacturing company. Narrowed my college choices to two schools, entered the financial aid package they awarded me and chose the option that left me with the lowest amount of student loan debt.
Starting Salary: $59,032
My student loan debt: $24,000
Annual loan payments: $2436
After using the employment income calculator, determined I would work 12 hours per week during each semester to lower my future student loan payment by $149 a month ($352 vs. $203).
Annual amount I can save: $4740 I have a goal of saving money right away when I start my career and I was able to build a budget that allows me to save $395 each month.
College Student Financial Literacy