Personal Finance

The cost of college has been in the spotlight for a while now, with student loan debt being the most common debt referenced in “getting out of debt” blogs and articles. Student loan debt reached $1.5 trillion in 2018! (CQ researcher - Gurevich, N. (2018, May 8). College debt. CQ researcher. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/)

One way to combat the ever growing student loan dilemma is to learn about Personal Finance and how to make your money work hard for you and not someone else. The less money you have to borrow, the less you have to pay back.

We have some excellent resources in the Library and at ACC to help you out with this.

A great book that adds perspective is The latte factor : why you don't have to be rich to live rich by David Bach. This quick read will show you how even small money decisions make a big difference. If you would like to try budgeting, check out You Need A Budget (YNAB). They offer a year of YNAB for free for college students! https://www.youneedabudget.com/college/

YNAB’s Four Rules of budgeting are a great help even if you don’t use their budgeting software. Learn about them here: https://www.youneedabudget.com/the-four-rules/. Prefer to read about the Four Rules in a book? We have you covered with You need a budget : the proven system for breaking the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, getting out of debt, and living the life you want by Jesse Mecham.

Did you know that you can request to have books sent from their home campus to any of the other ACC campuses for easy pickup? (Who wants to fight Austin traffic, right?) Click Request This Item next to any book to do so.

Those two books don’t sound like your cup of tea? The Library has over 500 books and videos on personal finance! Check out our Personal Finance and Financial Literacy ResearchGuide to find even more resources, such as lists of many of the personal finance books and streaming videos in the Library collection, great websites, and much more.

Want to put the personal in personal finance and work with a Financial Coach or a Peer Money Mentor? Visit ACC’s Student Money Office to work with a coach or mentor and to learn from their many other resources.

And as always, the Librarians are always happy to help you find any resources you need. Come chat with us about finding sources on Personal Finance to help you get started on your journey.