Financial Literacy Importance Scholarship

Funded by

wiseGEEK

Eligibility Requirements

Education Level:

Any

Education Level:

Any

The way we manage our money can heavily impact our lives.

Poorly-managed finances can keep you from living comfortably and achieving your goals, such as owning a car or buying a house. Since college is expensive, it is commonly known that college students don’t often have much money to spare. College is a time where it’s extremely important to learn how to manage your personal finances. For that reason, the Financial Literacy Importance Scholarship will award a deserving student who understands why it’s important to manage their money.

Any current student is eligible to apply if they work to manage their money well. To apply, write about why it is important to manage your finances well and what techniques you use to be smart with your money.

Selection Criteria:

Ambition, Need, Boldest Bold.org Profile

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Published December 1, 2022

Essay Topic

Why is it important for you to manage your finances as a student? What do you do to manage your finances well?

400–600 words

Winners and Finalists

May 2023

Winners

Abigail DeKam

West Virginia University

Finalists

Northeastern University

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Warren, MI

Kearstin Safford

Gainesville High School

Harrisonburg, VA

Winning Application

Abigail DeKam

West Virginia UniversityPlatte, SD

It is 2009, and my parents are saving to move and achieve their dream job: owning and managing a mom-and-pop motel. When I say this sentence, many people start to categorize us. It's no secret that mom-and-pop's have a stigma of being owned by run-down, burnt-out couples. However, I am thankful to say that they worked tenaciously to save money as well as to keep it looking better each day. The principles of hard work and intellectual spending have run deep within my family's roots. Even when I was younger, I always looked to my father for financial advice with my 10-dollar monthly allowance. That is to say, for many years, I seldom followed it. However, approaching my first years of college, I have begun to learn the significance of money. Four months ago, from the coercion of my father and budgeting YouTube channels, I bought my own budget binder. I have one lilac binder for spending and one lemon yellow binder for saving. With a budget binder, you make envelopes for different categories like food, presents, college savings, and gas. Then, each month you get your paycheck and put however much money you think you will spend in each category into their respective envelopes. By making budgeting a game of sorts with my budget binder, I have begun to learn the value of my money. These past months I have seen myself save more money than all last year. No longer do I dip out of my savings, attempting to find every small way it can be "used towards my college education" when it, in fact, cannot. This isn't to say that I have figured it out yet. Most months, I end up scrambling for gas money or telling friends that I can't go out because I spent my entire month's food budget on boba and coffee in the first two weeks. That being said, I love to ask my dad questions about one of the things he loves most: finances. I know that if the numbers don't seem plausible, I can ask him to help (after all, getting the numbers correct is his favorite element of budgeting). I hope to learn this love from him and enhance my understanding of budgeting. Now I share how my father and my budgeting binder have helped me to budget with my younger friends who ask for college advice. To me, being wise with your money is one of the best ways to succeed at getting out of college with little debt. My journey with budgeting isn't over and I am glad to have someone like my father to help me through it.