Graduating from college is an extremely exciting time, whether it’s your kids who have completed their studies or you have finished after returning to college during adulthood. Even though it may be an extremely happy and joyful time packed full of lots of celebrations, it also marks the beginning of an extremely serious part of life. For young graduates, it marks the beginning of their adult life; for older graduates, it could be the start of a new direction in their career.

But whether young or old, graduation will mean one thing for everything – it’s now the time to try and get your finances in order. That’s because paying for tuition and college is extremely expensive. Sure, there are ways you can try and bring down the overall costs, such as by studying from your own home and not having to move into college accommodation, but that won’t completely wipe your slate, and you will probably still end up graduating with excessive loans to pay back.

So, ready to try and get your life back in order and get on top of your financial situation? If so, these following tips are everything you need to do. Follow them, and you will find that your cents start to turn into dollars in no time at all!

Sell What You No Longer Need

Now that you are no longer doing into college every day, you will probably find that you have quite a few items and belongings that you no longer need. For instance, lots of people come away from college with lots of textbooks and workbooks that they no longer need. At least you can now sell your textbooks to get some money back from them and to free up some room on your bookshelf. If you have a lot of leftover stationery and other equipment that could be useful to others, it’s a good idea to sell all of that as well. You might want to list some pieces on eBay to see how much you can get for it all.

Move to Cheaper Accomodations

Now that you are no longer a student, you won’t be able to stay in the college’s student accommodation. But don’t worry, that could actually be a good thing. If you are a young graduate, that means you can now move back in with your parents (if they will have you back!). Most parents don’t charge their kids any rent – if they do it is only very minimal to cover the cost of food. This will work out a lot cheaper than paying rent, even for discounted student accommodation.

It’s a good idea to stay with your parents until you find a full-time job and can support yourself. If you are an older graduate and can’t move back in with your parents, you might want to start flat-hunting for a more affordable place to live. Even though this might sound like a lot of effort, it will certainly help your finances in the long run!

Start Your Job Hunt BEFORE You Graduate

One of the best things you can do is try to find the time to start job hunting before you end up graduating. This is a really good tactic as it gives you the chance to get a head start before the majority of all your fellow graduates start to look for a new job as well. For example, if you are a nursing graduate, by using a nursing agency job opportunities are easily visible and aren’t as time-consuming as job hunting yourself.

You’ll pretty much have the first choice over all the best jobs! Don’t worry if you are really busy with studying and exams in the run up to your graduation.

There are still lots of small tasks that you should be able to take care of without wasting any of your time that should be taken up with college work. For instance, it’s worth working on a shortlist of jobs that you will eventually apply for. You might also want to start rewriting your resume so that it is good to go once you do start sending off applications.

It doesn’t matter what you do before you graduate as long as you do something. Every little counts and can help you on your journey to a great job that pays well! And then, once you do start working, you will be in a better financial position to start repaying all of your college loans.

Work While You Job Hunt

Taking a while to bag your best possible graduate job? There’s no reason you can’t work part time while you work on your job applications in your spare time. In fact, this is a good idea compared to being unemployed as you look for a proper full-time job as it means you can support yourself and start paying off your student loans. This part-time work doesn’t have to be too stressful for you. You could just take a job as a waiter or waitress in a cafe or restaurant, for instance. But it’s a good idea to try and find a part-time job that is related to what you want to end up doing full-time. For instance, if you want to try and get into publishing, you might want to look for a part-time job as a librarian or a bookshop assistant.

Get Out of Your Overdraft

The majority of students will dip into their overdraft at some point during the course of their education. This is largely because many banks offer extremely attractive interest rates to their student customers, so that they don’t end up paying a lot for taking out this extra money. However, once you graduate, you will find that your bank will be very quick to increase the interest rates. So, try and get out of your overdraft as soon as you possibly can. Even if you can only afford to pay back a couple of dollars a month, it’s better than nothing!

Once you graduate, it might feel like returning to the earth with a big bump. Hopefully, all of the above can help you transition into the graduated world a lot easier!