Texan Mosaic

Story and photos by Abriel Mata/COMM 2311-601

We’ve probably all heard the Capital One ad slogan:  “What’s in your wallet?” 

If you find yourself answering “nothing” all too often, you might not be aware of how you’re spending your money.

We surveyed 20 South Plains College students this semester anonymously to explore how they are spending their money.  Results revealed most are giving in to fast food.

But SPC students are not the only college students who say eating out adds up.   The total tab for how much the average college student spends on eating out each month varies depending on what source you look at.   But the cost can be high.

For instance, according to the Education Data Initiative, a research organization that collects data about the U.S. education system, college students spend $410 each month eating out at restaurants.  Do the math.  410 x 8 months of fall and spring semesters is $3280.  That’s without holidays and summer months.

Another site, Admissionsly.com, which calls itself a “go-to” site for students for reliable statistics about education, says eating out costs college students $4000 per year.

One obvious way to stop the spending damage is to just stop eating out.  But fast food is convenient. Plus, advertising makes it tempting.

Krisha Hoelscher, an assistant professor of economics here at SPC, says college students are marketed to “more than anyone”.

 “On average, you see 3000 ads a day,” she says.  “Yeah, it’s crazy.”

Hoelscher says she covers the issue of wasting money on eating out in her class.  Her budgeting advice is pretty straightforward.

 “You’re going to assign an eating out amount,” she says.  “Take that amount out in cash, put it in an envelope, and when you go out to eat, spend the money out of that envelope.  Once that money is gone, then you got to wait until the next budget cycle.”

Hoelscher admits that saving money for college students is hard.

“It’s hard because college students are broke,” she says.  “I had one student actually, we do an activity in my class and they have to keep a spending journal for a week.  And she looked at her budget, her spending, and she was spending $350 a month going to Starbucks.” Melissa Cavasos, an instructor of accounting at SPC, recommends meal planning to save money in college.

She also recommends various apps like NerdWallet, Quickens, and Rocket Money to help track bills.

“What you do for that is you just enter in all your expenses, and it starts to calculate,” she says.  “So especially for those areas where we’re seeing that we’re spending a lot of money on the food items, that at that point we need to start seeing, hey, if I’m spending, you know, 40% of my allowance on food alone, that’s where you can start cutting back as well.” Cavasos also suggests students try using the “Financial Literacy” tab on the SPC main web page.  You can find it by clicking on “Degrees and Programs”. 

Then click on “Student Pathways to Success”.

The “Financial Literacy” link offers tools and tips about how to establish a budget, build and maintain credit as well as save and invest.

“I know we can spend a lot of money,” Cavasos says, “especially I see DoorDash, you know, where you can choose and pick where you want to eat certain items from, and you can spend a lot of money doing that way.”

So maybe it’s time to resist that fast food temptation.  At the end of the day, ask yourself if you’re budgeting enough to keep your wallet green.