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Being a Broke College Student as Told By “Friends”

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Wisconsin chapter.

College is all about getting an education, making new friends, having fun, and… crippling debt? The stereotype of the “broke college student” may seem funny to everyone else, but for college students it’s a harsh reality.

 

Three words we all want to hear? There’s free food.

Whether you are going somewhere or not depends on if there will be free pizza.

Going shopping makes you feel worse about yourself because it’s only ever window-shopping.

It’s not rare for your account balance to read $5 or less.

For unknown reasons, you always seem to use that $5 for coffee or more food.

Then you question why you spent that money.

To survive in college you absolutely need a job— or two.

Yet after receiving your paycheck, you can still only afford ramen.

Thinking about paying for tuition, textbooks, and your ever-growing student debt makes you question your life entirely on a daily basis. 

To make matters worse, everyone seems to be planning a fun spring break trip while you plan to reenact sad movie scenes at home because you can’t afford to go anywhere.

You frequently put all of this aside and try to act like you’ve got everything under control. 

In the end, being a broke college student is a struggle. If you think you’re alone, we can assure you that you’re not. It isn’t a fun time in life, however it does act as an initiation ritual into your adult life.

Chloe Billstrom

Wisconsin '20

A junior studying Sociology, Spanish, and Global Health who also has a love for writing and languages.
Madison is a senior at the University of Wisconsin pursuing a major in English Literature with minors in Entrepreneurship and Digital Media Studies. Post college, Madison plans to complete her dreams of being the next Anna Wintour. In her free time, Madison enjoys listening to Eric Hutchinson, eating dark chocolate, and FaceTiming her puppies back home. When she isn't online shopping, or watching YouTube bloggers (ie Fleur DeForce), Madison loves exploring the vast UW Campus and all it has to offer! She is very excited to take this next step in her collegiette career as Campus Correspondent and Editor-in-Chief for HC Wisco. On Wisconsin!