“Mentors won’t make you rich. Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself.” - Naval Ravikant

I recently had the opportunity to speak to personal finance students at Rutgers University, my alma mater. With my 8 month old in tow, I spoke about the concept of caregiving and how all of us will eventually become caregivers at one point. Whether it's caring for children or the elderly, sick or disabled, family caregiving is a noble gesture, but it is also unpaid labor. Family caregivers are more likely to switch to part-time work which reduces their income. A reduction in income means less to save and invest. We discussed how the topics they are learning in the personal finance class can help them financially prepare for this inevitably. This was on March 2nd. 

A week later, the novel coronavirus made its way through the US population impacting people everywhere. Colleges and universities around the U.S. sent notices to their students informing them that they had to vacate the campus in order to avoid the spread of Covid-19. Talk about startling news. For many of these students, they were just a week away from experiencing their first or last spring break. Now, many are home wondering how to complete the rest of their college semester and what kind of jobs will be available come May.

With the help of one of our sisters, Elaine, who graduated from NJIT last year, we thought we would provide a few tips to help college students and more specifically, college seniors, weather the effects of Covid-19 in their future plans. She also writes for this site. Find her articles here.

I was three years out of undergrad when the 2008 recession happened. I had just started a new job in New York City in a completely different industry when the mortgage crisis unraveled so a part of this are some lessons I learned during that time. The most important being to prepare and not let fear get in the way of action and to always think about your future self and future family.

Take Stock of the Present

That feeling you are having right now, social scientists and psychologists are positing that as grief. That feeling is OK, but it may be a shock to you as this is the first time you are feeling something like it. The world has changed. Your world has changed. “The loss of normalcy; the fear of economic toll; the loss of connection. This is hitting us and we’re grieving. Collectively. We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air.”

Many of your friends and family members are most likely feeling the same way. Talk about it. Understand the stages of grief as this will help you understand some of the emotions you are going through. Being abruptly removed from your normal campus life or being told that graduation will most likely not happen is jarring and it’s OK to feel anger, pain and loss.

Understanding the stages of grief is a start. But whenever I talk about the stages of grief, I have to remind people that the stages aren’t linear and may not happen in this order. It’s not a map but it provides some scaffolding for this unknown world. There’s denial, which we say a lot of early on: This virus won’t affect us. There’s anger: You’re making me stay home and taking away my activities. There’s bargaining: Okay, if I social distance for two weeks everything will be better, right? There’s sadness: I don’t know when this will end. And finally there’s acceptance. This is happening; I have to figure out how to proceed.

- Scott Berinato, That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief

Take stock of the present. What’s going well? Who is with you? Take stock of your feelings. It’s OK to feel sad. Focus on what you can control. Taking care of yourself can give you a sense of control. Find the things that make you happy and begin to do more of that including going out into nature, connecting wit family and friends and taking small actions to create a future that you want. We will all get through this.

Lowering Expenses

The financial impact of finishing out the rest of the year remotely is unclear. Job prospects have started to decline. Businesses are now running lean in order to weather the next few months. Our economy boils down to a simple fact: someone’s spending is someone else’s income. This reality will continue to trickle down in the coming weeks.

In these few weeks, the goal should be to lower expenses as much as possible. With many students now at home and essentially on lockdown, opportunities to spend are now limited. Take advantage of this. Cash flow will be important now more than ever, for yourself and your family. The less money that is tied to debt, the better since it will be accessible for emergencies. The concept of the emergency fund may not be in your periphery yet, but this is one thing we hope to educate you on. An emergency fund is basically cash that is available to help you pay for basic needs. Most financial advisors and coaches will advise saving enough money to pay for your living expenses for the next 6 months. You may not be worrying about a job loss now, but your parent or guardian could be, which in turn affects the future of the family. Consider putting off unnecessary spending, cancelling subscriptions and selling things that you no longer need and hold on to that cash.

Stay on top of your respective school’s updates to see if refunds will be issued for room and board for the remainder of the semester. If you will not be using the facilities, it would be prudent to try to get some sort of refund. Doing so could reduce your overall student loan debt by a few thousands. Remember that we are all trading time for money and vice versa. Taking on debt today means paying for it using tomorrow’s time. 

The Trump administration and Congressional leaders have worked out a stimulus package to help individuals and businesses affected by the shuttering of businesses across the nation. One of these is interest relief on government student loans for the next six months as well as stimulus checks for individuals to help with partial expenses. We encourage you to read up on the CARES Act and make a plan of action not only for yourself, but for your family as well. Most students will not qualify for the stimulus check, but each person’s situation is different so take a look for yourself to see if you qualify. If you have the means, paying off some of your government student loans while they are interest free can significantly save you money in the long-term, but again weight this with needing to keep cash on hand to ensure you have some financial security.

Rethink Graduate School

Given the current economic outlook, we would recommend re-assessing your graduate schools plans. Graduate school can be a great opportunity to hone your expertise and add more experience, BUT it comes at an expense. Graduate school can mean more student loans. Re-assess if graduate school is absolutely necessary for the work that you want to do in the next 3 years. If you are deciding to go to grad school out-of-state, consider if moving and establishing residency at your choice location is an option as it would allow you to take advantage of in-state tuition and thus lower your potential loans. Consider too if an employer will pay for you to take graduate part-time classes. This can greatly reduce your overall school debt. While it seems easier to remain in school if job prospects are low, note that doing so potentially means being behind a few years on earning income which means less savings and investment. 

Find New Opportunities Now

With career fairs and workshops cancelled for the time being and many in-person interviews and networking opportunities postponed, it is now more important than ever to take advantage of many online tools to curate your online persona and portfolios. Make your work searchable and easy to access. Spin up a personal website and house your projects and papers there. Get a GitHub account for your technical projects. Make it easy for potential employers to find you and your work.

Use Handshake & Other Career Services

Your college administrative offices remain open and operating so it’s important to continue to tap into these resources remotely. A big one is your Career Services Center. Reach out and see what kind of services they offer during this time. Services like resume reviews and practice interviews can easily be done remotely. The biggest advantage with continuing to connect with your college career services is the relationships your college has with local employers.

LinkedIn Updates

• Upload a new, updated, professional photo (watch this tutorial)

• Update your past and current work experience with action verbs and data

• Request recommendations from a past and/or current supervisors

• Share some of your projects online so potential employers can see what you are capable of

Considering Freelancing

Consider taking on freelancing opportunities where you can. Sites like Fiverr.com can open you to many of these short-term contract opportunities. Reach out to professors or old supervisors that may need help at this time. Reach out to small businesses who may need help with social media. Content creation and curation will become a necessity as more and more people move online.

Here are some ideas. Don’t worry about perfection. Try it out, iterate and try again. Brainstorm with friends how you can make some money remote at this time, while also boosting your resume. Taking advantage of today’s situation to create new opportunities can signal to employers a go get it attitude.

• Consider remote tutoring. Parents are inundated with balancing both work and homeschooling. Virtual tutoring can help them reclaim some time while also ensuring that their kids continue to learn. This is good for future teachers or those that have science/math concentrations.

• Consider remote entertainment. If you sing, dance or have a special talent, consider teaching this one-on-one remotely. We came across a music student who is dressing up as a Disney princess and making special calls to children. You could charge a few dollars per call and line up all of your calls in one day.

• Content creation for small businesses. Many small businesses are hurting right now due to the shutdown. Instead of letting them sit idle, offer to help them with social media so that they can build on their social media presence while their brick and mortar stores are close. This is good for marketing, business majors, graphic designers or communication majors.

Network, Network, Network

IRL will need to wait, but it doesn’t mean you can’t network online. Schedule a quick Zoom meeting or FaceTime with potential employers or network bridgers. Find people who can introduce you to someone else in your desired industry. Remain top of mind for opportunities. If you are going to network online, make sure you have a goal in mind. Get questions lined up and source people that can help you find the information that you need. Build that rolodex of people that you can reach out to when the time is right. Better to be prepared now than to have to scramble later.

Be A Master at Virtual Interviews

With many people taking online classes or telecommuting to work, the world has made a major shift into the digital space. In this case, the typical physical interview may now not be the norm. There are many aspects of a virtual interview that are no different than a physical in-person interview, but there are also unprecedented things you may not be prepared for. Here are some tips on how to ace your virtual interview.

Conclusion

It’ll be easy to succumb to the negative news that’s constantly flooding the airwaves, so review your media consumption and eliminate or reduce your consumption of these channels. There’s always opportunities at a time like this. Think of the kind of value you can bring to others and you will be able to find work that is purposeful and worthy. This will be a defining moment for many of us so it’s important that we act.

You make your own luck if you stay at it long enough.

Let us know how else Sisters for FI can help you at this time.