The first step in building a plan as a student is entering the cost of your education and how you’ll be funding it.
Below are tips as well as detailed instructions on how to complete this step.
Tips
Tip 1: You want to make sure that you have enough education funding to cover costs for each year that you are in school. Use the toggle on the right hand container to switch between years. The bottom line item “Left Over Funds” should be positive. If it is not, you can still proceed with building your plan. However, we will assume that you used a private student loan to make up for any short fall in funding.
Tip 2: For education costs, do not put in day-to-day expenses such as food, rent, insurances, etc… You will do this in the upcoming steps.
Tip 3: Any ‘Left Over Funds’ will be automatically rolled into the next year and assumed to be available for Education Funding the next calendar year. If you graduate and still have ‘Left Over Funds,’ FitBUX assumes that is how much cash you’ll have post-graduation and we use that as an emergency fund in the projections post-graduation.
Tip 4: A summary for Education Funding and Education Costs is located in the right hand container. This number is updated each time you either click a “Save” button in the plan building process or click “Done” when editing a line item.
Instructions For Each Funding Type
Below are instructions on how to enter each type of Education Funding. You may add education funding by clicking “Add Education Funding.”
Cash and Other Assets
Any cash you have in your FitBUX profile is assumed to be available to be used for Education Funding. You may edit this by moving your cursor over the cash line item, clicking “Edit”, updating the number, then clicking “Done.”
You may also include other assets on your profile by clicking “Add Education Funding” then choose “Use Assets I Currently Have.”
Enter in the amount to use for Education Funding then click Save. The amount you enter is assumed to be used in the current year for Education Funding. I.e. if it is currently 2022, it is assumed you will use the amount entered on this screen in 2022. Any left over funds will be rolled into the next year.
Add Income
We make two assumptions by default.
- If you are a student when you enter the plan build for the first time, we assume no income.
- If you are a student and your spouse is working or if you are working and your spouse is in school, we assume the individual that is not in school will have the same income each school year.
To add income, click “Add Education Funding” then click “Add Income.” Enter the annual amount and click save.
By default, once you click save, we assume that you will receive the same income each school year. To edit your income each year you may hover over the line item, click edit, and change the amount or you may delete it for that specific year. For example, if you plan on having salary in 2022 but not 2023 or 2024 then you can hover of the line items for 2023 and 2024, click the trash can, and delete those years.
Federal, Private Student Loans, Scholarships (Etc…)
To add Federal or Private Student Loans, click “Add Education Funding” then select the appropriate option. Then enter the amount you’ll be receiving and the date. Click Save.
To enter multiple loans with different disbursement dates, repeat the process above.
We assume the current Federal student loan interest rates as well as observed market rates for private student loans.
If you’d like to enter a “private loan” but want to be able to edit the interest rate, do so by adding Other Funding instead of Private Student Loans.
To enter items that don’t need to be repaid such as Scholarships and Grants, click that option from the menu, enter the amount and date received, click save.
Parent Plus Loans
If you parents are using Parent Plus Loans to help you fund your education, then click that option. Enter the amount and date you’ll receive the funds.
The key with Parent Plus Loans is to select if you’ll be repaying them or your parents will be. This will then be used in your projections post-graduation.
Other Funding
Any other funding you’ll receive that isn’t listed as an option to add may be included by choosing “Other Funding.”
The key when adding this is to select if its a loan or not. If you select “No” then we assume it doesn’t have to be repaid after you graduate. If you select “Yes,” enter the interest rate and how long you have to repay it. Then FitBUX will assume it will be repaid post graduation.
Education Costs
To add education costs, click the button labeled “Add Education Costs.”
A new line item will appear. Select an Education Cost from the drop down menu, when you will be incurring the cost and the amount. As a reminder, day-to-day expenses such as rent and food will be added in future steps.
Then click “Done.”
To edit an Education Costs, hover over the item and click “Edit.”
