UTHSC FLIGHT Newsletter - December 2017 by University of Tennessee Health Science Center

FLIGHT

DECEMBER 2017

FINANCIAL LITERACY INFORMATION FOR GRADUATE/PROFESSIONAL HEALTH STUDENTS OF TODAY

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Spending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Transcripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ARHEG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Disbursements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Scholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

401kcalculator.org

FINANCIAL AID

SPENDING: WHAT’S NORMAL?

Gloria Dobbs Counselor, College of Health Professions gdobbs1@uthsc.edu Skype: glor.dob90

Here’s a piece of advice to live and budget by, care of lifestyle guru Mark Twain: “Comparison is the death of joy.” That is to say, comparing your spending habits to everyone else’s spending habits will only end in tears, frustration and sadness Basically, there’s no such thing as “normal” when it comes to spending. Sure, there are norms, but even those are variable. And not only are norms variable, they’re defined by factors that are not within your control, such as your zip code, tax bracket – even the seasons!

One Stop Shop 901.448.7703

Phyllis Faulkner Counselor, College of Pharmacy pfaulkn1@uthsc.edu

What you should be asking yourself is: What’s your normal?

Debra Bolton Counselor, College of Medicine dhall48@uthsc.edu

Here’s a calculation that everyone can live and budget by, care of Harvard bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren: the 50/30/20 rule. Meaning, to keep spending within your means, after-tax dollars should be budgeted according to...

Janice G. Maddox Literacy Coordinator and Counselor, College of Graduate Health Sciences and College of Dentistry jmaddox9@uthsc.edu Skype: janice.maddox3

Your needs, which should be limited to just 50 percent of your net income. Your wants, which should only take up 30 percent of your budget and spending. Your savings and debt repayments, which should equal at least 20 percent of the money you earn each month. Establishing your 50/30/20 will require some money tracking, cost evaluating and emotional digging on your part. To help establish your 50/30/20, ask yourself three questions:

Samuel Matheny Executive Director of Financial Aid and Retention samuel.matheny@uthsc.edu

1. First, manage your habits . Is there a way to make them work for you instead of siphoning off every dollar you earn?

Paulette Moore Associate Director of Financial Aid and Counselor for College of Nursing pmoore8@uthsc.edu Skype: lette.bee60

2. Speaking of siphoning, are you spending money on energy you could be saving? 3. Finally, the path to financial stability is not always paved in mortgages and car payments. What other spending options can help you chart your course? Once you’ve evaluated your baseline 50/30/20, financial decisions will be easy – just crunch the numbers to see if adding a new bill will fit your ratio! Feed the Pig! 1

FLIGHT

DECEMBER 2017

HABITS: IF YOU CAN’T BREAK THEM, MANAGE THEM Before making a purchase of $100 or more, wait. If you’re still in a state of want a week later, save. If at the end of the month, that want is teetering on Must. Have. Now! Buy. But only if it’s penciled into your budget.

Habits come in three varieties: the good, the bad and the ugly. Regardless of how virtuous, pretty or fugly yours are, we’ve all got them. They’re part of who we are. While we could spend our lives in financial turmoil over them, a much better strategy is to:

Pencil in some fun money. The purchase mentioned above? Here’s why you can afford it. Depending on how well you manage your 50/30/20 situation, you could have some money left over at the end of the month for those carefully thought out and responsibly executed impulse buys.

Own up to what those habits are. Living life without reward is simply lame, and there really are occasions that call for new shoes. In order to manage what could be a shoe, gadget or latte ‘issue’, you must to come to terms with how many of your habits are based on wants, needs or greed.

Review before you even think about spending. The Internet is a fabulous thing. Why? Because somewhere out there on the World Wide Web is a product, restaurant or service review that could save you from colossally wasting your money.

Manage those habits so they don’t manage you. Because you do work so hard on developing and sticking to your budget, you deserve a perk or two. Note the word perk, not impulse. Here are a few management ideas to help you separate wants from greed, curb impulsive spending and create habits that are better, less breakable and way more bankable in the long run.

If you can’t trim, restrain. Get a hold of yourself! If you simply cannot stop smoking, buying shoes, (insert your vice here), cut back. If that still doesn’t work, get the help you need.

Lead yourself not into temptation. If gadgets are your thing, eliminate all newsletters, listservs, subscriptions and spam related to new electronics. The same goes for clothing hoarders: cancel those catalogs and “Flash Sale” emails!

Make some money rules. Consider making Mondays your weekly “No Money” day, when you don’t allow yourself to spend at all, no exceptions. Or maybe you only allow yourself to buy new music on the 13th of the month. You might discover that some of that “necessary” spending wasn’t so necessary after all. Anything that will make you have to think twice about succumbing to your habit will help you to break it. Feed the Pig!

Deliver yourself from evil. Okay, paying full retail when you don’t have to isn’t evil, per se. It’s just a tremendous waste of money. Research before you reward, especially if Internet shopping is kind of your thing. 2

FLIGHT

DECEMBER 2017

TRANSCRIPT REQUEST! It’s Graduation season at the One Stop Shop! The staff of the One Stop Shop would like to congratulate all December 2017 Graduates! We also want to remind you that transcript, degree, and enrollment verification requests may take a little longer during this period due to the high volume of requests. Please make your request to allow plenty of time to be processed and mailed by the One Stop Shop.

ARKANSAS FORGIVABLE LOAN RECIPIENTS The Arkansas Health Education Grant (ARHEG) Program provides assistance to students seeking professional training in dentistry to allow them to attend out-of-state institutions. All ARHEG – Arkansas Forgivable Loan Funds will be disbursed Spring 2018. If you have maximized your COA budget for the 2017-18 academic year, the Arkansas Forgivable Loan Funds will be utilized to pay-down your Graduate PLUS Loan or Unsubsidized Loan. Reminder – A student cannot exceed their yearly Cost of Attendance Budget (COA). If you have questions and concerns, please contact your college financial aid counselor at jmaddox9@uthsc.edu or 901.448.7703.

FINANCIAL AID – SPRING 2018 DISBURSEMENTS Spring financial aid disbursements will start the week of January 2nd the first week of classes. All accepted financial aid is posted to your UTHSC Student Banner Account. Please submit an Additional Funds Request Form, if you are utilizing your Graduate Plus Loan for additional funds.uthsc.edu/finaid/forms If you have questions and concerns, please contact your college financial aid counselor. uthsc.edu/finaid/flight/staff

SCHOLARSHIPS, AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS HHMI RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEDICAL, VETERINARY AND DENTAL STUDENTS AT U.S. SCHOOLS – FOR 2ND AND 3RD YEAR STUDENTS Mentor selection and research proposal preparation are key components of the application process.

HHMI Medical Research Fellows Program enables medical, veterinary, and dental students to spend a year conducting basic, translational, or applied biomedical research at any academic or nonprofit research institution in the United States except government agencies. HHMI will award 60 fellowships in 2018.

For the 2018-2019 program year, Fellows will receive a $32,000 stipend; a $5,500 fellow’s allowance for health, dental and vision insurance, relocation expenses, if applicable, and some education-related expenses; and a $5,500 research allowance for conference travel and research-related enrichment activities. The online application is open: hhmi.org/medfellowships. Deadline is January 11, 2018.

Applicants must have prior wet-lab research experience.

The University of Tennessee is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA/ADEA/V institution in the provision of its education and employment programs and services.

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