If you’re a college student with tuition expenses and other financial obligations, it is vital to have a budget spreadsheet to help you manage your daily and monthly expenses.
Fortunately, you can find specially designed college templates online – for free! Take a look at our review of the many Google Sheets college budget template variations below to find one for you.
So you can breathe a little easier and get down to what matters most – your education!
1. Free Downloadable College Student Budget Template
Designed by Smartsheet
The Free Downloadable College Student Budget Template by Smartsheet is a budgeting template you can use to track common expenses and keep a record of your income to help ensure there’s always a positive balance left over afterward. This Google Sheets budget template is tailor-made for busy college students who want to be on top of their finances at all times.
With this free downloadable template, you can plan your income and expense categories over four semesters down to your most pressing home and school expenses, such as school supplies, daily living expenses, transportation expenses, etc.
It even includes a section for health-related expenses and entertainment costs. The income categories are just extensive and cover income categories such as financial aid, grants, student loans, funds from your parents, your own hard-earned income, and more.
2. College Loan Budget Template
Designed by Justin Pritchard
The College Loan Budget Template by Justin Pritchard is a budget specifically used to keep track of multiple loan amounts, their interest rates, and their payback periods to help you keep up with your debt obligations on time.
Take stock of how the principal amount increases or decreases with each payment, so you don’t have to worry about your student and other loans spiraling out of control. Simply record each and every entry, and you’re sure to pay back every last cent with plenty of time to spare – and without breaking the bank.
3. Printable College Student Monthly Budget Template
Designed by Spreadsheet Daddy
The Printable College Student Monthly Budget Template by Spreadsheet Daddy is good to use if you want to have a broad overview of where your money’s going on a monthly basis.
Keep things simple with this user-friendly budget that’ll help you group important monthly income and expenses into their respective categories with a convenient budget summary.
4. Weekly College Budget Template
Designed by Spreadsheet Daddy
Life doesn’t always go as planned. Hence, the need for a budget that’s efficient but still allows some wiggle room for non-common expenses that may crop up from time to time.
You can customize this Weekly Budget Template by Spreadsheet Daddy as you see fit on a weekly basis for improved money management.
5. Bi-Weekly College Budget Template
Designed by Spreadsheet Daddy
If monitoring your budget daily is too time-consuming for you, then you could opt for the Bi-Weekly College Budget Template by Spreadsheet Daddy if you would prefer to revisit your college budget twice a month.
Alternatively, with this budget worksheet, you could also tweak the Week 1 and Week 2 headings to reflect the start of the week and then mid-week if you want to check on your budget twice per week to ensure your envisioned budget is unfolding as planned.
6. Recent College Graduate Budget Template
Designed by Spreadsheet Daddy
The Recent College Graduate Budget Template is the right budget worksheet for you if you are close to graduating, and you’re looking for a budget that will wrap things up nicely.
As you transition from college student to alumni, it is just as important to still maintain financial discipline to help set you up financially for the future. This graduate budget template by Spreadsheet Daddy has got you covered as you prepare to spread your wings.
7. College Dorm Budget Template
Designed by Spreadsheet Daddy
If you’re just entering college, and you’re planning on staying onsite, then the College Dorm Budget Template by Spreadsheet Daddy should help you keep up with the various expenses associated with dormitory living.
What makes this budgeting template extremely handy is that it can automatically calculate the difference between what your actual dormitory monthly expenses (i.e., what your satellite, phone, maintenance, internet, maintenance, and foods costs) are versus what you perceived them to be so that you can cater to these specific needs more accurately.
8. First Year Out of College Budget Template
Designed by Spreadsheet Daddy
Graduating is a big deal. And you’ll want to celebrate this milestone debt-free. The First Year Out of College Budget Template by Spreadsheet Daddy should help you prepare better financially for your first year post-college.
Take a step into the future as you let go of the old and step into a new way of budgeting that doesn’t just consist of college-related expenses but also takes into account monthly expenses such as housing costs, food, entertainment, and other types of common bills that one must start preparing for as they enter the working world.
If you foresee that your personal expenses might be too numerous to mention, you may want to consider using a separate Google Sheets personal budget template to help you manage your personal finances more easily.
9. Working College Student Budget Template
Designed by Spreadsheet Daddy
The Working College Student Budget Template by Spreadsheet Daddy is for working college students that generate an income whilst studying.
Keep track of every bit of money that comes in, whether it be from your parents, scholarships, or other, while managing your expenses simultaneously.
How to Make a College Student Budget Template in Google Sheets
If you are a student who wants to make sure that your income and expenses are always managed with ease, you should take a look at this section and learn how to create your personal budget for college.
Let’s dive into this!
Step 1. Firstly, add the data you want to be included in your template. Simply select a blank cell and type text.
Step 2. Secondly, move to the toolbar menu, and choose the font size, color, alignment, and any other settings for your text.
Step 3. As a next step, you can customize the cell color. So, select the cells you need, and choose the Fill color option. Then pick a color from the palette.
Step 4. Next, let’s add borders to your template. To do it, select the cells that you want to border, and then go to the toolbar menu, pick Border, and pick the color, style, and type of border you would like to apply.
Step 5. For the template to work effectively, you should add formulas that calculate your indicators automatically. To get the result, click the cell where you want the result, then enter the formula. In our case, it will be the formula =SUM(B7:B9) that will be used to calculate the sum of the data.
Voilà! You have done it! Here is the result!
Download the template from the link above, or create your own analogous template by following the steps.
FAQs
Is there a student budget template in Google Sheets?
Unfortunately, Google Sheets does not have built-in Google Sheets Budget Templates for students. However, there are numerous templates that we have presented in this article that you can choose from to help you meet your monthly spending target the best.
What is a realistic budget for a college student?
A realistic budget for college students will comprise two main components: all income received, as well as all your expenditures (fixed and variable). The difference between your income and expenses should remain positive at all times.
However, if you happen to fall into the red some weeks or months, try not to be too hard on yourself. Simply review your budget and replan to see what areas you can cut down in. Alternatively, you may have to look at other income sources to keep your earnings above your expenses.
