Narrator: For the month of November, Commuter Connections had its third luncheon series: Budgeting 101. Once again, Commuter Connections reaches out to students living off-campus to get them involved here on-campus. We spoke with this month’s speaker, Vivian Shannon-Ramsey about budgeting for college.
Vivian Shannon-Ramsey: We talked about students understanding the difference between wants and needs, setting their priorities and then understanding what goes into creating a budget i.e what is important to them, how to set the budget up, a couple tips on budgeting such as where they spend their money and how they spend their money. Even though you say do not reward yourself by spending more money, choosing jobs where they already feed and taking advantage of programs just like the ones that they were doing. Commuter Connections helps connect students to each other. They share great ideas. Students really have the most innovative ways to save money if they can talk to one another. It also gives them an outlet to let them know that the university values them just because they do not live on the campus does not mean that they are not a vital part of how the institution operates.
Narrator: Nonetheless, Commuter Connections offers more than just luncheons every month. Every Wednesday morning, they have a commuter breakfast where they provide a pastry and coffee or tea. Students talk to us about why they attend this event.
Karen Johnson: As a commuter, I am really only ever on campus for class uhm…and that is about it. It is kind of nice to have the social time just with other people to see familiar faces outside of class.
Kassidy Ward: Normally, I wouldn’t be doing anything but now I get free coffee and I get to hang out with my other commuter friends.
Narrator: By reaching out to the off-campus students, Commuter Connections helps to immerse them into the Salisbury community. This is Erin Kayhill reporting for SU tv news.