SAVE THIS POST if you want to know all of the things you should consider in your flexible plan for college credits each semester. You’re sick and tired of never knowing your “sweet spot” for credits each semester because you were able to take 16 credits in a breeze one semester but another those 16 credits felt like you were living in H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICK! Your walk of life changes from semester to semester. Your responsibilities change. Your courses get harder and harder the more you progress through your degree. Difficulty in your personal life and difficulty in you academic life all impact how much you are able to take on each semester. What’s going to change in your graduation game plan? I’ll tell you what’s going to change. You’re going to stop comparing yourself to you friends and peers. 12 credits for an art major is different than 12 credits for a business major and 12 credits for a math or engineering major. Take the FEELINGS out and focus on the feedback you get from upperclassmen and advisors, and determine how much you can take on with you life outside of academics and the unique undergraduate opportunities you may want to pursue professionally and academically abroad. SWIPE through to see a step b y step breakdown of the criteria to consider each semester when evaluating you graduation game plan. Click the link in my bio to listen to this weeks episode of the No Free Lunch Podcast & comment below about how your flexible plan has evolved throughout the semesters! 
Can you believe that second semester is already here? That it’s 2021? That classes are STILL online and Covid-19 is STILL lingering around an entire year later? With all the things going on in your life right now, those two part-time jobs, that club you have a leadership position in, that internship you’ve had your eye on, that… Have a little bit of grace with yourself. Life is busy and it will only get busier and busier. Have a game plan when it comes to graduation and the number of credits you take each semester that is FLEXIBLE and able to change as life changes with you. It’s okay to graduate a semester or two later. It’s okay to take more credits or less credits than your best friend. It’s okay to not be okay and feel the need to drop a class after the first couple weeks of the semester. The fact that you’re in school right now, during a pandemic, taking classes online, and still keeping up with all of your responsibilities and obligations makes you a superhero. Contrary to popular belief, superheroes can’t do it all. They have to choose. They have to know when they have reached their limits and they have to know when it’s okay to say NO. How many credits do you plan to take this semester? Is it more, less or equal to past semesters? Whatever, you choose, just make the best decision for you and your situation. 
Are you trying to decide if living on campus is worth going into even more debt while attending college? In all honesty, it depends. It depends on why you are going to college. Are you going to simply get a degree? Or, are you going to college for the experience? If your answer is the experience, then living on campus is a non-negotiable and the answer is YES, a thousand times YES! Living on campus is worth going into even more debt while attending college. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, debt is neutral! Debt is not bad. If you have a plan to pay it off and not let it hang over your shoulder for decades without paying a single penny back then there is no reason to worry. Society has given debt a bad name, but the No Free Lunch Podcast is here to change that. Click the link in my bio to listen to Episode 20 and discover the countless ways you can finance college, take on debt, and pay it off ASAP. You got this! 
Have no fear, DEBT is here!!! Does debt have a negative connotation to you? If so, why do you think that is? Debt allows you to go to school to get your degree and meet your life-long best friends. Debt has or maybe will allow you to buy your first home and build a family. Debt will allow you to maybe buy a car, get a new professional wardrobe when you get your first job, or maybe even let you launch your own business when you come up with this incredible business plan. Debt allows you to build your life the way you want to when you want to, without making you wait until you have enough money in your pocket. Debt itself isn’t the problem. The problem is not having a plan to pay it off and letting it hang over your shoulder for decades upon decades without a plan. If you just had an ah-ha moment, I want you to go right now and listen to the most recent episode of the No Free Lunch Podcast to open your eyes to the many possibilities debt can present you starting as early as your college years. Quit giving debt a bad name. Be smart, strategic, and have a plan. If you do, there’s no telling how far you will go. 
Financial aid can be a topic that brings stress and anxiety to you. Especially during the pandemic when money may be tight and classes are online (for the same price) that your education can take time to sit on the back burner. Have no fear because Millenial Money Expert Chloe Elise with Deeper Than Money is here! In the first episode of the No Free Lunch Podcast of 2021, Episode 20, tune in to hear about answers to financing questions about all things college. After paying off over $36,000 of debt in less than 18 months, and seeing how it transformed her own life, Chloe's mission is to show you that finances can be easy and fun and that you are capable of creating massive wealth. How much financial aid do you think has gone up used this year alone? Imagine how much could have been in your pockets had you known all the ways to finance your college experience 🤯 
What used to be the coolest app on your computer is now your dreaded every day class video app making you want to chuck your computer at the wall if only it wouldn’t cost thousands of dollars to fix or replace. You know what I’m talking about... It’s taken so much away from you. It’s taken those interpersonal relationships you make in class. It’s taken away your opportunity to comfortably ask questions without the entire class seeing your face and all of the nitty gritty details of you forgetting to floss in the morning. It’s taken away your time to spend with friends at lunch, your free time in between classes to ride the bus and run into your next class breathless because there’s nothing like a brisk run to class when you’re running behind. Our academic lives have changed forever. Our social lives have changed forever. And all we want is for things to go “back to normal.” But who really knows what our “new normal” will look like these next four years. We are all suffering from some form of anxiety and depression during this world pandemic, whether it be diagnosed or not. I’ve heard your struggles and I’m living through them too which is why I asked Neely O’Connor, wellness educator, to talk to us on episode 11 of the No Free Lunch Podcast about anxiety and depression support. She talks to you about different tools and resources available on your campus, and highlights the things she wished she would’ve done sooner, the stigma around mental health, and SO much more. Remember, you are NOT alone. As my favorite childhood movie used to say, “We’re All in this Together (clap).” iykyk Check out my IG stories for a quick taste of how much this episode will rock you’re world! Link to listen is IN MY BIO... and yes, it’s a little longer but you definitely have time. Listen while your cooking, while you’re in the shower, while you’re driving to work. If you want to make time, you’ll find it. 
ON THURSDAY, the No Free Lunch podcast presents to you @neelyoconnor as we discuss the impact that this year has had on college students’ anxiety and depression. Not all of us were made to sit at a computer all day for class and then sit at a computer all night to do homework. Most of us were made to be able to socialize and get to surround ourselves with all of the people that make us feel like ourselves. College is a time to be with people in community, not isolated and alone with our computer screens pent up in an apartment or dorm room. To some level, we are all feeling the effects of anxiety and depression brought upon us by social distancing procedures due to the pandemic. Diagnosed or not, know that you are not alone! If you’ve been feeling out of place or not in control, stay tuned for tomorrow’s episode. It’s a little longer, so listen to it when you’re in the shower, cooking dinner, or when you have some down time to relax and listen to a podcast... You won’t be disappointed! What has been adding unwanted stress and anxiety into your life? 👇👇👇 I’ll tell you mine in the comments!! 
SAVE THIS POST if you ever need a reminder rod how great it felt when you woke up early to workout or cook yourself breakfast. How thankful you were to get that assignment done a few days ahead of the deadline and not rush it the night before. How amazing it was when you had that extra cash set aside to help you get your car back after it got towed and didn’t have to go in debt to be able to drive around again. Procrastination and the “I’ll start on Monday” attitude is REAL and a struggle we all have. It’s easy to be in the moment of what feels good right now and put things off to later be super stressed to play catch up all at once. It takes self discipline to think ahead a day, a week, a year, and a decade to put ourselves in a position to be successful. You know what they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are your goals. If you want to be healthy you need to plan meals and workouts. If you want to do well in school you need to plan study time and not cram all at once. If you want to be financially stable and independent, you have to come up with a savings plan and start budgeting. If you want to build relationships, you have to put in the time and effort to reach out to loved ones and plan social events. What’s one thing you’re going to do today that you’ll thank yourself for tomorrow, a week, a month, a year, or even a decade from today? 👇👇👇 I’ll put mine in the comments and YOU should too :) 
One of the biggest mistakes us college students make is being ignorant with money and NOT tracking our spending. Tracking your expenses gives your more awareness of your spending habits and where your entire income went from your part-time, minimum wage job at the end of the year. I remember getting my tax return being so excited to get a few hundred dollars back from Uncle Sam and wondering where the heck the rest of my $11k I earned that year went because let me tell you... it wasn’t in my bank account! 😱 You make think you’re being super thrifty shopping at second hand clothing stores and buying your groceries from Aldi, but the truth is your daily Starbucks drink, often trips to your local burger joint, and happy hour drinks after a long days work are adding up and the ultimate reason as to why your income is completely gone at the end of the year. Don’t worry! I’m not all doom and gloom here, I used to be exactly where you’re at! I’ve seen your struggles and that’s why I created for you a FREE “How to Make An Extra Hundred Dollars a Week” monthly budget tracker that does all the work for you! All you have to do is hit the link in my bio and download it, type in your expenses or even plan out your expenses and it does all the crazy math equations for you. Go to the link in my bio, download “How to Make an Extra Hundred Dollars a Week” and watch that bank account grow. YOU GOT THIS! 🙌 You have no more excuses! I never want you to ever wonder again where all your money went at the end of the year when your tax documents come back saying you make $10k+. 
You’re a broke college student. Super frugal about when and where you spend your money. Sick and tired of making minimum wage at your part-time job AND wanting to know how you can maximize your income. I totally get it and I heard you, which is why I asked Robert Farrington from @thecollegeinvestor to join us on the No Free Lunch Podcast’s 10th Episode. He teaches us that we don’t need thousands and thousands of dollars saved up to begin investing our money. All we need is a hundred bucks and begin! When a hundred bucks feels like a lot of money at this point in our lives, it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day micro losses and gains in our investment, but looking at the bigger macro picture, that hundred bucks will 30 years down the road turn into thousands... crazy to think about right? Take a look at my IG story to get another little snippet of what the episode is all about! The link to access the episode (absolutely FREE) is in my bio. Take a screenshot of you listening to the episode and give @thecollegeinvestor and @brookebsheehy a tag telling us what you enjoyed most about having our FIRST special guest!