10 Budget Apps For College Students in 2024

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Tracking our finances could be very tasking, but there are some budget apps for college students that adapt to campus life and expenses that can be incurred.

Your personal finance management is a good skill to work on and these budget apps will help you just fine.

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College is of course a training ground for not only academic excellence but also for life after school.

From purchasing books to meals, hangouts, and other expenses.

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We can easily spend an overtime question where the money all went.

Using a budget app helps you imbibe financial principles you may not even be aware of.

Several budgeting apps are available, and downloadable on your smartphones or pcs.

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They’ll teach you how to budget, stay within your limits and resources, and save.

We’ve curated a list of some budget apps for college students that make it easier to keep a budget.

Do you know you can get discounts on some items as a student? At the end of this article, we will show you how to get discounts when you’re buying some student items.

Best Budgeting Apps for College Students: What to consider?

We’ve found that budget apps do a lot of help in controlling our finances.

However, before hopping onto one there are certain considerations you should put in place.

Here are two main thighs to look out for when deciding on a budget  app to use:

Cost

Many budget apps come with a free version.

So while some of the best budget apps for college students are free, they are often limited in the features they have and services provided.

Also, some may only be free for a limited time after which you have to start a subscription.

It will be necessary to choose a budget app that doesn’t tax you too much on fees.

Security

A good number of the best budget apps will require that you link your account to the app.

This increases the functionality and efficiency of the app.

However, it raises concerns among prospective customers.

The security of any budget app can be attested by reviews it gets from users who’ve had it or currently use it.

In addition, apps that have two-factor authentication (2FA) are safe to use. So look out for this too.

Also Read: How To Get An Apple Student Discount 2023

Benefits of Budgeting Tools for Students

There are so many benefits you can get from having one f the best budgeting apps for students.

Some of the most strategic and impactful ones are mentioned here:

#1. Gives you financial control – 

Using a college student budget planner helps you stay in the lead of your finances.

You will be better able to make decisions on what and not to spend on.

Moreover, the budget app will help ensure you uphold your financial decisions.

#2. Helps you achieve your financial goals – 

With budgeting apps for students, you can now set goals and financial commitments.

Complying with the recommendations you receive, you’ll quickly start to see results on your financial goals.

#3. Organizes your expenditures and savings  

Any of the best budget apps for college students will divide your money into areas of spending and saving.

This helps you see which category takes more and why.

You can now set limits and organize what things you choose to spend on, in order to increase your savings.

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Best Budget Apps for College Students in 2023

Budgeting as a student is best learned early. There are many expenses both anticipated and unforeseen that may come daily. Without a budget, you can easily throw some cash around. 

We’ve compiled a list of the best budget apps to help you stay in control of your expenditure and finance life as well.

#1. Mint

Mint is a free app that allows you to create your budget in different categories.

These are simply categories, such as college books and school materials, weekly meal expenses, or transport. 

It also automatically updates and categorizes transactions from linked credit and debit cards, giving you a good picture of your monthly expenses.

Mint serves excellently at helping you save more and spend less.

It alerts you when you are exceeding your budget limits and awards free credit scores on performance.

Mint has gained high trust among college students as it is owned by the makers of Quickbooks and TurboTax.

#2. Wally

Wally is another budgeting app for college school students that effectively keep track of their spending and income.

It records your expenses and income, then shows you the remainder of your budget to keep you from overspending.

A major benefit is that it has built-in support for virtually all foreign currencies.

Also, it doesn’t require you to connect your bank account to get the most out of it.

This allays all concerns or fears regarding your privacy.

Also Read: 30 Best Books Every College Student Should Read

#3. Personal Capital

Personal capital displays your investments on your dashboard and uses an asset allocation tool to determine your net worth.

It’s a good money-saving app if you are interested in investing or long term savings.

It keeps track of how much you’ve saved and how you spend, to help you make decisions on where to save or reduce spending.

With this app, you get a freely automated analysis of your investment fees, asset classes, and other important investment details.

#4. EveryDollar

EveryDollar is a budgeting app that operates on zero-based budgeting.

On zero-based budgeting, all your expenses are subtracted from your income until it gets to $0.

This app helps to apportion all bits of your income such that there is no leeway for waste.

You can use this to build up funds in savings or pay off debts you already owe.

On the free version, you can manually enter transactions.

Whereas, the upgraded version does this automatically for a fee.

On the free version, you won’t be able to link your bank account, while on the upgrade you are billed annually $129.99.

You then have access to link your bank account and expenses.

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#5. Albert

Albert is a money-saving app, but more than keeping your money it tracks your finances and spending.

Upon download of the app, you’ll also receive suggestions on how you can cut back on your spending in certain areas.

For instance, cooking more often rather than eating out or canceling a subscription you don’t use much.

It also provides you the opportunity to send inquisitive texts to financial experts to help make decisions on your spending.

#6. Dollarbird

Dollarbird keeps track of your spending using calendar systems instead of basing it on different categories.

It enables you to track your spending ahead of time, which generally makes saving easier.

Through this forecasted method, it is easier to put a pin on your spending when the time comes.

You can simply input your expenses like monthly rent, phone bills, subscriptions, and any other fixed expenses ahead of time. 

Following this, Dollarbird will tell you how much you have left to spend and save.

#7. Goodbudget

Goodbudget is a budgeting app using digital envelopes to help you set up your budget.

Depending on how many envelopes you use, you can track and manage your expenses for a year or more.

Also, it allows you to have two devices on one account.

So you can easily track your spending on a home computer or tablet, or when you’re out on your phone.

It also has a debt tracking feature to monitor the progress you’ve made in settling your debts.

#8. Simple

Simple is a great budgeting app for college students.

It keeps automatic track of your budget and expenditure and regularly updates it.

Simple connects to your bank account and allows you to create and follow a budget. 

You can conveniently monitor how much you’re spending or how close you are to going over your budget. 

Being connected to your bank makes it easier to manage your banking and budgeting in one place rather than on two different apps.

#9. PocketGuard

PocketGuard records transactions based on how you record your transactions based on how you set up your budget.

This helps you know whether you are too close to overspending or still in good financial shape.

When necessary, it gives recommendations on how to reduce your spending. 

It also has a feature to help determine whether you can afford to make a purchase based on your budget.

It greatly helps to ensure you avoid making big purchases on your credit card.

#10. Chip

Chip helps you manage your money conveniently.

With Chip, you can link your bank account and get access to certain special features.

A variety of these is getting spending analyses, setting savings goals, and keeping track of saving streaks.

Chip also gives you a good indication of how much to set aside when you’ve been paid.

Also Read: Easy Guide on How To Create a .edu Email Account for Free 2023

Best Budget Apps for College Students | FAQs

What are the Best Budgeting Apps?

Some of the best apps available are mint, wally, simple, everyDollar, pocket wallet, and several others.

What is the 50 30 20 budget rule?

The 50 30 20 rule proposes you divide your after-tax income into three portions.
Spending 50% of it on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% should be shoved into savings. It was popularized by senator Elizabeth warren.

Are budget Apps Safe?

In most cases, reputable and popular budget apps are safe to use. Before hooking onto anyone check for reviews and make your decision. 
However, budget apps with 2FA encryption are very safe to use.

Conclusion

Having a budget app as a college student is much like having a career plan for your finances.

It enables you to take the responsibility for your spending and control how much and on what you spend money.

There are several budget apps for college students as we have outlined here, getting one for yourself is one step in cutting down unnecessary expenses.

Using any of the best budget apps for college students helps to reduce spending to a large extent.

Without a budget or even something to keep track of you spending wastefully is inevitable.

You now have our recommendations, take your pick and control your finances.

References

Editor’s Recommendation

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