College is an expensive time of life. While most people who are younger live with their parents and most people who are older have some cash they’ve managed to save up, college students are generally starting from scratch when it comes to their finances. While this is a good time to get one’s priorities in order, it’s also a good time to start to understand why a lot of people don’t go to college.
Simply put, there are a lot of reasons why college students are spending money in dorms. While food, transportation and housing are certainly the main things everyone spends their money on, there are some more specific, electronic things students are especially prone to buying. Let’s look at a few of them.
Fridges
While a lot of dorms don’t have a proper kitchen, you’ll be hard pressed to find one where someone hasn’t brought in a little refrigerator. It’s a staple of the college experience, and it’s rarely used properly. While students “could” be storing sandwich meat as a way to cut down their eating costs, everybody knows they’re just keep their beer cool.
Microwaves
Other than that, a lot of students feel the need to initiate unplanned fire drills by using their microwaves. It’s amazing how the scholars of today, who will be leading the world tomorrow, can’t seem to cook popcorn without turning it into chunks of charcoal and demonstrating the efficiency of the average dorm room’s smoke detectors.
Laptops
It’s unlikely any student in this day and age doesn’t have some kind of computer in their room. While desktops aren’t unheard of, and tablet PCs are attractive status symbols, the laptop is still the king of college. When a student throws down the cash for a laptop, they know they want to be able to haul it all over the place. This might actually be the most expensive device on the list, and the easiest to damage.
Music devices
Ever since the iPod showed the world how to carry their music anywhere without skipping or rewinding, all kinds of music devices have become completely ubiquitous. You will not find a college campus that doesn’t feature a significant portion of the student body not plugged in and listening to their music of choice.
Smartphones
The smartphone pretty much does everything but wash the student’s car–if they have a car. While smartphones don’t typically cost too much more than an ordinary phone, and can sometimes be free with a calling plan, they still pack a financial punch if you’re working a low-paying job and aren’t all that wealthy.
College students put a lot of money into their electronic hardware. While having nice things is great, and some have become nearly necessities in the modern world, it begs the question of how much is too much to be spending on what can often turn into toys. Ultimately, you have to wonder: does the average student, or even anybody, really need all this stuff?