College contingency plans

Gandalf and FrodoI’m a big fan of always having a plan B, and having more than one stream of income. You can only control you own actions, and try to have a plan on how you might cope with unexpected events. That’s why we diversify our portfolios, have an emergency fund, and try to think of some type of side job that keeps some money coming in if the main gig goes kaput. The era we’re currently enduring highlights the worth of these principles. So let’s apply them if you, or your nearly-adult child, is in college at the moment.

If you’re returning to campus

I wouldn’t. If we view the recent experience with the Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it’s entirely possible that schools that open will rapidly close down. This means that all the expense of moving clothes and tiny refrigerators, purchasing sheets for the extra long twin that exists nowhere else on earth, getting there, getting a college wardrobe (often for a different climate than where you live), etc., will all be spent again getting out of there. It’s easily hundreds, if not more, directly down the hairy dorm drain.

Nevertheless, I see the desire to get rid of parents/kids and live your life independently. I’ve heard that some students are still renting apartments near campus and using those as a base to study remotely. My concerns, as might be anticipated, are about health (and costs).

  1. Sign a HIPAA form. Without permission, a school or health service cannot discuss student health with parents. Often the school will include these with registration, but double check to make sure one is on-file with the student health service and if possible, with the local hospital and any doctors that the student may use.
  2. Double check insurance. Some types of insurance may not have in-network providers in the campus area. Know what and whom the insurance will cover, and take a list of in-network hospitals and maybe a few names of internists with you. Bookmark the insurance tool that allows you to check whether a health provider is in-network. You don’t want to be scrambling to find this out in an emergency. If your health insurance is lacking, you may want to purchase the school’s insurance, if only for backup.
  3. Where is the nearest emergency room? For urban campuses, there may be a choice and the whole family should know where the student would go (or where EMTs would take them), so that no one has to experience the horror of calling around to find someone.
  4. If you need medical care, how will you get there? What if you’re too sick to drive, or call a ride-share, or even walk to the health service? Does the school have anyone to send to check up on you, or are you dependent on friends (who may also get sick)?
  5. How will you get food or prescriptions? Even well-intentioned friends may not be dependable for three meals a day for many days. They also may not be eager to get something contagious. This is even harder if you’re not living in a dorm with food service. Be sure you know what pharmacies, groceries, and restaurants will deliver, and if it applies, whether they’ll deliver to a dorm.
  6. Have a credit card. Okay, maybe everyone does but these have more protection than a bank debit card. This is one instance where student and parent should be able to see charges coming up as an alert, and because fraudsters are happy to take advantage of the sick, the protections are worthwhile. Even being on a parent’s account builds credit history.
  7. You might need an emergency fly out plan. More than one university closed its dorms while students were on spring break. Students were then faced with returning to campus to clean out their rooms. This would be a really good time, if returning to campus, to take only the minimum with you until we all see whether this is going to work.

If you’re working remotely

Yeah, we’re all climbing the walls. There’s little that will substitute for the chief advantages of learning IRL. You won’t get the spontaneous conversations with professors and students; won’t get a campus job assisting a prof; won’t get the late-night debates about profound life issues; won’t get to meet famous people brought on campus; and will have a much harder time getting drunk and getting laid.

However, actual college study is much more about what you do yourself—reading, thinking, forcing yourself to develop your writing and argumentation skills. In fact, learning remotely is much more about self-instruction, with the advantage of professorial guidance and, most important, personalized feedback—the one thing that is hard about self-instruction. College is a great time to become the person responsible for your own learning. While you may be accountable, and appreciate the accountability, nobody is going to track you the same was as in high school. Even on campus, many people can’t muster the self-discipline, and those people are called dropouts. Work your goals: you’re in control of your learning.

Sure, it’s not what you dreamed of. Sure, it’s tough and you’re missing out. So is everybody. It’s a great time to learn to roll with the punches and make the best out of a bad situation—a most valuable and frequently used adulting skill. Don’t hesitate to get help—you don’t have to “desperately need it”. Therapy or counseling can also be growth enhancing, helping you to a better life. Most mental health professionals are doing tele-health appointments, and many insurance policies will cover those, at least right now.

On the other hand, you might find that you have more time than what you’d have on campus. You’re not walking to class, and you’re probably not going to parties, working, or hanging out in the campus cantinas. This is a great found opportunity to learn something additional—coding, home repair, guitar, adulting skills. My most recent newsletter had a much longer article on these ideas, so email me if you’d like a copy.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Why you need an emergency fund–20 reasons

Read any financial advice article (including mine) and you’ll be told you need an emergency fund. Usually this is attached to some number (like 3- or 6-months’ salary or expenses) that will make you feel hopeless that you’ll ever achieve it. I’m here to say that even having $1,000 or $5,00 stashed is going to help out a lot, and help you avoid a lot of bad results. And, if you don’t have an emergency fund you’ll never get out or say out of debt: we don’t know what the emergency will be, but unexpected things occur regularly. Having some emergency is definitely predictable. Here are a few reasons you need something.

  1. You lose your job. This is the first thing everyone thinks of—and probably requires the largest emergency fund, since being without any income (even if you collect unemployment) is pretty scary and can last more than a few months.
  2. You have a health issue and have to cover your deductible and out of pocket expenses. Depending on when this occurs in the year, you may need to cover more than one year’s deductible. Let’s say you get sick in November, but it lasts into February—2 years’ worth of deductibles and out-of-pocket.
  3. You slide in the snow, doing damage to your car (bad), or to someone else’s car (worse) or both (worst of all). Neither of these expenses is worth claiming to your insurance company know, but given the electronics in cars nowadays, one came up to $700, and the not very happy person whose care you hit cost $500. Damages to your home and car that are near the deductible are probably not worth claiming (because they’ll raise your rates or drop you.)
  4. You have a fire. Even if you have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, moving immediately to a hotel, eating out exclusively for any time period, or even couch surfing at a friend’s is going to cost something.
  5. You have a fire and it only wrecks the kitchen. You’ll immediately incur higher food costs.
  6. Your refrigerator, computer, or other appliance suddenly goes kaput.
  7. If you’re a homeowner, the list is almost infinite: tree falls, sewer line gets clogged, hot water heater’s bottom drops out, furnace or air conditioning die, dog destroys couch or bed, cat decides they prefer your wall to wall carpet to their cat pan and you don’t discover it for a while…
  8. Pets need veterinary care.
  9. Someone dies and you have to travel to the funeral, or you have to bury someone.
  10. You lose your job and have to buy temporary health insurance.
  11. You lose your job and need assistance (coach, networking groups, lunches out, etc.) in helping you find a new one.
  12. A loved one needs immediate residential care or home assistance not covered by insurance.
  13. You or your child need a divorce.
  14. You need to hire a lawyer for any reason.
  15. Your child needs special testing or tutoring not covered by insurance or the school.
  16. You have to buy a car, unexpectedly.
  17. You have to move.
  18. You need dental work, glasses, or a hearing aid (which are not usually covered by insurance). Check your insurance, especially if you have children who need any of these.
  19. You have an accident or illness that requires you to pay others for services you routinely did for yourself (grocery shopping, rides, home maintenance and cleaning).
  20. You work for the federal government.