It’s time to share an interview with another member of the College Money Network. This week I’d like to introduce you to the youngest member of our network, Stephanie at Poorer Than You.

1. Describe yourself in 10,000 words or less, preferably less.

“Stephanie” supposedly means “The Crowned One,” but I’m anything but a princess. 21 years old, broke, entering my senior year of college, and fighting off student loans as best I can. I also knit like a fiend – sometimes even for money! I hail from Rochester, New York, where I work as a great defender of recycling at my college.

2. What made you decide to start a personal finance blog?

This story has become infamous now, like some great legend of the internet. I dropped out of film school because the money just ran out. In dropping out, I realized I’d been walking on thin financial ice the whole time I was in college. I had been reading other personal finance blogs, but when I dropped out I decided to start my own to track my progress as I digged myself out of financial ruin.

3. What has surprised you the most about blogging?

The fact that it manages to be surprisingly easy and surprisingly hard at the same time. Sometimes things just flow along and articles seem to drip right out of my fingers – and sometimes my keyboard becomes a barren wasteland.

4. What is the most important financial lesson you have learned from college?

Know where the money goes! Ignorance isn’t bliss – I thought being carefree meant not thinking about money too much. But knowing what’s going on and where I’m heading is a much bigger relief.

5. If you had to pick three of your favorite posts to share with a first time visitor, which would they be?

• The Quick Start Financial Guide – if you’ve just decided to take control of your finances, but have no idea where to start
• Money Advice for College Students – the epic three-part series
• Net Worth Updates – scroll to the bottom and work your way up to see the evolution of my financial situation

Thanks for your time, Stephanie!

It’s time to meet another member of the College Money Network. While I was a little disappointed to discover that Green Panda isn’t really a panda and doesn’t live in a treehouse, I still enjoy reading her great personal finance blog. It’d just be even more impressive if it were written by a panda living in a treehouse. All joking aside, I’d like to introduce you to Green Panda from Green Panda Treehouse.

1. Describe yourself in 10,000 words or less, preferably less.

I’m a happy college graduate living with my husband and a cat who sometimes believes he’s a dog. My internship and first job after college has been with operations planning and working with inventory management. I recently resigned because I hated how management ran their company.

As the oldest kid in my family I helped my mom balance the budget with one income. I’ve had paychecks where half (or more) went to help with the bills and I blew the other half. I wasn’t saving any of it.

I got a credit card in college and like many of my friends, I charged on it like crazy. At the same time I was financing college on my own through applying for grants and financial aid. I was smart with money on some things, but an idiot on others. I’m learning to treat money with more respect now.

2. What made you decide to start a personal finance blog?

My husband and I were saving bit by bit, but I was thinking about life after graduation. I was reading The Simple Dollar and Ramit’s PF Blog and I discovered that there are even better ways to save and reduce debt. I already had a blog I toyed with off and on, so I re-branded it as my PF blog and I started it July 2007.

3. What has surprised you the most about blogging?

The camaraderie and competition about bloggers. I’ve seen great generosity and I’ve seen petty teasing. Many, though, are good people and I am excited to learn from them.

4. What is the most important financial lesson you have learned from college?

I learned that thinking before buying is key. My friends that did well financially did it step by step, even with only the income of a part time job. They didn’t splurge their refund from the financial aid department. They saved it for a car (with no payments), an emergency fund, and even money to give them a cushion to find a job they love.

5. If you had to pick three of your favorite posts to share with a first time visitor, which would they be?

Wow, this was a lot harder than I thought. I picked these post because they are based on financial things I’ve done personally. I learned the hard way why I needed an emergency fund. Scraping up money for the fund in college was a challenge, but it paid off. As I learn more I see that financial lessons can even be learned on a weekend trip.

• Pay Off Debt First or Start Savings (Chicken or the Egg)
  
• Easy Ways to Get an Emergency Fund Started
• Negotiating in Chinatown

Thanks for sharing your time with us, Green Panda!

The College Money Network recently welcomed its newest member, Spilling Buckets. While we only added one new blog, we gained two new members, because Spilling Buckets is run by a blogging duo. Be sure to check out their blog after you’re done here. Now it’s time to meet another member of the College Money Network. This week I’d like to introduce you to MFA or Bust.

1. Describe yourself in 10,000 words or less, preferably less.

I’m the 20-something female blogger behind MFA or Bust, where I write about my personal-finance travails in trying to live the good, yet financially (and occasionally socially) responsible life in New York City. But having just gotten my foothold on financial stability–my credit cards are finally all paid off, and I’m saving aggressively–I’m about to leap back into the stormy waters of debt for… a master of fine arts in creative writing (gasp! shock! horror!). I’m looking forward to putting all my new found PF knowledge to use as I revert back to genteel student poverty.

2. What made you decide to start a personal finance blog?

I was struggling to get out of credit-card debt (my all-time debt high was $10,707.87 in January 2007, and ten months later, I still owed $7,292), and I began reading PF blogs as inspiration to change my slippery one-payment-forward, two-credit-card-charges-back ways. I started MFA or Bust to track my own progress, but the idea of being publicly accountable remains a powerful motivator in keeping me more or less on the path of budgetary righteousness.

3. What has surprised you the most about blogging?

How *hard* it is. I assumed that I would have so much to share and say, but I’ve been surprised that 1) I’m really concerned about remaining anonymous and 2) I need time and thoughtful consideration for even really simple posts. I have the highest respect for more prolific and expansive PF bloggers. How the hell do you guys find so many relevant, meaningful, and interesting things to blog about?!

4. What is the most important financial lesson you have learned from college?

If you’re going to pay good money for something, make sure you’re getting the most you can out of it–and this is as much a qualitative judgment than a quantitative judgment. So, for instance, if you’re paying for up to five classes, but only taking four, consider auditing an extra class (perhaps in subject that’s unrelated to your major, but that you’ve always been intrigued by) for the learning experience; at the same time, make connections and create new opportunities–academic, social, or otherwise–by engaging with your professors and your fellow students outside of the classroom.

5. If you had to pick three of your favorite posts to share with a first time visitor, which would they be?

I’m going to cheat and pick two sets of related posts. (She’s obviously not going for a master’s in counting.)

• Forecasting student loans — a grim estimation of my worst-case scenario for student loans
• Student loans revisited — a happier reassessment of my situation

• Current stats — my very first budget
• Updated income vs. expenses — serious squeeze edition — my latest budget

Thanks for your time, MFA or Bust!

Last week, we announced the launch of the College Money Network, a group of young personal finance bloggers who write some of the most interesting and entertaining articles about money, college, and life. I’ll be posting an interview with one of the members each week, so you can get to know them better. This week I’m excited to share an interview with Grad Girl at This Writer’s Wallet.

1. Describe yourself in 10,000 words or less, preferably less.

I’m Grad Girl (often called GG), the 25-year-old Chicagoan behind This
Writer’s Wallet. I started my blog a little more than a year ago,
right as I was finishing grad school and thinking about getting a job
and budgeting and what to do with money, yadda, yadda.

After six combined years of college, I’m thankful to say I have no
debt (my parents are fantastic), and I’m working in a field I really
enjoy. I’m a big fan of school, and of understanding finances. On that
note, I wish more students received quality PF training along with
their given subject matter. But since they don’t, I really love
personal-finance blogs, especially by people in their 20s.

Thanks to the things I’ve learned along the way this past year, I’ve
fully funded a Roth IRA two years running (2008 done! last month). My
future goals include earning enough money for a 50% downpayment on a
home and saving up $8K in an emergency fund. Other stuff: I am a
Christian, passionate about applying Biblical truth to my everyday
decisions, including the ones that impact my wallet. And I am a
writer, both by trade and by hobby. I like cooking, travel, good
books, interesting conversation and vintage real estate.

2. What made you decide to start a personal finance blog?

Mainly, I was going through that horrible try-to-find-a-job phase of
my life, and personal-finance blogging became a welcome distraction.
People wrote about career/job stuff, too, so it was immediately
applicable, but I got really interested in people’s personal stories
of money and budgeting and saving, etc. When I was hooked, I started
This Writer’s Wallet.

3. What has surprised you the most about blogging?

Definitely the connection I can have with people I don’t know in real
life. I blog anonymously, so (most of) the people reading don’t know
my real name or where I work, etc. It’s crazy how much I can have in
common with a reader or another blogger. Cool and freaky.

4. What is the most important financial lesson you have learned from college?

College is a privilege, and it’s expensive. If there’s a way to pay
for it as you go (gift/working/scholarship), do it. But if you’re
going to take out loans, make sure it’s for a career that will enable
you to pay them back.

5. If you had to pick three of your favorite posts to share with a first time visitor, which would they be?

• The Secret to Getting Your Money’s Worth in Grad School
• Why I Live with my Parents, at 25
• New Goal: I Want to Buy a House with Cash (or, I hate debt!)

Thanks for sharing your time with us, Grad Girl!

Broke Grad Student has made some new friends. I recently launched the College Money Network with five other personal finance bloggers. We are a small network of twenty-somethings who blog about money, college, and life. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be interviewing each member of the network, so let’s get things started with Broke-Ass Student.

1. Describe yourself in 10,000 words or less, preferably less.

Only 10,000 words? Oh boo! Ok, I’ll try to be brief. My name is Jennifer Lynn and I run a quiet little site called Broke-Ass Student. It’s my own humble cranny where you can find me rambling about various issues I find fascinating, with personal finance being one of the main themes.

2. What made you decide to start a personal finance blog?

After finding myself in a buttload of drowning debt two years ago, and after observing numerous people trapped in the same situation, I realized how a huge void existed when it came to financial awareness. The topics of money, debt and investing continue to be excruciatingly painful for many young people, yet ironically, as uncomfortable or intimidating as these issues appear, nearly every aspect of our lives are affected by them.

Many young people in college or coming out of high school lack a proper educational background for making wise financial decisions, yet I’ve always believed finances do not have to be complicated. Everyone has the power to successfully manage their own money – they may simply lack the knowledge or confidence to do so. Launching Broke-Ass Student was an empowering way for me to grasp my own financial complications while bringing others along on the journey with me.

3. What has surprised you the most about blogging?

The wonderful communities which can blossom from reader comments really surprised me. When I first started writing, I never expected to receive as much feedback as I have. People are very passionate about certain areas, and hearing their voices and being able to open a dialogue up with them – whether I agree with a certain opinion or not – is still one of the most gratifying experiences of being a writer.

4. What is the most important financial lesson you have learned from college?

University life has definitely taught me how to budget properly. Between tuition, books, parking fees and housing, obtaining a degree is certainly not cheap. I’ve learned where to sacrifice and trim away the unnecessary expenses, while still striving toward strong financial goals to enrich my broke-ass lifestyle

5. If you had to pick three of your favorite posts to share with a first time visitor, which would they be?

I would probably suggest the following three tidbits. The spirituality one is an article I most personally enjoyed writing, while the other two are practical applications to show people how to tentatively take baby steps toward seizing control of their financial destiny.

• Financial Savviness 101: Making Your Money Work For You
• Surviving Paycheck to Paycheck? You Can Still Start Saving
• A Holistic Approach to Finances and Happiness

Thanks for your time, Jennifer Lynn!