Making financial news make sense
Welcome to the Carillon’s “Finance with Pall,” a news finance column covering important economic and financial news from Canada and around the world, focusing on explaining what that news means for students. From tuition costs to job markets, we’ll break down how these changes affect you, making finance easy to understand and relevant to your life. If you have a request for a topic or you’d like for me to look at highlighting a stock price – shoot me an email at pall@carillonregina.com.
Disclaimer: The information in this column is intended for educational purposes and is not financial advice. For personalized financial guidance, please consult a licensed professional.
Terms of the week:
Minimum payment: The minimum payment is the smallest amount of money that one pays each month to keep their account in good standing. If the minimum payment is not paid off, there can be late fees and penalties.
Despite avoiding late fees, even if you only make minimum payments for your credit card, interest costs are increased by not paying off the entirety of your balance, a situation that can leave you stuck in a debt cycle that is difficult to get out of.
According to CNBC, “It’s important to make at least the minimum payment so your account stays current and you don’t incur late fees, penalty APRs or hurt your credit. Even if you dutifully make your minimum payment, it’s not ideal to carry a balance from month to month, because you’ll rack up interest charges.”
In simple terms, it’s like paying just the tip of an iceberg – your debt below the surface will be there and keep growing if you’re only able to make the “minimum payment.”
Cost of attendance: Cost of attendance is the total cost that a student incurs to go to school for one year. Put simply, it is the total amount of money it takes to attend school, going beyond just the cost of tuition. This includes books, courses, materials, cost of housing and food, transportation expenses, loan fees, costs related to disability, and other miscellaneous expenses.
Costs of attendance vary significantly across institutions and even for different students at the same school, depending on factors like living arrangements, and citizenship/residency status. For example, a student living at home with family members and paying no or reduced rent will have a lower cost of attendance than a student living in residence.
Students can plan for their cost of attendance using a budgeting tool like the University of Regina’s (U of R) Undergraduate Budget Calculator, which is tailored to specific costs at the U of R and can help estimate yearly costs. The U of R Undergraduate Budget Calculator is useful because it assists in calculating a student’s cost of attendance with specificity that a generalized budget calculator may not, offering options for U of R parking passes, meal plans, and courses. It is also faculty-specific.
You can access the calculator at uregina.ca/admissions/calculator.html.
News of the week:
Recently, SpaceX caught the giant Starship booster with ‘chopstick’ on their historic flight five rocket launch. This event changed the standard for space exploration, effectively raising the bar. On the investment side of things, stock prices increased from 110 to 115. This reflects the investors’s sentiments and the positive and optimistic view of the company.
In less optimistic news, the Financial Post reported that Canada’s “labour market remains soft” and that “the unemployment rate was at 6.5 per cent in September,” in part because of the way population growth continues to expand the Canadian labour force.
What does this mean? According to the Financial Post, the unemployment rate combined with a growing population and “modest” hiring has “particularly affected young people and newcomers to Canada,” making finding work more daunting for younger demographics and people who are new to the country.
