College Credit - Summer Plans to Improve Your Financial Future

Of all the things to cherish about being in college, summer vacation might be the best. You'll make friends everywhere you go and you can keep learning while having fun and worthwhile experiences.

Instead of sitting around all summer, make a plan now that will help you make the most of your free time. You can take steps to save money, to gain career experience or enrich yourself. Why not try one of these three plans for a more memorable summer? You can catch up on Orange is the New Black any time!

1.) Set up a business

Instead of getting a typical summer job selling hot dogs at the neighborhood pool, why not be your own boss for a few months? Summer creates a lot of new project needs, from landscaping to child care to vacation planning. Start putting feelers out now to friends and family to figure out what the needs might be in your community. You can save the money you make to pay for school in the fall and your brief stint as an entrepreneur will make your resume pop.

2.) See exotic places... and help them out

If you've got your heart set on travel, you could go hopelessly into debt to spend a few days in Europe, or you could spend a modest sum on a service project. Through organizations like Projects Abroad, you can spend four weeks teaching English, building houses or caring for animals in Vietnam, Togo, Argentina or any of a few dozen countries. You'll come away with much more than a few cheap souvenirs. You'll gain valuable experience and feel good about what you've accomplished.

3.) Learn a new skill

Nothing will impress a potential employer or prospective partner quite like the determination and intelligence required to learn a new skill entirely on your own. With the resources of the Internet, there's no limit to what you can learn, so make it something outside your wheelhouse. Engineering students can show their versatility by learning French or Latin. English majors can teach themselves calculus or a programming language. Add it to the bottom of your resume and watch prospective employers' jaws drop when you explain that you "just picked it up one summer."