Story by Jarleene Almenas

Money was the only thing on Stephanie Bellevue’s mind as she waited to be helped during the second week of classes.

There was a roped-off line that snaked a good ten feet outside UCF’s Financial Aid office where students waited to get a number, many of them looking like they’d rather be anywhere else.

They waited to be shuffled inside as soon as possible, only to then wait even longer for assistance.

There was almost only standing-room inside the small waiting area, and the competition for remaining chairs could have been compared to a less-interesting version of the Hunger Games.

Bellevue, who is a junior Science Education major, had about a 30 minute wait ahead of her. She chose to leave and come back closer to the end of her waiting time, and though she was inconvenienced, there was no way she wouldn’t come back.

“Money is a big issue, especially for college students,” Bellevue said. “It’s worth the wait.”

In the 2012-2013 school year, UCF awarded over $440 million in financial aid, and $438.1 million of that money was disbursed back to its students.

However, about 58 percent of the aid UCF awarded was made up of loans, coming up at about $253.7 million. Only about 16 percent of the aid awarded was due to scholarships.

Though aid did increase in those years by approximately $18.6 million, or 4.4 percent, tuition and fees per one credit hour had also increased by almost 12 percent.

These are the most current numbers the financial aid office offered. Due to the high traffic in their department, they could not meet for an interview.

So, assuming that the numbers have more or less remained the same currently, students are potentially being disbursed quite a chunk of money—whether it is from loans, federal grants, or scholarships.

Yet college students are notoriously known for being broke. So where does that money go? What are students spending their money on?

“They might use it on a vacation, or if they’re studious, they’ll use it for their studies,” Zara Farheen said, a freshman electrical engineering major.

But student spending might not be so black and white.

John Mohr, a junior mechanical engineering major, said that at least most of the time a student can partially justify the way they spend their disbursements.

“If someone goes out and they take their refund and buy a laptop, that could be for personal or school reasons,” Mohr said.

But some students aren’t just buying things like laptops with their disbursements.

Jason Lupo, a junior electrical engineering major, was sure that some students spent their money on whatever they wanted, regardless if it is necessary for their studies or not.

“I’m sure freshman go and they get this huge check and they’re like ‘Let’s go buy the latest videogame or let’s go get some alcohol’ — Just not smart financial decisions,” Lupo said.

But videogames and alcohol are not all students buy.

“I heard of people buying cars, buying guns… Just stupid stuff,” Bell said.

A few students brought up purchasing tattoos and even drugs with their refunds.

“I know someone, and I used to be friends with her, but I know she spent part of her refund check on meth,” Mohr said.

Yasmin Linares, a junior sociology major, said that student spending has to do with self-indulgence, and that there’s nothing wrong with that, especially for college students.

“Everyone’s done it,” she said. “Once you get [a lot] of money, it’s like ‘Hey, I’m not broke for once’. It’s understandable.”

On the flip side, not all students spend their disbursement in this manner.

Karl Bell, a junior political science major, said that many of UCF’s students rely on their disbursements as their sole income for the semester.

“Most people probably use it to pay bills, pay utilities and to be able to come to school every day,” Bell said.

And while some students are fortunate enough to have many of these things already covered, saving the money from financial aid disbursement is their next logical step.

Bell pointed out that having this money set aside for emergencies is important.

“I really don’t touch it,” Bell said. “I just keep it as something to have just in case something happens.”

This came off a surprise to some students. Linares didn’t think many people actually saved up their disbursements.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that actually puts it away,” Linares said. “Not one.”

The possibilities of student spending are numerous, depending on what type of person a student is and how they use it, which could be either good or bad. Whether they’re saving or spending, college students are responsible for their own management of money.

Bellevue just shook her head at the mention of students using their financial aid in wasteful ways.

She said that a lot of them were probably spoiled, because she believed that refunds shouldn’t be used that way. She said that the money should be going towards your studies, paying housing, tuition and the required books for classes.

She’s not waiting in a 30 minute line just so she can spend her money on the first thing she wants. But she’s sure students will probably rethink their financial decisions in the future.

“At the end of the day,” Bellevue said, “I feel like they’ll kind of realize that when the money is gone.”