Startup Idea: Budgeting Software For Student Finances

Startup idea to develop a budgeting software tailored for students, accounting for their unique financing structure like lump-sum money for semesters. The program should offer noteworthy features like bank connectivity, loan tracking, alert systems, and a mobile app.

My husband is currently a student in a very busy program. We rely a lot on student loans, grants, and other funds to help us make it through financially. One of the biggest problems I have run into is the lack of a budgeting program that takes student finances into consideration.

I would LOVE to see a budgeting software that is specifically designed for students and their financial concerns.

Our money cycle tends to have three different phases - winter semester, spring semester, and summer. Typically at the beginning of each semester, we receive a lump sum of money that is supposed to last us during that entire phase. Budgeting programs typically account for a monthly salary rather than a lump sum at the beginning of a specific time. I have found it challenging to use traditional budgeting methods and programs because they just don't work right.

Students tend to be tech savvy, so things like text alerts, mobile apps, connecting directly to the bank account would all be appealing parts of a program like this.

It would also be cool to have a section of the software dedicated to tracking student loans and how much interest is accruing on them, so students can be continually aware and more motivated to try to take out less loans.

Students just have a lot of unique needs that could really be helped by a budgeting program geared towards them. I have created my own excel worksheet, but it is time consuming and doesn't automatically connect to my bank account.

Submitter: Nicole Hall (view contact info)