By Emily Steves, @SeeEmilyPlay

The balance of my checking account at the end of last semester –– $4.37 –– made me cry.

College tuition and partying drained my bank account. This year I made sure the half that makes college, well, college drains on a more regular basis than my tuition bill.

As the youngest of four children, my brothers attacked my parents’ bank account before I had the chance. I’m financially responsible for my own education and have paid a good chunk of my student bill out-of-pocket every semester since freshman year. But scholarships saved me from shelling out the dough this semester.

Your turn to check your bank account.

Open your laptop and type in your link to online banking.

Take a deep breath.

Then, with the click clack of the keys, type in your information.

Hit “enter.”

Do you cringe when the page finally loads? Does the impossibly low dollar amount scare you? I can certainly relate with my $4.37.

Welcome to November and the third month of the semester. You spent the money saved up from your part-time job and summer internship on cheap thrills to forget your homework-laden life.

A semester full of boozin’.

Retail therapy shopping after getting a bad grade.

And, oh yeah, your student tuition bill.

The lucky ones’ parents sent them money sometimes. If you’re like me, yours didn’t.

According to President Obama at the University at Buffalo on Aug. 19, debt won’t be as horrifying for college students of the future.

Future.

Years will pass before his plan does. The oh-so-distant promise of loan repayments never exceeding 10 percent of an income sounds great. But for what generation of college students?

Current college students’ radar will barely see a blip of the positive repercussions. Remember the recession that began in 2007? We lost post-graduation job opportunities with each plummet of the economy. Millennials have been screwed over with high tuition costs and the lack of a substantial income to pay off loans.

So don’t spend so much money on your college education.

Make scholarship descriptions and applications your best friend. Apply to every scholarship that pertains to you, be it based on your ethnicity, previous work experience or major.

Don’t be discouraged by the smallest amounts.

Receive $100 to spend on tuition or have to pay it with your financial aid or worse –– like me –– out-of-pocket. Chances are, hundreds of other scholarship seekers passed up the lower amount, putting more of the odds in your favor.

Don’t be intimidated by the largest amounts.

Apply anyway. Create an original résumé. State your case in an attention-grabbing cover letter. Make it so committees granting the scholarships can’t say no to you.

The scholarships I received for this semester have made me more financially independent than ever before.

For the first time ever, I got money back from my student bill.

My checking account’s balance doesn’t make me cry anymore.

Originally written for my opinion writing course at St. Bonaventure University.