Semester

A student planner built around one question

Every college student budget comes down to one question on a normal weekday: how much can I spend this week? Semester answers it on its home page. You see what's left for the week in big handwriting, a pencil that gets shorter as you spend, each day of the week at a glance and a short line on how the number was worked out.

That number isn't a guess. Semester takes the money you have now, the money that's still coming, the bills and rent you have to pay before the semester ends and the number of weeks left — and spreads it evenly. Spend less this week and next week's budget goes up a little. Have a big week and the rest of the semester adjusts. It's the simplest weekly budget planner a student can keep up with, because there's only one number to watch.

Why a college student budget is different

Most budget apps assume a salary that lands on the same day every month. College money doesn't work like that:

• Lumps at the start of term. A financial aid refund, a scholarship or a loan disbursement arrives once, and has to last 15 or 16 weeks.
• Irregular pay. A part-time job, campus work-study or gigs pay a different amount every week or two.
• Family money that comes when it comes.
• Front-loaded costs. Textbooks, deposits and supplies all hit in the first two weeks.
• Shared costs. Rent top-ups, Wi-Fi, utilities and groceries split with roommates.

A monthly budget breaks under all of that. Semester is a college planner for your money that plans by the semester and the week instead.

The semester strip

The signature of Semester is the semester strip: every week of the term drawn as one ruled column. Weeks under your allowance fill in mint, weeks over it in pink, this week in blue, with a dashed line for the weekly allowance and a pencil over today. It's the fastest way to see whether you're on track for the whole semester — and it's oddly satisfying to watch the columns fill in.

Money in: aid, loans, family and paychecks

On the Money page you add every source of money for the term:

• financial aid refund, scholarship or grant, student loan,
• money from family,
• job paychecks and gigs.

Each one can be expected (with a date) or received. Turn on careful mode and Semester counts only money that has actually arrived — the safest setting if your hours change or a refund is late. When a paycheck lands, mark it received and your weekly budget updates at once.

Log spending in seconds

Spending is one quick form with categories made for students: tuition and fees, textbooks and supplies, rent or dorm, meal plan and groceries, eating out and coffee, transport, phone and subscriptions, fun, personal care, health and trips home. The semester budget page shows planned vs spent for each category across the whole term, so you can see that coffee is quietly eating the grocery money before it's too late.

Bills and subscriptions on sticky notes

Rent, phone, streaming, insurance and other bills sit on sticky notes with their due dates. Bills are set aside before your weekly budget is worked out, so the money for rent is never counted as spending money. Late bills stand out, one tap marks a bill paid, and a student-discount flag reminds you which subscriptions have a cheaper student plan.

Broke-week survival mode

Every student has the week before payday when the account is nearly empty. Semester suggests survival mode when money gets tight (you can also turn it on yourself), and it shows:

• a daily spending limit until the next money comes in,
• how many days that is,
• what you can afford per day after bills,
• a checklist: pantry meals, free campus food, pausing a subscription, selling a textbook back.

For more ideas, see our guide on how to save money in college — and if you need more money coming in, our list of ways to make money in college.

Roommate expenses without the awkward chat

The Roomies page keeps track of shared costs. Add rent top-ups, Wi-Fi, utilities or a grocery run, split it equally or with custom amounts, and Semester shows who owes whom — reduced to the fewest payments so everyone can settle up in one go. To work out a fair rent split before you sign a lease, try the free rent split calculator.

A textbook tracker for every course

Textbooks are one of the biggest surprise costs of a semester. For each course, record whether you bought the book new or used, rented it, went digital or borrowed it from the library. Add the sell-back value and Semester shows the real cost of each book, plus the return date for every rental so you never pay a late fee.

Savings goals and student loans

Set savings goals — spring break, a laptop, an emergency fund — and Semester shows the weekly pace to reach them by your date. The loans page lists student loans and credit cards: subsidized loans at $0 interest while you're in school, unsubsidized and private loans with monthly interest, and the payoff time for each. When you're ready to plan repayment, the student loan payoff calculator and our guide to paying off student loans faster go further.

The semester report

At the end of term — or any time — the semester report shows money in, total spent, your average week, the biggest category, month by month, and where your money came from. Print it or save it as a PDF, and export your spending as CSV for Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.

Who Semester is for

• College and university students, from freshman year to grad school.
• Freshmen living away from home and handling their own money for the first time.
• Students with part-time jobs or irregular income who need a budget that adjusts.
• Parents who want to give a student a simple tool instead of a spreadsheet — it makes a thoughtful back-to-school gift.

It works for fall, spring, summer, quarters and trimesters of any length, in any currency.

A typical week with Semester

1. Monday: open Semester and see this week's budget.
2. During the week: log coffee, groceries and a pizza night in a few taps between classes.
3. Payday: mark the paycheck received — next week's budget goes up.
4. Before rent: check the sticky notes; rent is already set aside.
5. Sunday: glance at the semester strip and settle up with roommates.

A digital student planner on phone and laptop

Semester is a digital student planner that installs from your private link on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and Chromebook and works offline once installed. On a laptop everything sits in a notebook-cover sidebar; on a phone, in a ruler-shaped bottom bar. Link your phone and laptop once with a 6-digit code or QR, and a coffee you log on your phone shows on your laptop a moment later — end-to-end encrypted. Three themes — Notebook, Late night and Chalkboard — keep the study-notebook look.

There's no account, no bank login, no ads and no tracking. Your numbers stay on your own devices, and backup and restore take one file.

Semester vs a budget spreadsheet

A student budget spreadsheet is free and flexible, but it doesn't know how many weeks are left, which money has really arrived or what your roommates owe you — you have to work all of that out yourself, every week. Semester does those sums for you, fits in your pocket and still prints like a paper digital budget planner when you want it on your desk. If you'd rather start on paper, the bonus pack includes printable worksheets too.

What you get

• Your private Semester link and QR code.
• A 12-page PDF guide: Start Here, How to Open & Install, How Semester Works and the license.
• Bonus printables: 7 worksheets (semester budget plan, weekly spending log, monthly budget, bills and subscriptions, roommate split, textbook tracker, broke-week survival plan), 6 goal boards to color in and 5 wallpapers.
• Free updates for the app itself.

Good to know

Semester is a planning tool, not financial advice. The weekly allowance and loan figures are estimates from the numbers you enter. It needs internet the first time you open it on each device and works offline after that.