<prompt> Human: As the title says, I am a 21 year old student who had never had a real job. I babysat and tutored but nothing more than that. I am a student in a pretty good university studying biomedical engineering but my gpa is not great. My parents have paid for everything in my life. My education is paid for, my housing I live in an apartment off campus, and my daily living expenses. I was just given a 2013 Chevy Volt to use at school and after I graduate.My parents dont talk at all about their finances, but I have read a bit about them like the sidebar info but I am a newbie. I have a credit card that my parents pay for. I have 2 bank accounts, one at school and a savings account at home. I have around 7,000 in my savings account and 800 in my checking account at school.I just got a co op where I will be working full-time for 6 months making 17 an hour before taxes. Now, I have never worked so I dont really know how much will be taken out for taxes or anything like that. After the Co-op I will have 2 semesters left at school. I feel very overwhelmed when I think about finances and I understand that I have been sheltered and fairly privileged however it is also stressful to know that I am spending so much of my parents money as they have had to work hard to provide for me and my sister. Some of my expenses are as follows: 400 for rent 50 for utilities 20 for internetThings I dont really know how much they cost: Cell phone never seen the bill-I told you I was privileged Groceries I could figure this out School bills Clothes How do I go about becoming financially independent at the end of my university around 2 years? I obviously have been lucky to have parents to pay for my wants and needs, but I would love to be independent within the next 2 years. I have no idea how to do taxes. I dont know my savings account password so I dont have access to that money unless I ask my parents. What do I do with the money I make from my co op? Will I be able to survive after college?  <response>: Well on the upside it sounds like youll be exiting college debt free, which is far ahead of many of your peers.First step is to talk to your parents about your plans. If your goal is to get zero help from them post graduation, let them know. Let them know you want to have an idea of what your bills are like now so you can start to track your expenses and budget better for when youre on your own.Second, set up a budget. You sound like you have a small cushion of money now, but if you are living outside your means come graduation, that will disappear fast. Figure out what you spend, try to track every dollar if you can. Determine what are needs vs what are wants, hint if your phone bill is over 50month or youre eating out all the time, those are wants. This will let you know about where your monthly expenses lie and about how much youll need to be making to cover this. Not to mention itd be good to have a pay at least 20 over your expenses for you to start saving for retirement early.Third, and maybe your parents are a good place to start talking to about this, learn what you can about credit, retirement accounts, and investments. Knowing whats out there and how best to utilize it will save you so many headaches going forward. For example always pay your statement balance on your credit cards. Itll build a good credit history and cost you nothing.Set goals. First you should probably build an emergency fund of 3-12 months expenses, depending on how volitile your job and job market turn out to be. The budget comes in handy to know exactly what this amount turns out to be. Do you want to buy a house? How much house? How soon? Do you want to finance it completely yourself or have your parents help? Think about long term financial goals, and if you need help working those out this subreddit is always here to help. 