Since High School graduation is just around the corner for a lot of us, saving money to go away to universities and colleges maybe important for you. As students, we have limited financial bases and sometimes, limited support. How can you save for college when you are in college, or even before you start college? Here are some tips you might find helpful.
1. Buy used books.
Unlike high school, you can no longer sign out textbooks and return them at basically no charge, you have to buy your textbooks. It may comes to a surprise to you that buying textbooks at the start of the semester may cost you somewhere around 300 dollars, depending on what you are studying and your course load. To save money, you can buy used books, treat your books nicely and sell them after you are done with them. Three hundred may not sound like a big sum amount of money, but you might find an extra 50 dollars a month useful.
2. Take Public Transit
Straightforward enough. Most university students can access public transit cheaply with their student status. Or, if you can’t access public transit, you can always carpool or bike to be environmentally friendly and economically wise.
3. Meal Plan and Food
Choose the meal plan that fits your need. A lot of people just order the most comprehensive meal plan so they have access to meals often. Would it kill you to drop by the cafeteria on time using a cheaper plan??? Definitely not. Get the meal plan that fits your eating pattern or eating habits, and that may save you money from some unnecessary excessive meal plan.
The ultimate way to save lots of money on food is to cook for yourself. Learning a skill while experience life with cooking may not be that bad of an idea. You can potentially save up to 75% of the money you spend on meal plan if you choose to cook your own meal.
4. Student Bank Account
Some bank accounts charge fees for low balance. That 20ish dollars might feed you for a few days, and by setting up no fee student account, you are avoiding these account charges. Of course, this is useful if you have no spare money in the bank (like a couple thousand just lying around).
5. Monitor your spending
By keeping your receipts and recording your spending in a book or in the computer, you can effectively monitor the money you’re spending. This will ensure that you are not thoughtlessly buying stuff that will put you more in debt . Balance your spending and minimize it as much as possible.
6. Hangout cheaper
You might want to go to places like movie theaters, bars (once you’re of age), art centres, etc. for fun in your leisure time. Check out for student discount for those establishments. Aside from going to costly places, you can simply hang out on campus, join a club to meet new friends and kill some time.
7. A job
What better way to save more by making more? Just find a part-time job you can manage alongside your schoolwork.
8. Cellphone plan
Don’t let your phone bill eat away your balance. Know what you need on your cellphone and order just that. Even better – use your cellphone less, try a landline at your apartment once a while, as it would definitely be cheaper. Talk over internet instead of text message — type faster online, or use Skype, and it’s absolutely free!
9. Wise Apartment living
Do not spend thousands to furnish your apartment, get an apartment that has mostly used appliance or get appliances from your friends and family. As far as getting furniture, look for apartments that come fully furnished so that all you have to bring is your personal items.
10. Smarter way out – Scholarships
Instead of working yourself overtime with part-time job, put some effort in applying for scholarships, they can potentially save you thousands of hours of hard, miserable work.
That’s it! Remember, it is never too early to save.
Any more ways you think of that can save college students money? Share them with us via comments.