College is one of the most important and expensive phases of your life. As a college student, you’ll have to pay for your tuition and fees, supplies, housing, food, and transportation. The farther your college is from your home, the more expensive your education can get.
College isn’t cheap, but this doesn’t mean that you have to experience a lot of financial stress just so you can enroll and survive it. Even as a college student, there are actually many ways you can save money – and as long as you’re willing to make changes to your daily lifestyle, it won’t be long before you can have funds while earning a degree.
Listed below are tips on how you can save money while attending college:
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Buy Used Books
Even if you’re going to acquire a college degree through online education or brick-and-mortar universities, you’ll always need books. Books are essential for learning as these are a goldmine of information that can supplement your learning.
One of the easiest ways to save money while attending college is to skip buying brand new books and buy used instead. You can buy used books from many different sources – you can inquire from bookstores or senior college students who have recently graduated. You can even post an ad on your social media profile and wait until you get responses from other college students.
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Cook Your Own Food
Aside from acquiring a degree that can influence your career in the near future, college is also the time of your life where you’ll learn important life skills. This is the reason a lot of people consider college as a transition period toward adulthood.
If you want to live comfortably as an adult and start saving money as a college student, learn how to cook your own food. Eating at restaurants and ordering food for delivery can get really expensive, so it’s best if you prepare your food in your dorm or apartment.
You can save money when you cook your own food as you’ll get to decide which ingredients to include. If you have a tight budget as a college student, you can always look for cheaper alternatives for your ingredients.
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Live With A Roommate
There are many accommodations available for college students today- you can choose to live on or off-campus in an apartment or dorm. If you want to save money while attending college, don’t only consider the proximity and size of your accommodation when choosing – you should also inquire if it allows roommates.
Living with a roommate is an easy and fun way of saving money when you’re in college. When you have a roommate, you’ll have someone to split the rent and other bills with. The more roommates you live with, the more money you can save.
If you’re considering living with a roommate, make sure that you look at the bigger picture and consider the cons of the setup, as well. If you chose to stay with a roommate and later on find out that you’d prefer living alone, you might end up spending more money as you’ll be moving and looking for student accommodation in the middle of the school year.
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Brew Your Own Coffee
It’s a common view to see college students holding a Starbucks or Dunkin Donut cup in their hands. While it can be very tempting to hop into this bandwagon and get your daily caffeine fix from these shops, it’s best not to. Bistro coffee might seem like a small expense, but the cost within a year can be significant when added up.
If you can’t function without caffeine, opt to brew your own coffee rather than buying them outside. The former is a cheaper option that allows you to try out different flavors within the comforts of your dorm or apartment!
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Maximize All Campus Amenities
Your university or college will not only provide you with high-quality education. Often, this institution will also offer facilities that will make it very easy for you to learn and practice what you’ve grasped in the classroom.
Another way of saving money while attending college is to maximize all campus amenities. If your tuition fee covers discounted healthcare and free library use, you should use these amenities as often as possible. Other common amenities offered by most colleges are career services, tutoring, gym memberships, and workshops.
Your college could be offering all of these amenities (or even more), so make sure to ask before the school year starts.
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Get Your Hair Cut By Beauty School Students
You'll be a college student for at least four years. During this time, you’ll likely need to cut or trim your hair to maintain a pleasing appearance. If you want to save money on your grooming, have a beauty school student cut or trim your hair. Most beauty school students will love cutting or trimming other student’s hair for a cheap price as this allows them to practice their soon-to-be profession.
If you’re leaning toward this direction, make sure that the student understands what you want with your hair. You should only let a student who has experience in cutting or trimming hair work on your crowning glory.
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Find Cheap Housing Close To The Campus
Where you’re going to live when you start your journey in college can significantly affect your spending habits and, eventually, your ability to save. Living in a cheap dorm or apartment far from your campus will cost more as you’ll have to spend money for your daily transportation.
One way for you to save money while attending college is to find cheap housing close to the campus. Aside from allowing you to save money from your daily commute, living near the campus will also prevent you from eating out or ordering food outside as you can easily head to your accommodation to eat.
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Conserve Energy
As mentioned, you’ll be living like an adult when you’re in college. This means that you have to carefully budget your allowance to ensure that you can afford living in your student accommodation.
For you to easily ward off financial stress, learn how to conserve energy once you start to live in your dorm or apartment. Make it a habit to turn off the lights when not in use, and keep your AC or heater turned down when not needed. You can also use LED lamps on your desktop, take shorter showers, and immediately report any leaky windows as these are effective strategies in conserving energy.
If you’re going to live with roommates, make sure that they also follow these practices. It’ll be challenging for you to conserve energy and save money on your energy bills if you’re the only person putting in all the effort.
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Take Care Of Your Valuables
You’ll be using a lot of things when you’re in college. For starters, you’ll need a working laptop to digitally take notes in class, research online, and send and receive information from your teachers. You'll also need several other appliances to ensure that you’ll live comfortably in your student accommodation.
Taking care of your valuables is one of the easiest ways to save money while attending college. You should use your valuables properly and clean them regularly. When you take care of your laptop and appliances, you won’t have to buy brand new ones, allowing you to save money for years.
If you’re really good in taking care of your valuables while in college, you might even be able to sell them once you graduate and earn money.
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Avoid Impulse Buying
There are many reasons college students are prone to buying things impulsively. For one, most college students easily give in to peer pressure that they immediately buy products recommended by their colleagues. In some cases, college students would want to be on-trend all the time, which is why they would end up buying items that everyone uses yet they don’t actually need.
One of the most effective yet toughest ways for you to save money while attending college is to avoid impulse buying. Ideally, you should list down all of the things you’re going to buy in a store and stick to the list. You shouldn’t be persuaded by discounted prices or on sale items as this can negatively affect your savings.
If you’re thinking about a new product, wait for a month and think about whether you really need the item or not. This method is an easy way of allowing you to think things through before buying anything and helping you avoid any impulse purchases.
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Pack Snacks And Drinks To Class
You’ll be attending several classes during the day every day when you’re a college student. Aside from classes, you might even have to participate in workshops or join extra-curricular activities during the day. You'll be doing a lot of things as a college student, which is why it’s very common for you to feel hungry at different times of the day.
While cafeterias, convenience stores, and vending machines are common in most campuses, it’s best if you pack your snacks and drinks to your classes. This is a great way of saving money while making sure that you’ll always have access to your preferred snacks and drinks. -
Embrace Secondhand
College students will need clothes, especially during the first few weeks of the school year. As a college student, you’ll likely want everyone to create a good impression on the people you often come across – and wearing a nice set of clothes can help you achieve this goal.
One way of saving money while attending college is to embrace secondhand and buy from thrift stores. Sure, your campus might be surrounded by branded clothing stores, but buying from these establishments will only cause a hole in your pocket. This is especially true if you’re fond of updating your closet regularly.
Buying from thrift stores might be uncommon for some, but you’ll be surprised with the options available. As long as you’re careful when choosing, you might even find branded apparels without the expensive price tag!
Aside from thrift stores, you can also buy secondhand items through online marketplaces. You can find many pre-owned apparels when you browse Craigslist, eBay, Poshmark, and many other websites.
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Use Budgeting Apps
Budgeting is important to attain financial stability – and as a college student, you should learn how to budget as early as possible. Budgeting is essential for college students like you as this ensures that you can pay common expenses such as tuition and rent and still have money for your savings. Having a realistic budget can also reduce stress, making it easier for you to focus on your studies.
For you to effectively create and stick to a realistic budget, make use of budgeting apps. There are many available today, and you can easily download them on your smartphone or laptop.
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Look For A Side Hustle
While some college students take a full load every semester, some have a lot of vacant time in their schedules. If you’re one of the latter, you can start working part-time for you to earn money when not in class.
Aside from earning the money you spent, working part-time also teaches you how to budget, improve your time management skills, and open opportunities for networking. Working part-time is also a great opportunity to test your skills in the real world of employment.
When working part-time as a college student, make sure that you find an employer who understands that you’re still a student. In the same manner, you should also inform your professors that you’re working. Making sure that all of the parties involved are in the same page will make it easier for you to balance study and work in the long run.
Stay Disciplined And Consistent
As you can see in this article, there are actually many ways college students like you can save money. Regardless of how busy you are during the day or how small your allowance is, there will always be ways for you to save money – what matters is your discipline and consistency. When you have these two traits, you won’t have any problems saving money while attending college!
