Completing your college education can be tough, especially when it comes to covering your tuition fees, accommodation, and other major expenses you can’t avoid in school. As a result of this, it can be pretty difficult to pursue personal financial goals or live without worrying about your finances as a student. But if you understand how to save money in college, you could write an entirely different story for yourself.
Saving money in college simply means finding creative ways to cut down on your educational costs and ultimately reduce your spending throughout your studies in school.
On the other hand, it’s important that you don’t graduate from college d##d broke. Saving money in college is a great way to ensure that you don’t end up being desperate for financial support by the time you bag your degree. You need to have a reliable financial plan that supports you until you find a job or maybe start a business.
This post is about to show you several money-saving tips you can use to cut down your educational costs. Let’s dive in!
Is Saving Money In College A Wise Decision?
Learning to save money as a college student is a brilliant idea because it helps you to reach certain money goals and avoid unnecessary debt. Besides, when you prioritize savings while pursuing your college degree, you’ll end up graduating with good money habits.
Top 22 Easy Ways To Save Money In College
Are you ready to build solid savings habits? It’s time to check out these money saving tips for college students and learn how they can help you manage your finances better:
1. Avoid Eating Out
If you aren’t making your own meals as a college student, you could be living beyond your means. The cost of eating out, whether at fast food chains or upper-class restaurants, is a lot of money.
You don’t have to stop eating out completely since you may have to go on dates or hang out with friends occasionally. However, ensure you drastically curb this habit by preparing your food. You can create a weekly meal plan to make it easier.
2. Prepare Your Own Coffee
It’s normal for most students to stop by a local coffee shop every day. But since we are discussing how to save money in college, it’s high time you start making your own coffee every morning.
Find an affordable coffeemaker to buy, as well as some coffee beans. Then have a favorite travel mug that you pour your coffee into when going to school.
While it’s good to support small local businesses, preparing your own coffee will save you a few bucks.
3. Choose Used Books Over New Ones
Buying textbooks at full prices might be another way you overspend. To cut down on costs, do well to check your university campus bookstore to find the rental options available. You may also be able to buy used books (they are much cheaper than new ones) if your school has a Facebook group dedicated to used textbooks.
4. Download Freeware
Software like Microsoft Word, Excel, and Corel Draw are premium products that you can only use after paying. They are NOT free. However, you can save some money in college by using freeware instead.
Google Doc, Sheets, and WPS Office are free tools you can use to carry out various academic tasks and assignments. They are as fast and efficient as the paid ones.
5. Use Student Discounts To Your Advantage
If you aren’t taking advantage of student discounts, then maybe you’re a rich kid. But if you are truly looking for the best ways to save money in college, always move around with your student ID. Some stores and restaurants give discounts to students as long as they present their IDs.
Large companies like Apple, AT&T, Lenovo, Banana Republic, and Club Monaco offer up to 15% discounts to students.
How To Save On College Costs
6. Become A Resident Adviser
As a Resident Adviser, you usually get a free room and board. This will save you a ton of money on accommodation throughout your stay as a student. So if you don’t mind assisting students living on your hall or floor, you should apply to become an RA. Visit the housing department of your school to see what they can offer.
7. Apply For Scholarships
This is one of the most apparent tips on how to save money in college. Scholarships can pay for your tuition fees and help you save tens of thousands of dollars as a student.
Check your school’s website to see if any scholarships are available. If there is an opportunity, apply as soon as possible. Even if it’s a partial scholarship, it’s still a great way to cut down on tuition costs.
8. Cancel Unnecessary Subscriptions
We spend money unnecessarily when we subscribe to various services that we barely use. As a college student looking for ways to save money, make sure you examine your subscriptions and cut out the ones you don’t use.
Whether it’s a magazine, cable, newspaper, or content streaming platform like Netflix, ditch it for a cheaper or free alternative. You can use apps like TrueBill or Subby to track your subscriptions.
9. Make Value Purchases
When you are learning how to save money in college, buy items from store brands instead of name brands. You can always find cheaper items when you patronize generic brands, unlike well-known brands.
For example, before you spend money on a popular brand of canned veggies, check for the generic-brand option. Making this a habit will save you some cents or a few dollars anytime you go shopping.
10. Shop At The Right Time
What time do you go for food shopping? Do you know this determines how much you spend on items at the end of the day? Here is the thing—certain stores offer discounts on products later in the day.
For example, if you check your local grocery store from 7:00 PM, you may find out that some items are cheaper. Different stores have different times to mark down their goods. You just have to figure out your store’s routine.
Tips To Save Money In College
11. Shop With Coupons
To be honest, coupons are not what they used to be. However, they can still save you some money if you desperately need to cut down on costs.
Here’s the key to using coupons: make sure you focus on coupons that you often use, such as canned food and toiletries. Always clip all your coupons together, so you don’t misplace some of them. This is one of the best ideas to save money in college.
12. Use A Student-Friendly Bank
Using a bank that doesn’t charge extra fees is a great way to save money. We know that some banks don’t hesitate to slam monthly fees at your face or charge overdrafts. You will have to check out different banks (just visit their website) and see what they have to offer.
Mind you, some financial institutions offer rewards and perks to student customers. For example, Bank of America offers special student accounts without overdraft fees.
13. Create A Monthly Budget
One good way to ensure that you don’t overspend in college is to build a monthly budget.
Set money aside for all your major spending categories, like groceries, utilities, and other bills. Your budget should also plan for your educational costs, like books and classes.
More importantly, you can use a spreadsheet to create a budget. The columns should represent each month while the rows represent the various categories in your budget.
14. Track Your Expenses
After building a budget, another way you can master how to save money in college is by tracking your spending.
Download budgeting apps like Mint and Goodbudget to get started. These apps are important financial tools you can use to monitor your expenses to see if you are spending more money than you are supposed to. As soon as you observe any unhealthy spending patterns, amend your budget immediately.
Ideas To Save Money In College
15. Visit The Library
You can save money on rental fees when you often visit the library. Even if you aren’t a bookworm, your school library may have other things that interest you, such as movies and video games. All you have to do is get a library card, so you can have access to the facility almost anytime.
16. Quit Smoking
If you smoke regularly, the expenses add up. It may not look like much, but the amount of money you spend on packets of cigarettes can be more than $2,000 a year. If you want to quit smoking, you can try switching to e-cigarettes—they are arguably better than normal cigarettes that are quite hard on your lungs.
17. Live With Friends
While trying to figure out how to save money in college, you can lower your monthly bills drastically by sharing an apartment with someone. This will enable you to split rent, spend less on utilities, and save extra money during your years as a student. You can also spend less on groceries when you live with friends.
18. Pay Bills On Time
One of the easy ways to save money in college is by avoiding late payments. For instance, you don’t want to accrue late fees on credit card payments. That’ll rack up your interest rates and make you spend a lot more money to pay down the balance.
To ensure that you always pay your bills on time, you can write down the due dates or automate some of the payments. If at any point you think you’ll need a bill extension, all you have to do is contact your creditor before the due date and try to negotiate a better outcome.
Money Saving Tips For College Students
19. Pay Student Loan Interest Before Graduating
Indeed, you don’t have to start paying off your student loan until you are done with your studies. But since interest starts to accrue on private loans and unsubsidized federal loans, one of the best tips to save money in college is to start paying down your student debt.
You don’t have to try to clear the entire loan. Instead, begin with the interest. Doing this will save you hundreds or thousands of dollars.
20. Take Advantage Of The School’s Amenities
As a college student, you aren’t just paying for tuition fees. There are other things you have paid for that you may not be aware of. Hence, don’t hesitate to use free campus resources at every given opportunity.
For example, why do you still pay for gym membership when there’s a free gym on campus? If you ever feel unwell, the school’s health centers can cater to you. This is how to save money in college.
Even if these amenities are not entirely free, they’ll be available to you at a very reduced price.
21. Choose The Right Savings Account While In College
If you want to plan well with the savings you make in college, you have to deposit the money in certain types of accounts. A 529 account, for example, offers a tax-advantaged savings plan that allows you to set aside money mainly for your educational costs.
Savings in this account can be withdrawn tax-free for expenses directly related to your studies. This makes the 529 account a great option for repaying student loans and funding educational expenses in the future.
22. Get A Part-Time Job
Learning how to save money in college is much easier when you have a source of income. With just 15 hours of work per week, the money added to your bank account can enable you to pay your bills conveniently and save a bit of cash.
Depending on your financial situation, you may be eligible for the Federal Work-Study Program. This program gives college students the opportunity to snag a job on campus and work for a specific number of hours each week.
On the other hand, you could look for job opportunities outside of school—maybe at a local restaurant, retailer, or café.
Final Words On How To Save Money In College
Building good money habits while studying in college is a great way to prepare yourself for the financial hurdles that may lie ahead. Since saving money is one of the vital aspects of personal finance, it’s important that you prioritize it as one of your habits. The earlier it becomes a part of you, the better.
Thankfully, this post has already shown you how to save money in college. It’s safe to say you have now understood numerous strategies to save money on your educational costs.
Pin this for later!
