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College Spending (spending money at college)

One area that will hold significant capacity for money savings at college is your lifestyle. In high school, you’re likely to have lived your parents’ lifestyle, not your own. By lifestyle, I mean your standard of living - what you do or don’t have, what you can or can’t afford to do. What you have now was likely paid for by your family – your clothes, food, transportation, housing, toiletries, etc.  At college, you’ll be paying for all those items. The money may be coming from you or someone else, but largely, you’ll be spending it. You control what you need and what you buy. So, consequently, this is somewhere you can save.

Many of these ideas only save a little money – even only a few pennies at a time. But it’s when you make the financially sound choices repeatedly, and in several different ways (and throughout college), that you can start to realize significant savings. And the greatest thing about all of this is that the savings will end up in your pocket!  By saving money on all the stuff you HAVE to pay for, it will increase the amount you have to buy what you want and decrease the amount you have to borrow. That will improve your lifestyle and make it feel like you have more money.

There are endless categories in which monetary savings can be realized.  Here we'll try to provide as many ideas and suggestions, in as many different ways as possible.  Categories include:

Enrollment/Courses
Textbooks
  • Buy used books. They’re much less expensive than new. There are plenty of goobers out there who bought the book last semester, but hardly used it at all. Search through the stacks to find those that are in the best shape and DON’T have all the hi-lighting in them – you never know if they hi-lighted the right stuff. 
  • If you have friends who have already taken a particular class, see if you can borrow books you need (Advisor, 2007).
  • Always verify the name and ISBN, as well as the edition of the textbook(s) you need for classes before purchasing them online (Elmer, 2008).
  • Comparison shop online for textbooks. It takes some work, but you can save money. Try www.valorebooks.com, www.isbn.nu, www.ecampus.com, www.addall.com, www.booksprice.com, www.bookfinder.com, and others as they are either comprehensive sites or a location that searches several other sites for you.
  • Comparison shop for textbooks.  Not only find the total price for all your textbooks at each store, also find the lowest price on each book.  It is usually worth the extra gas it would cost you to drive across town for the savings on an individual book.
  • Like many other items you purchase, often, coupons are available for the purchase of textbooks.  They may be located in college newspapers, on web sites or social media pages, or in college coupon books.  
  • Don't forget, at the end of the semester, you will sell your books back.  And while you won't get back nearly as much as you paid for them, you still get some money back.  Like you did when you purchased them, you should comparison shop for buyback prices, and look for coupons in the student newspaper and online.
Eating Out
  • DON’T (eat out)!
  • Eat out where they give discounts to college students (Campusgrotto.com, 2009a). Pay attention to the cost of the things you eat and make economical choices. Only order what you can eat. Also, get a ‘to go’ box and take home leftovers to eat later.
  • Look for discount deals on certain nights or times at restaurants (i.e. ½ price Happy Meals at McDonalds, Soft Drink Happy Hour at Sonic, etc.), or at all-you-can-eat restaurants.
  • When you do drive-thru or carryout for dinner, ask for the utensils, napkins, salt and pepper, ketchup, etc. and keep a bag or drawer full at your apartment/room. This can save money and time – some people even wash and re-use plastic utensils.
  • At restaurants, if you eat cheap and others don’t (when you go out in a group), take along a calculator and figure each person’s bill separately. Don’t just split the bill six ways. Also, remember large groups may have a gratuity automatically added to the bill, so check for that and don’t tip on top of that (unless you mean to).(CollegeScholarships.org, 2008).
Shopping/Food
Jobs/Work/Making Money
Finances
Personal Belongings, Habits and Activities
Health
  • If your college has a medical, dental, optometry or other health-related academic program, call and ask about volunteering to be a research subject – I just read (can’t remember where) that dental students have to do certain procedures for their final evaluations, and need live patients. You could be able to get top quality care for free, or potentially be paid for your time.
  • Don’t join the hip, trendy health club in your college town. You probably have access to state of the art facilities on campus because of fees you already pay (Talley, 2009).
  • Intramural sports and/or on-campus fitness, dance, spinning, combat classes are a great, and FREE, way to stay in shape – and are conveniently located on campus.
  • I’m really torn on whether or not I think you should donate your plasma, but it does pay good money and you are definitely helping others. If you decide to do this, do it sparingly, and always follow all instructions and/or guidelines.
  • Go to the doctor when you’re sick. It’s probably cheaper, and is definitely better on your grades and the health of everybody around you if you go to the doctor and start getting well, rather than trying to last it out and sharing your germs with everybody!
Entertainment
Room, Board and Furnishings
Saving on Utilities and Energy Bills

College Corner

Although it isn't inexpensive, a study abroad experience can be something that sets one student apart from others in the job search process.  Read this article about how students should go about selecting accommodations in London, England for college or study abroad experiences.

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