9 Money saving tips for students!
Welcome back!
There’s no doubt about it, post secondary education is expensive and many students spend decades paying it off. Here are some tips to help lessen the burden of higher education costs.
- Make a budget, and stick to it. - Set reasonable goals for fixed and variable costs, and add up all receipts at the end of the month. You’ll be more price-conscious if you know where your money’s going.
- Buy used text books , and sell them when you’re done. One site that comes to mind is allbookstores.com, which allows users to compare prices at the leading online book stores.
- Refuse credit cards - Student loan debt is hard enough to repay, don’t leave college with credit card debt too. If you do, you are likely to spend years repaying it.
- Live with your parents - Okay, this is not going to work for everyone, but if the folks live close enough to a college and you enjoy a somewhat amicable relationship with them, you’ll save a ton of money by staying at home - if not for your entire college tenure, perhaps for the first year or two.
- Minimize student loans - Go to a state school, and apply for grants, bursaries, scholarships and federal assistance programs. You’ll thank yourself when it comes time to make loan payments.
- Take advantage of internships - Many students are under the false assumption that a college degree will guarantee a job after graduation. While that may have been true at one point, these days many more folks have degrees, thus to a certain extent devaluing post secondary education. Stand apart from the crowd by taking advantage of any field- related internships you can attain.
- Ask for a student discount - Student discounts are available at many places, some advertised and some not, so ensure to ask everyone from mall retailers to car dealerships if they offer a student price break.
- Freecycle for furniture - If moving to a dorm or perhaps an apartment off residence, check out your area’s freecycle.org listings and furnish your pad without financial strain.
- Be careful when doing laundry - Suddenly responsible for doing your laundry for the first time? Take extra care not to mix colors and whites, as well as refrain from over drying. Shrunken or color-ruined clothes will cut into your budget unnecessarily.
Save to Browser Favorites
Ask
backflip
blinklist
BlogBookmark
Bloglines
BlogMarks
Blogsvine
BUMPzee!
CiteULike
co.mments
Connotea
del.icio.us
DotNetKicks
Digg
diigo
dropjack.com
dzone
Facebook
Fark
Faves
Feed Me Links
Friendsite
folkd.com
Furl
Google
Hugg
Jeqq
Kaboodle
kirtsy
linkaGoGo
LinksMarker
Ma.gnolia
Mister Wong
Mixx
MySpace
MyWeb
Netvouz
Newsvine
PlugIM
popcurrent
Propeller
Reddit
Rojo
Segnalo
Shoutwire
Simpy
Slashdot
Sphere
Sphinn
Spurl.net
Squidoo
StumbleUpon
Technorati
ThisNext
Webride
Windows Live
Yahoo!
Email This to a Friend
If you like this then please subscribe to the 
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
The problem with credit cards is that you basically have to have one in order to build credit. Student loans help, but not until they are in repayment.
So basically you won’t be able to buy anything on credit without getting a card. That means student unsubsidized loans are impossible without parent approval, you can’t buy a car, and finding a place to live after college is almost impossible.
I recommend getting a credit card through your bank or through a retail store. Wal-Mart credit cards generally give you just $200, so you won’t be able to break the bank, but you will have enough for food emergencies and get the 3 cents off gasoline.
@Aaron Wakling - Thanks! I’ll check out your site, too.
@Gary R. Hess - A card with a small limit might be a good idea for the responsible student. While no credit is better than bad credit, if the card is paid off in full monthly, it could be an advantage.
great site!