Practical tips To Reduce College Food, Books and Tuition Costs

Saving money on practical tips reduce college does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.

Key Takeaways

• (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); I am lucky that I did my college in a country where education is heavily subsidized.
• Before you start thinking I grew up in heaven, let me tell you that, in my country there is nothing called social security pay out.
• I have lived in America for 7 years now and have friends and relatives attending colleges here.

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I am lucky that I did my college in a country where education is heavily subsidized. Before you start thinking I grew up in heaven, let me tell you that, in my country there is nothing called social security pay out.

I have lived in America for 7 years now and have friends and relatives attending colleges here. I have colleagues working with me and re-paying student loans even after being at work for 10 years.

In this country, an inevitable outcome of going to a college, for most of the people, is taking on debt, which takes on average half of the life to repay, unless parents saved for the college or you worked your way in to college. (related - Pick a college or Major with future career in mind)

I know a nice guy who works as our building security guard, he is actually saving for medical study, he chooses his shifts at night when building is empty, this earns him extra salary (for working in night shift) and gets more time to study (since no one is there, nothing much to watch for).

What are the items a college student would spend on and how he can reduce spending? This is a list I prepared after interviewing some of the past and present college students, I know off ,who attended college in US. These are tried and tested techniques that students have applied for years to save money in college.

Cost of Food

Almost all the colleges have free food events going on regularly, don’t miss any. Free pizza parties are excellent for your taste and pocket.

Stay late at any party to help clean and take home the left over, take as much as you can take by not getting rid of civility. Stock it up in freezer and eat for few days.

Ask you upperclassmen and find out if any local church or non-profit organizes any free food event, don’t miss that.

Take up part-time job at food co-op, you will get lucky at times, especially a large college cafeteria will have a lot of food waste everyday (are you feeling lucky?).

When eating out, don’t hesitate to ask for student discounts, chances are high that they will have something.

If you can cook your own meal most of the time, it will save you hell lot of money (remember this technique whole life). When you are in hurry grab that 30c Ramen noodles, value for money! Macaroni and cheese once in a week is not bad either.

Cook with other students and share the grocery cost. Your food cost can go down by as much as 40% by cooking together.

Invite parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters and basically every one who can take you out for dinner. Order large portion or double of what you can order, then pack the other half you didn’t eat, to savor later.

Cost of Books

Try not to purchase your books beforehand. Attend first few classes without the book to see if you really need it, if you can survive for few days, you probably don’t need books.

Try to get your books from upperclassmen, if you pay more than what bookstores would give them, they can give it to you. (Remember to scout for freshmen next year for sell)

Get your books at the library, college libraries have copies of the textbooks which are meant only for reading in the library, so be there as soon as it opens and read your chapters, take notes, finish as much as you can in a day. Repeat again next day. Do you still need books?

Local county library might have copies of suggested books as well, search through their online catalog.

You can get used books from book stores near campus and they do purchase back, you have to shell the difference from your pocket, which might not be more than 20% of the actual cost of the book. I think this can be a pretty good deal in case above methods fail in your situation.

Cost of Tuition

Complete as numerous credit hours as you can through community college system, these are damn affordable provided you reside in the county more than one year to get the subsidized tuition rate.

Scholarships and more scholarships, search for any lead you could find, talk to Councilor, talk to upperclassmen and find out if there’s any available for you. Write number of essays, as numerous as you could, to secure one scholarship. This is free money and you should work hard for the free money! (See, there’s nothing as free money, even free things has to be achieved by working hard, lesson for a life!)

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Get a part time job (or, full time) while at college. You have options for jobs at co-ops, stores near your college, summer jobs, basically anything non derogatory where you can lay your hand on. One thing the college students have plenty is, time. Use your time to earn on the side and you are well covered for tuition fees. Research assistant-ship, teaching assistant-ship and summer jobs are the three highly paid jobs that a college student can get while studying, show your merit and willingness very early in college to get attention of your teachers.

Doing well on grades can land you special merit scholarships as well. Some times scholarships are not even applied for, so chances are there that you get a scholarship by just applying for that scholarship.

See if your parents (or grand parents) can hand over some interest free loan to lower your debt burden, they can save some taxes on this money (restrictions apply, see a tax consultant before applying for tax refund).

Finish up your courses as fast as possible, a quicker finish ensures lesser bill on food, accommodation and books.

I have kept aside the write-up on techniques to save cost of accommodation for future posting. You will soon get to see it on OCAAT. I am sure there are numerous more creative ways exist to save some money on college education.See also - Dumbest mistake I ever made in college.

Tips:do not ever forget that your primary responsibility is to study hard in college, and, land a good job once you pass out. You should not let frugality come in between you and your study time. If going gets tough concentrate on study.But if you are a true leader, you can manage both at the same time.(Don’t be stupid, advice for college freshman)

Readers, how do you think about the practical advises provided here? How did you save in college or how are you saving while attending college? 

 

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Final Thoughts

The bottom line: a little research on practical tips reduce college goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.

Originally published at onecentatatime.com.