The cost of a college education is rising every year, and there are no signs that it will stop anytime soon. Not only is tuition rising, but the amount of student debt is reaching epidemic proportions — something a New York Times editorial referred to as “the new normal.”
In order to get the education you need and get the fresh start you need after graduation — instead of finding yourself saddled in debt — you have to start planning early. By making smart financial decisions before your first day of class begins, you can make sure that your debt level is manageable (or maybe even non-existent). Here are a few tips for financial planning for your college education:
Work and Save
The best way to make sure you don’t wind up in debt is to work as much as you can and to save as much as you can. You aren’t likely to be able to pay for all of your tuition, even at a community college, but you may be able to pay for a year or two. Any amount you can pay for tuition yourself — or for books or room and board — will reduce the amount you have to borrow.
Contribute to a College Savings Plan
Hopefully, your parents started a college savings plan for you as a small child. However, if they didn’t, you can ask them to start one for you now, and you can help to contribute to it. These plans are tax-deferred so you can make your dollar stretch. Save as much as you can in one of these plans to reduce your debt burden later.
Apply for Scholarships and Grants
Scholarships and grants are the best way to pay for college because they offer you free money. Scholarships and grants give you the money you need for tuition, room and board and other educational expenses, and you don’t have to pay it back. There are thousands of scholarships and grants available, so you can get enough to pay for all your expenses or just a little extra to pay for books or other minor expenses. Whatever you can get, it will reduce your debt burden later.
Learn Responsible Borrowing
Student loans are relatively easy to get. While many student loans may come with a lower interest rate, you still risk taking on an unmanageable debt load if you are not careful about your borrowing. Educate yourself about responsible borrowing by learning about how much you can really afford to take on and exploring ways to reduce your debt burden.
Explore Other Ways to Save
There are many, many ways to save on your college expenses. A few options include:
- Attending community college or a state school
- Going to school part-time while working
- Taking time off to work and save either before or during your program
- Living at home instead of in a dorm
- Buying used textbooks or renting them
- Taking courses online and continuing to work
Brainstorm the best options for you to meet your goals while still being able to save. If you make the right choices and you work hard enough, you may even be able to get out of college debt-free.
As the cost of tuition and colleges expenses continue to rise, it becomes ever more important for you to make smart financial choices so you don’t graduate with unmanageable debt. These tips can help you to make smart financial choices so you can start your career on the right foot.
10 Money Saving Tips That Work for College Students
If you are a college student then you are no stranger to frequent or occasional cash problems. With the student loan, lifestyle, habits, and craving for all the luxuries, it is no surprise that many students fall into debt traps.
Students can face financial problems even before they graduate from the college. The rising debt can be a cause of worry. But, if you have decided to take control of your money and be in total control, there are number of ways of doing it. This article will tell you some of the best money saving tips for college students.
Here are tip for creating a great money saving plan for students:
1. Smart Budget
Everything starts with a great budget. Budget is more like a practice that tell you about your spending habits. The more you are aware of it, the better choices you will make. Start with the regular and important expenses like rent, food, utilities, transportation, classes, and other things. Once you know how much you spend on these things you can easily plan your luxuries with the money that is left.
2. Take control of your Expenses
The next step is weed out the wrong spending habits. Do you eat out a lot? Do you make impulsive purchases? These are the questions that will help you see where your weaknesses are. Limit your outings with friends, or if you do go out try to reduce the amount of food or drinks you buy. Likewise, you can try buying some of the things second-hand like books. Don’t spend money on unnecessary student supplies. Even small savings can have a huge impact on your overall budget.
3. Open a Saving Account
If you don’t have one maybe you should consider opening a saving account. Saving regularly is one of the best money saving tips for students. Whenever you get the chance put money in your saving account. It will help you in the future when you need them like for medical emergencies or unexpected travel plans.
4. Get a Roommate
If you are renting an apartment then getting a roommate makes sense. This way you can split the rent and utilities and reduce your monthly cost. This is a great money saving plans for students. When you are a student, you don’t need to live alone. Having a roommate can come with plenty of benefits.
5. Pay Bills in Time
Did you know that paying late bills can cost you fine that can actually affect your financial health? Why pay extra money for something that you can handle effectively. Make sure you pay the bills in time so that you don’t have to pay the late fees. If you sit and calculate all the fines you have been paying, you will see how much money you could have saved all along.
6. Avoid Debt
If you have credit cards bills make sure to pay them off in time. Try to reduce credit card usage so that you don’t end up having a huge debt to pay after you graduate. Your student loan alone is a huge deal; don’t add the burden of the credit card debts and other kind of debts to it.
7. Use Public Transport
Using public transport instead of your own car is one of the most practical money saving tips for college students. Take the bus or shuttle and save money on the gas and car maintenance cost. Carpool if you can to travel in comfort and affordably. With Uber car services, you can now carpool with friends and save money.
8. Unsubscribe
Do you have gym membership, cable or TV subscription of any subscription that you don’t need? Unsubscribe from it if you don’t use them. You will save plenty of money this way. Money saving plan for students includes cutting back on unnecessary expenses. This rule goes for all the paid membership you have that you don’t use.
9. Sell Stuff you Don’t Use
Do you have an old laptop that you don’t use or text book, video games or furniture? Sell them online on eBay. There are many students out there looking to buy pre-owned stuff to save money like you. Sell them and make money by helping others in the process.
10. Use Student Discounts
One of the benefits of being a student is that you are entitled to so many student discounts. You can benefit from it and save money while enjoying a movie or drink or other activities.
The Bottom-Line
These 10 money saving tips for students can help you save plenty of money and take control of your finances. These tips are great way to create a money saving plan for students. Spend wisely and save more and see how it changes your life.
How to Save Money on College Text Books?
One of the major problems that most college students have to encounter is the rising price of university books. And it is also needless to mention the importance of books in a student’s life. If the prices are summed up, this is probably the most expensive aspect of college education. Hence, every student should know the basics of how to save money on college text books. Just because books are important and required, doesn’t mean that, you ought to spend huge bucks on it blindly. There is a need to find other alternative ways for this.
- One of the simplest ways is borrowing books on rent. Students can easily rent books from their seniors or counterparts when they do not need them, and return to them after their exams.
- Buying college books from online sources like Amazon, flipcart or eBay are extremely advantageous and are also a good process to save money. These online bookstores give the best deal on new and old books. It is seen that buying a book from the internet and selling it after the completion of course, greatly reduces the college expenditure. Buying used textbooks isn’t as icky as it sounds. Often the used textbooks will have notes in the margins and highlighted passages that can help you understand the material and study for exams.
- Another most common means of saving cost is using of online library resources. These online library resources provide us with the links of the information we want from a respective book and it also helps in providing outline of the publications and the author.
- Here’s another additional way to save cost- use text book coupons! Many booksellers offer coupons at the starting of an academic session. These coupons provide amazing discounts on quoted price on the textbooks. One more way of saving cost is to share books among two or three people, for example sharing amongst roommates and friends. They can buy different books and share them according to their convenience.
- Another economical approach is buying only the required ones. If a reference book is needed, library facilities from the college can be availed. Often many text books come with an array of ancillary materials like workbooks, CDs, and videos. Many universities don’t use any of this supplementary material for their courses, so, if these supplementary materials are not useful, it is always beneficial to buy books without them.
- Another great way to save money is by networking. Posting one’s requirements on facebook and twitter can also be beneficial. Networking with a friend to look out for someone who has already taken the subject or course and still has the textbook, is also economical. None of the present generation student would ever deny this!