How to save money in college is the easiest thing in the world. The best thing is to ask for student discounts to save money in college because it’s one of the few times where businesses gladly give you those discounts. They already perceive you as poor.
I’ve been there before. When I was in college, I did anything and everything I possibly could to save money. I went to free club events, only frequented restaurants that offered a discount, and lived on a $5/day food budget. I was a poor college student and I acted my wage.
How to save money in college is easier than if you aren’t in college because that student I.D. is powerful. Depending on the city, you can take public transit for free. There are many free things you can acquire during college than any other time in your life.
It’s well worth it. With the amount of free stuff/discounts you get in a year, it could even be worth more than the tuition you pay. It’s about taking advantage of those opportunities while other students sleep on them. No one expects you to have anything figured out by college.
So if you do things like being cheap and paying the least amount of money you possibly can, no one frowns upon that. Every college student is doing the exact same thing. It’s when you have the most time and energy but no money.
Others were students once before too and they know exactly what you’re going through.
How to Save Money in College: 15 Ways
Below are the 15 ways on how to save money in college! It just requires a little bit of creativity and effort to find the right deals.
1) Ask for Student Discounts to Save Money in College
Businesses are NOT going to be offended or insulted. In fact, many college students created apps to provide discounts just for students. One of the restaurants I frequented had a buy one entree get one free coupon. That was an insane deal that I took advantage of every time.
Your student ID makes a huge difference. I bought my MacBook Pro and Microsoft products back then with an education discount. Whenever I went to get haircuts, I asked if they had student pricing. The majority of them did.
Restaurants, technology, education, and haircuts are all things we need to buy, no matter how old we are. How to save money in college means getting student discounts because it’s when you take the most advantage of them. Some discounts are even wildly worth it.
There’s no shame in asking to reduce your bill. Everyone expects you to be poor.
2) Keep Student IDs in Your Wallet or Purse
There are some students who don’t carry their student ID in their pocket/wallet/or purse. Therefore, when they needed public transportation, they had no choice but to pay the $1.25 bus fare ticket. $1.25 adds up to a lot of money by the end of the year.
I actually had to use public transportation just to use the laundry. It was when I was absolutely poor and my apartment complex was so cheap that they didn’t provide any amenities to us. How to save money in college means carrying your student ID with you at all times.
You never know when you might need it to show proof that you are a student. It would be fair for businesses to ask for your student ID to prove you’re a student if you’re asking for a discount. That ID can save thousands of dollars per year.
It’s a powerful tool.
3) Take Advantage of Your College Email
Amazon offered their Prime at student pricing. It was very cheap at $49/year, back when I was a student. I couldn’t get my MacBook Pro through student pricing if I didn’t have an .edu email, either. Businesses require .edu emails to prove that you are a student.
That’s another avenue you can use to get more discounts. Businesses crave college student business because if the company has them as a student, they most likely have them for life. As evidenced by me, because I only buy Apple products such as laptops and phone.
It’s a win/win for both because you get a cheaper product and they get a loyal customer. Companies like it when you use discounts and coupons to purchase their products because they wouldn’t have had a sale otherwise.
It’s a form of price discrimination where buyers and sellers both benefit.
4) Don’t Have a Car
Mooch off your friends and/or offer them a deal. Cars are not only expensive because of its maintenance costs. But even more so expensive because parking around the University is expensive. Companies and universities know only the really well off has a car.
Therefore, they charge a premium for the wealthy because they know not only can they afford it, they’ll pay it. Parking around my area costed $75 per month. For a student, that’s an insane amount of money. My apartment complex comes with parking.
You can say parking is included in the rent fee but student rental rates are out of this world. Apartment complexes know students need a place to live so they charge a premium. The land they acquire to build the apartment complex is already at a premium also.
Not having a car in college is the best way on how to save money in college.
5) Save Money in College by Living With a Roommate
Don’t be above it all. You’re just a student. There’s no point in living like you’re rich because you’re actually poor as a college student. I split an $825/mo apartment with a roommate in college. It was a tiny 650 sq. ft. apartment one bedroom/one bath.
How to save money as a student means saving money by having a roommate. I currently live with a roommate and let me tell you, it feels amazing. Rental rates skyrocketed amidst record high inflation. Therefore, living with a roommate lowered my living costs by $325/month.
While moving to an apartment that’s 33% larger. You are a college student. You don’t have the luxury to live by yourself yet, no matter how great it is. Not only will you live in a bigger apartment, you pay less money to live.
Living alone is great but it is expensive for a period of time when you can’t afford luxury.
6) Use Cash Back Websites
Cash back websites are saviors because you get paid for spending money on products you were going to buy anyway. Cash back websites like Rakuten, iConsumer, and more are money savers. I saved close to $500 just because I went through those portals first.
How to save money in college means always looking for ways to get a discount. The extra 1 – 10% really adds up through your college years and even more so after you graduate college. Add that with another credit card that gives an additional 2 – 5% cash back and you really got something.
College students order the majority of their products online because college students are more tech savvy than the average person. Then it’s time to leverage technology to save you more money by getting the same product just at a cheaper price.
Cash back websites are great tools that many overlook because “it’s just 1%”. Some cash back websites give way more.
7) Apply and ASK for More Scholarships
No one knows they can negotiate their college bill if they got accepted to 2 colleges but one offers a scholarship while the other doesn’t. Scholarships are just another way of universities providing a student more access to education.
How to save money in college means paying less tuition fees by getting accepted to multiple colleges. That’s when you call and ask for more scholarships. If college A is offering a $5k/year tuition charge but college B is offering an $8k/year tuition charge, you can write a carefully worded letter to the financial aid office and see if you can get a further discount.
You really want to attend the college but you just can’t ignore the costs of education when you are a poor college student. This is one thing that I did not do. Instead of applying for jobs that pay $10/hr that requires 2,500 hours to earn $2,500.
You can make that with one phone call or application. Millions of scholarship money are unclaimed each year.
8) Free Entertainment is Everywhere on Campus
When I was a college student, the university had their very own theater system. There were events all around campus with organizations hosting entertainment events like a movie night, a performance night, or anything else of the kind.
How to save money in college means taking advantage of those free entertainment because only college students can access them. There’s no need to pay $20/mo for Netflix when there’s a free alternative. My friends and I used to go to lecture halls during after hours.
Then put on a movie to watch on the big screen like a movie theater. The talent show performances by university students are quite good, too. There’s always events going on around in campus. There are people passing out flyers all the time during walkways.
Some brochures are actually valuable. It doesn’t all belong in the trash.
9) College Clubs Offer Free Meals
College clubs always have the “Free pizza if you join the info session!” flyers all over campus. College clubs are funded by the University itself so it’s a way to get an instant return on your tuition payment. How to save money in college means taking advantage of these events.
You don’t even have to join the clubs, just the info session. I joined two college clubs for $60/semester each that would give out free meals 2x a week. Paying $15/month was completely worth it to have meals 2 days a week.
It would be a nice change of pace from the McDonald’s that I would eat every day, otherwise. On top of which, the clubs held free events throughout the months that I could attend to network and meet more new people. The organizations wouldn’t care if you left after one free session.
The university funds them anyway.
10) Save Money in College by Getting a Job
To save money in college, you need to have money first. Universities love hiring students and giving back their tuition money in the form of wages. Universities typically pay better than minimum wage. I earned $8.25/hr working in the school’s gym.
They allowed me to work odd hours too so it was a win-win. Some college jobs let you study while working. I took a receptionist job in my senior year of school. I used the working time to study and the work would be very minimal. They would pay me to study!
If you want to get a job while in college, it’s wise to get internships. There’s no point in getting a pizza delivery job, unless there is upside potential for the job. Otherwise, you’re just trading dollars for hours with minimal upside. Which is not a good trade-off.
Trading dollars for hours is a good trade-off in high school. Not while in college. College is a time to scheme for greater things in your future. How to save money in college means getting a job with upside potential.
11) Keep a Budget
If you don’t measure how much dollars come in and out, then you cannot improve. That’s how to save money in college. By measuring and tracking your progress. It’s best practice to keep a budget when you are out of college. It’s an even better practice to keep a budget when you’re in college.
I used to get $5,000 per semester from my parents to spend on living expenses. I never went above budget and I would bank the difference. Especially more so because I already was working 2 jobs per semester. It was a complete blast building wealth while in college!
By the time I graduated college, I had $40,000 to my name because I meticulously took note of my spending. Budgets are what stops people from ruin and builds wealth. I personally do not like having a budget anymore. But that’s because I’ve tracked my dollar in and out for a decade.
In the next year or two, I will completely stop having a budget.
12) Banks Prey on College Students
If you don’t know how credit cards work, don’t get credit cards. I personally love credit cards and got my first card at 19! I wanted to build credit as soon as possible and I’m glad I took out a credit card so early. However, that’s not the case for most college students.
College students see their credit limit as how much they should spend, which is completely wrong. How to save money in college means avoiding those college booths that encourage you to sign up for a credit card. No matter how shiny the pen or a new t-shirt they’re offering.
It’s not worth it if credit cards bury you in debt. I had credit card debt before and let me tell you, it weighs you down. You don’t want to start off your wealth building journey by declaring bankruptcy. Imagine a college student declaring bankruptcy. That’s just not the right place to start the journey.
Predatory capitalism exists everywhere.
13) Never Buy New Textbooks and Save Money
See if your college library actually has a copy. If that doesn’t work, there are numerous PDF versions of the book somewhere. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to buy used textbooks from the internet. There’s no shame in asking the professor if an earlier model works.
Some professors are greedy and tell you to get the new version for an extra *page* of new information. That extra page of new information is apparently worth an extra $100. No it’s not. College textbooks are a scam. How to save money in college means being smart with purchases.
My university had a Facebook Page where older students uploaded their used textbooks for sale because they’re not going to use it again anyway. You can easily buy a $100 textbook for $20. That is a much more fair price. College is a big business.
It’s time to be a smart consumer against big businesses.
14) Take Advantage of Free Stuff
I got so many free shirts, pens, and backpacks. I never have to buy another pen for the rest of my life. College is the one place where businesses come to offer free stuff to college students. It can be food, a notebook, and the like.
If you scored an internship at Apple, they gave you a free MacBook to start! The amount of free stuff that would be at our disposal every single week was insane. I got a brand new pad-folio to store my resume and notepad in for interviews.
How to save money in college means taking advantage of free stuff. You can easily collect a lifetime’s worth of good pens you can use for your later years. I still wear shirts that I got for free in college. It’s some of my favorite shirts to this day.
College job fairs were notorious for giving students free stuff. Companies come to students to give them a job. It’s time to take advantage!
15) Graduate Earlier
I wish I did this. When I started college, I started as a Sophomore. As a 17 year old. I was taking Sophomore/Junior level classes as a 17-year old freshman and beating them in grades. I easily could have graduated by 19 or even 20.
Even though I still graduated earlier at 21, I could’ve graduated even earlier given I had so many college credits already. There’s no point in making your college experience hard. No one cares after a couple of years. In the real world, all they care about is how well you play the corporate game.
Office politics and/or learning how to move up the corporate ladder through strategic career moves. How to save money in college means graduating earlier. Not only can you save the tuition money, you can earn money while your friends pay money for college.
That’s winning both ways and gives you an unbelievable head start.
Now You Know How to Save Money in College, Do It
It’s one of the most wonderful times of your life. How to save money in college is completely doable and possible when you take the right steps. Now is the time to get creative. You have an infinite number of opportunities. Colleges have so many programs and resources for their students to succeed.
The good ones, anyway. My biggest regret in college was not graduating college earlier and/or not starting a side hustle then. I can’t imagine how far I would’ve been in my wealth building journey if I started four years ago.
Four years is the timeline of when people are usually successful. Year 1, you’re figuring everything our, years 2 – 3 you’re losing money, getting frustrated trying to figure everything our, year 4 you make a profit, and then you skyrocket afterwards. The timeline of success is true.
Four years is an eternal amount of time. People say the years are too short. I disagree. A year is an insane amount of time for change to occur. Many people dethrone others at the top in just a year. It’s that simple. Now that you know how to save money in college, it’s time to implement the steps.
By your senior year, everything runs like clockwork and it becomes second nature to you. That’s a great thing. Keep that feeling in mind after you graduate. Your future self will thank you and your future family actually depends on it.
The world is yours for the taking.
How to Save Money in College List:
- Ask for student discounts to save money in college
- Keep student IDs in your wallet or purse
- Take advantage of your college email
- Don’t have a car
- Save money in college by living with a roommate
- Use cash back websites
- Apply and ASK for more scholarships
- Free entertainment is everywhere on campus
- College clubs offer free meals
- Save money in college by getting a job
- Keep a budget
- Banks prey on college students
- Never buy new textbooks and save money
- Take advantage of free stuff
- Graduate earlier
