College students have to make a lot of decisions and take on worries about the future. However, like many things in life, the more you have to pay attention to it, the easier your life is going to be. College is expensive, but with a little planning and research, you can minimize the cost. There are many things you can do to keep the cost of living low even on a tight budget. The average cost of tuition for four-year public universities is more than $17,000 per year. While some students will receive financial aid and grants, others must budget their money carefully or even live below the poverty line.
Living on a budget can be tough when you’re in college, especially if your parents don’t provide you with the basics and have student debt. Managing your student loan debt is no easy feat no matter how much you earn. It seems like every day, there is a new study that shows how much of a burden college loans are to our economy, and the average student is buried in thousand’s worth of unpaid loans for years after leaving school. You’ve got to wonder if there is any way to live on a budget while in college without being constantly stressed out about making it through each month.
While living on a budget can be tough for any student, it is especially challenging for those who don’t have much experience managing their money. With so many expenses on campus, from housing to food to books to entertainment, it’s no wonder that students struggle with establishing a healthy lifestyle. At the same time, you should not feel like you are sacrificing your education by finding ways to live cheaply if possible. To help you out some more, I’ve put together this comprehensive guide that includes tips on how to save money as well as strategies on how to make living on a budget easier overall.
When it comes to living on a budget, most people know how to do it. You cut back, you live frugally and save money. But not everyone is the same, some people even struggle to cut back enough. So what do average students need to know about budgeting at college? In this article, we are going to go over some tips for living on a budget in college.
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Use a budgeting app
As a student, you have hundreds of things that you will be dealing with many different things. Each day is extra, so with all this going on it is highly difficult to manage your spending effectively. However, there are many budgeting apps available in the market that will help you on getting top of your budgeting. There are money management applications like Mint, that provide you with a variety of options that make budgeting easier. If you are a college student with no clear idea of where to start budgeting, these apps will help you get started.
Spare change investing
Yes! This has truly become a new thing thanks to the digital revolution. There are investing apps like Acorns that will invest your spare change after you make purchases. Well! One of the best things about investing like this is that your purchases will never be rounded right, there will be spare change left. So investing the spare change is an excellent way to start your investing journey. Your spare change will be invested in bonds and stocks. Sometimes adding up small changes will later make an enormous amount of money to invest and you can imagine the amount of interest you will be earning.
Student ID or Email ID
Yes! Your student is one mighty weapon in your hand and most people fail to realize the benefits of their student ID. From Amazon to Apple, many major brands give special discounts to students if they present their student IDs. Sounds cool, right? Not only that you can also receive many exclusive offers and deals. Simply put, you can use the student ID to avail of great discounts for different purposes like food, clothing, FedEx shipping, etc. Remember where ever you go just make sure to ask them if the student discount is available. If there is then you can save good money right?
Coupons are the best
Coupons are one of the excellent ways to save good money. From groceries to subscriptions, you will be saving a lot of money as you will get many products at discounted prices. The coupons are available for almost everything these days. You may think that you will be able to probably save a few bucks, but if you make it a habit then it will genuinely help you in the long run.
Free events
If you are someone who enjoys going to events regularly then a big chunk of your income will go to these events only. However, one thing that most people forget is that colleges are known for having tons of free events. Why don’t you benefit from these free events? And also save some good money. Another interesting fact about these free events is that you can make new friends and network with more people. You can easily find details of these free events on your college website, class groups or Facebook groups.
A Dollar store is the best
In every college vicinity, you will find a dollar store. Although most people do not think highly fancily of a dollar store, it is cheap and you can save a lot of money. You can get stuff for cheap compared to supermarts or grocery stores. And it is a deal that cannot be missed. Some things in our daily lives will be thrown away eventually so why spend a ton of money on purchasing high-quality products to eventually throw them away? Pick inexpensive stuff at your local dollar store and use them as long as you can. Sounds viable, right?
In a nutshell,
College students have a lot of expenses when they are away from home. Adding to the typical student budget is the cost of books, rent and food. The majority of students don’t make much money during their freshman year at school but there is still hope. How can college students live cheaply? In this article, we provided students with budgeting tips that should help their immediate situation, whether they’re on a tight budget or not. As you have made it to the end of this article, hope you have found these tips helpful. If you are interested in reading more such articles about budgeting, making money, saving money, and side hustles, then check out the Postling website.
