College Tip 8: Money

College Tip 8: Money

You’re finally on your own for the first time in your life. One of the first steps into adulthood is becoming financially responsible for you. Your parents probably do everything they can to help you out as much as possible because that’s what they’re there for, but this is your turn to take some of the burden off their shoulders. Everyone knows college isn’t cheap. Between tuition, room and board, books, and other expenses, your wallet is guaranteed to be hurting. Hopefully I can give you some helpful tips to cut your spending just enough to get you through your first year comfortably.

In all honesty, there’s not too much you can do about tuition costs unless you have scholarships. So, let’s start with room and board because this is probably your biggest expense category. From my experience, just about everyone is required to live in the dorms freshman year so you can’t escape the overpriced, extremely small rooms. However, you typically have to pay for a meal plan. I suggest you start out with a smaller plan and see how it works for a couple weeks. Most schools allow you some time to adjust to your schedule and give you time to switch in case you need a different plan. You need to eat to do well in class – it’s scientifically proven, so this is more about strategic eating which may or may not end up being cost effective.

Now, the food you eat outside of regular meals will probably end up being snacks that will cost you out of your pocket. I definitely recommend ‘stealing’ fruits and liquids like juice, pop, or milk from the dining halls. These are things that you don’t want to buy at a grocery store if you have access to ‘free’ supplies. They go bad quickly and they will run up your grocery bills. I would buy large quantities of snack foods that are so coated with preservatives that will probably never go bad. These can get you by for a decently long time and typically don’t cost too much.

Books and/or alcohol will be your second biggest expense. Let’s start with books. Typically, books cost anywhere from $300-$600 per semester. You can either buy or rent your books in most cases. For freshman classes, which are usually gen-eds that almost everyone has to take, I recommend buying used books and reselling them. You know that somebody will buy them from you, and you get the best price buying them used. For your major-specific classes, it’s important to figure out how feasible it will be to resell books at the end of the semester. If you think you can sell them, it’s definitely worth it to buy, but if you can’t sell, I recommend renting. Most of my civil classes are smaller and it’s hard to resell, so I’ve rented all my books for the past couple semesters.

Alcohol, gas (if you have a vehicle), and random shit you buy when you’re drunk are going to cost you a decent amount down the road as well. There’s not too much you can do about gas prices, but I recommend only driving when really necessary. Shit you buy when you’re drunk are typically just that – shit. Just be smart and don’t waste money when you shouldn’t. I’m not promoting this, but things you happen to ‘borrow’ from people usually are higher quality and give you better stories in the morning. Alcohol is expensive. You have to remember that this is college and when you drink, you’re trying to get drunk. Nothing is fancy about this process at all, so it’s completely unnecessary to spend a lot to get good quality liquor or beer. Stick with $7-$10 handles of vodka and mix or chase to get good pregame buzzes, and buy the typical cheap college beers to get you to your limits for later – I’m talking Natty, Keystone, Busch, Coors, etc. – in college even Bud Light can be a delicacy when you’re being budget friendly. Nobody is going to care what piss-water beer you’re drinking after your fourth round of waterfall. Alls anyone will remember will maybe be who they were with and whether or not they had a good time, which typically doesn’t really depend on what drinks there were.

I hope you can save a little here and there, but have fun and remember that these are supposed to be the best four years of your life so don’t worry about pushing the budget a little because it’s probably worth it!