IMPORTANT Money-Saving Hacks for College Students
Life-saving ways to save money on groceries, textbooks, and everything in between!
1. Stop buying textbooks from your university
Your school will often give you the option to buy your textbooks straight through their bookstore. They streamline this as much as possible to make it the easiest option for students. For example, my university offers free, 1-2 day shipping to the brick-and-mortar store. If you’re in a crunch, this may be the way to go. However, the prices at the university bookstore are almost always going to be higher than buying the book straight from the publisher, and there are other rental/purchase sites like Knetbooks, ecampus.com, and Vital Source. Amazon is also an option, but I’ve found they tend to be more expensive.
So, let’s shop around!
Simply type in the book’s ISBN number that your professor gives you (or the title and edition number) into any of the above websites, or a price comparison site like booksprice.com. Be sure you have the right edition! Some professors will tell you if an earlier edition is okay to use, as these are cheaper than the newest one. However, there can be huge changes between editions so be sure to check with your professor before you buy an earlier edition.
Also, some professors will recommend “textbook bundles.” These include the textbook (often an e-book) along with digital courseware for assignments, model kits, and/or another book. Be sure that if you buy your books elsewhere, you still obtain all of the required materials, not just the book. Occasionally textbooks are also available for free from your school’s library, so I’d recommend checking there if all you need is the text itself. However, I’ve only been able to find one (1) book I needed in the library, and it was for a required intro-level class. Don’t bank on finding your BIO 456 textbooks there.
With this information, I was able to buy/rent all of my (upper-class STEM) textbooks for $321.73. If I had bought the books from my university’s bookstore, it would have cost me $35.39 more. Not a huge difference on the surface, but all those semesters really add up!
2. Drop the meal plan
Buying your own groceries really becomes a pain once you move off campus and ditch your meal plan. However, this practice is far cheaper than the meal plans. This year at my university, the cheapest plan (with 2 meals a day) comes in around $2,200 per semester. Divided over the term’s 15 weeks, you’re paying $146.67 for food each week. My family of four doesn’t spend that much money on food per week, much less me alone!
So, I dropped the meal plan once I was able to move off campus and now spend an average of $40-60 per week on groceries. This saves me $1,600 per semester!
But wait: how about we make that $40/week a little less? Enter grocery rebate apps— they’re basically glorified digital coupons, but they still save you money and they’re very easy to use!
I use one called Ibotta, and on one grocery trip alone, I got $6.50 in cash back. My favorite (and most often used) deals are the $0.50 earning on Naked Juices and the $1 earning on Velveeta/Kraft Deluxe/Cracker Barrel boxed macaroni & cheese. You can even get cash back on gift cards, which comes in handy if you’re going to Kroger on a weekly basis. It’s not a perfect system, as you can only redeem your rebates once you hit $20, but at least it’s something.
If you’d like to try it out, you can get a $5 bonus when you redeem your first offer if you sign up using the Ibotta referral code tuwgqpl. Or, click here!
3. Leave the car
If you are lucky enough to have access to public transport, live in a walkable area, or own a bike/scooter/skateboard, choosing not to take a car to college can spare you from spending money on gas, parking fees, and maintenance.
With gas prices around $4 per gallon, and the average gas tank around 16 gallons, each fill-up could cost you over $60. Assuming a very conservative estimate of one fill-up every other week, gas could cost you $500 per semester— and that’s not counting any of the automobile’s other expenditures. My school, for example, charges $100/semester for the cheapest parking plan. So, to save $1200+ each school year, you might just find it worth leaving your wheels at home (or not buying a car, period).
That’s all for today, with more to come soon! Feel free to subscribe and comment below any suggestions or questions!