Open In App

5 Money Saving Tips Every College Student Must Know

Improve
Improve
Like Article
Like
Save
Share
Report

Financial problems in college aren’t something rare for students! After all, most college students leave their hometown and move to a new city for their studies and have to live in a rented flat or room. Even for those living in the college hostels, financial problems are there.

As per a survey conducted among 18,000+ students from 52 different colleges and universities, 50% of students agreed that they struggle to make their monthly end meets. Well, facing financial issues in a college student’s life is something quite expected. However, with proper financial knowledge and guidance, it is possible for college students to avoid financial issues and even have savings.

And that’s what we are here for! In this blog, we’ll be discussing 5 significant pieces of financial advice that college students must implement in their lives for financial stability. Let’s get started!

1. Create A Budget 

A major mistake that college students make that significantly affects their financial plans is not making a proper budget for their expenses. Which is quite essential!

Conduct a proper calculation of all the income sources you have, which, in the case of college students, are mostly parents, relatives, student loans, and scholarships. The next thing to do is to calculate all the expenses. List out every expense of yours from books to canteen bills and even cigarette bills, if any.

Now, you have a proper idea of how much you’ll be getting and how much money you are going to spend. It’s time to put on some great time to strategize your expenditures so that your income and expenses have a balance leading to some amount of savings.

You can seek help from some online tools that can benefit in strategizing your budget more precisely.

But wait, creating a budget isn’t just all to help you financially. Here comes the most important or probably the hardest task. Following your budget strictly! It might be a problem at the start but once you become able to spend within your budget, you’ll be having some great savings in your pocket for sure.

2. Try Freelancing or Remote Internships/Jobs

College life for sure includes a lot of work and classes to attend. Daily classes and a hectic study routine clearly give you no time to get a full-time job. But if you are someone who can spare some time to put on some work. Try freelancing or remote part-time jobs!

If the Covid-19 pandemic was good for some people, they have to be freelancers. According to a study by writefreelance, there was an increase of about 41 percent in freelance job postings in the 3rd and 4rth quarters of 2020. The reason behind that is: Many companies were not able to hire every employee on a full-term basis and realized freelancers can do the task for them.

Being in your college years, you must be decent in some type of skill. For example, if you are good with writing, you can look for content and copywriting gigs, or if you are good with designs, graphic design gigs are the way for you.

Initially, you might find it hard to attract clients and get jobs as you lack work experience. But with some time and effort, you can grab some decent-paying gigs or jobs and earn well for yourself. Here are some online platforms on which you can look out for freelance clients or part-time jobs: Fiverr, Internshala, LinkedIn, etc. 

3. Look For Discounts

Looking for discounts is normal for everyone. But for college students, getting discounts becomes easier. You can leverage student discounts on various things such as traveling, food, entertainment, clothing, etc.

One good way of finding the maximum discount is by researching the product on various platforms it’s available on. This way, you can find out the platform which is providing you with the best discount offer.

Student discounts are for you and you should leverage them. Using your student benefits, you can save as much as 50% on flight bookings, laptops, online courses, ebooks, hotels, etc.

Money Saving Tips Every College Student Must Know

4. Say Yes To Second Hand! 

As a student trying to save as much as you can, buying used things is a great way to avoid heavy expenses. For instance, instead of buying a new set of books, you can ask your college senior for their books when you get to a new year at a relatively lesser price or sometimes even free if you have a great bond with that senior.

Also, in case of buying a new book, try avoiding buying it from your campus retailer as they always charge you higher than what it is for on online retailer stores such as Amazon. Or you can also download e-books rather than the physical ones to save money.

Buying used things instead of buying new ones is not just limited to books. You can also look for second-hand electrical appliances for your room. If any roommate or a known person of yours is moving out, you can ask them if they are willing to sell their electrical appliances or furniture.

Remember, buying used things as a student is not an idea to turn down. After all, you have your entire life ahead to buy new things.

5. Spend Wisely

Are you really going to buy that new iPhone? Is it really necessary for you? Well, that’s the most important thing you should know. Know what’s necessary for you and what can be avoided. Being a college student, it’s quite normal for you to go out partying every weekend and visit cafe-resto very frequently with your friends. But if you want to spend smartly, it’s your sign to put a stop to your party life. Partying once in a while with friends isn’t bad but if it is causing you excessive financial problems, STOP PARTYING!

Prioritize your spending in three segments: what you necessarily need, what can be delayed for the future and what can be avoided.

Conclusion: 

College students and money problems: a love story better than Twilight! But it’s time for students to become more aware of financial knowledge and spend wisely. We certainly hope that the financial advice discussed above will deliberately help you in becoming financially independent.


Last Updated : 22 Sep, 2023
Like Article
Save Article
Previous
Next
Share your thoughts in the comments
Similar Reads