Cut the Cost of College Life
Posted on August 17, 2009
Filed Under Apartment Living | 9 Comments
These days higher education can bankrupt you before you’ve even started your career. Tuition is just one expense associated with college life. Save money, spend less and cut the cost of college life to save your parents and your own financial future.
Even if you don’t have Ivy League dreams you might be looking at extravagant tuition bills. Small and private institutions often charge large fees. When shopping around for a school, look for one close to home so you can pay in state tuition and save money. Look at the schools in your state that are public institutions then choose the best for you.
Dorm and apartment living are one of the largest expenses during college years and beyond. If possible you should consider living at home with your parents during your college years. If there is a school near your home, and your parents are willing to provide a room, then living at home can save everyone some cash. Don’t plan on this method for saving without talking to your parents first. They may have other plans for your old space and they may want you to learn responsibility through paying your own bills. Don’t be surprised if your parents start charging your rent on your old bedroom or the new basement suite.
When you cannot live at home, look at getting roommates. Piling too many people into a small apartment is a college tradition. Get your closest friend who is going to the same school and plan on rooming together. The more the merrier is part of the fun of college so check out apartments with four or more rooms sharing a common area. This is sure to save you on rent.
College students are famous for drinking their diet instead of eating it. Don’t starve or live on a beer only diet. Instead gather your grocery money and head to the nearest warehouse store. Buy your ramen noodles, soups and peanut butter in bulk. Eat most of your meals at home before you go out. Alcohol is expensive when you are buying drinks at a club. So do your drinking at home.
While your car may be a symbol of freedom and independence it is also costing you. With the cost of gas, insurance and car payments your car can be expensive. Give up those costs and use public transportation or walk and you’ll do your pocketbook and your health a great service.
Prioritize spending by cutting out costly special events and travel. Save the money you would have spent on that ski trip or spring break visit to Mexico and use those funds for next semester’s tuition. Head to a free campus event like a movie night or concert on the quad. You can get your social time, meet new people and have a blast without spending too much money.
Reducing expenses to cut the cost of your college education can save you from hundreds of thousands of student loan debt that might just cripple your career later in life. Eliminate as much of this burden as possible when you cut the cost of college life.
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Help answer the question about college apartment living
Should I buy a house? Or use my loan for apartment living in college?I live in a small, nice, convenient apartment but need a $7,500 loan to pay semester rent. No utilities.
I don't want a job cause I am graduating in May, but have no debt, no prior student loans.
Now, with the $7,500 loan, should I pay for the rent, should I buy or rent (with option to buy) a house, or last, should I make some kind of other investment with the money that will generate more money.
I really need some advice on the situation because I would like to take on an entrenprenural endeavor but I also want to see the money work for me since it is my first and only loan or debt?.!?!?!?!
About Author
Lillian Esquival writes about college and education for HowToDoThings.com.
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9 Responses to “Cut the Cost of College Life”
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You could try to get in-state residency. But to do that most states will require you live and work in the state **without going to school** before that will be granted. Georgia is one such state. You can review the residency policy information there at
http://www.usg.edu/student_affairs/faq/residency
or go to any website's of the Georgia schools you are interested in and search for "in-state residency" and I'm sure it will be there.
You can also try to obtain some outside scholarships:
College Board Homepage
http://www.collegeboard.org
FastWEB
http://www.fastweb.com
Free Scholarship Search
http://www.freschinfo.com
Gates Millennium Scholars Program
http://www.gmsp.org
Talk to a financial aid officer at the school(s) you wish to apply to for more information. Best of luck to you! Go Spartans!!
There are a few issues you need to consider . . .
Firstly, start learning ways to cut-back on unecessary expenses. Start packing lunches. Cooking becomes a regular practice. Find entertainment in on-campus functions and at local libraries. There are countless websites and books that specialize in cutting daily expenses.
Secondly, find a part-time job that will give you study time. On campus jobs and work study are known to be great aids for this reason. I worked on the weekends at a fast food place–Sunday mornings were so slow I was able to go to the back of the building and pull-out my index card deck to study for tests!
My third though is one of clarity–all debt is not bad debt. Debt to invest is good debt—but keep good debt to a minimum. Taking school expenses loans are good debt–you are investing in your future income potential. However, if you take so much extra for vacations and a new wardrobe (and you just got new clothes)–that's bad debt. Don't feel so bad taking school loans—deferments and such allow that debt to be leveraged to be managable however you life goes.
Finally, there are an abundance of college funding resources. Fastweb is one. I personally ask you to ask everyone you can about any they are aware of (eg–parents of friends, religious leadership, friends, former teachers, etc.). You would be suprised what's out there—when you get a list of them, you then apply with a stellar presentation (my link below is helpful—if you need help in this area).
Congradualtions on college, now…
GO GET THEM!!
Marty A. Nickison II, author
Oh yeah totally. Your closing a chapter in your live. And of course you have doubts. The truth is most people have those thoughts. So you just need to treasure the differences you have from home to college. (If you ever miss home to much remeber all the crap your parents have done) so your not so homesick.
Couple of things to consider. You said you got "financial aid" of about 11,000 already. Were any of this fin aid loans? Because if they are, you'd have to start paying them back within six months.
Also, the 2000 you still owe would not likely be forgiven if you withdrew. You'd still have to pay some if not all of it even if you withdraw.
It sounds like you and your folks need to do some college planning here. Working for a semester would help, but then you'd just be in the same boat the following year, owing another 2K each semester.
How about a state school, or a local community college close to your dad? You can attend for a heck of alot less money. I like the California idea, but just beware they might charge you out of state tuition and then you'd be in the exact same situation you are at the private school.
A degree in General Studies qualifies you for nothing at all. It is close to useless for finding a job. The only thing it would be good for is entering lae school or grad school.
I hope you realize that Computer Science is a very difficult degree and if you cannot handle nursing, unless you have one heck of a passion for computers and already know how to program in C++ or Visual Basic, your chances for success at it are low.
Perhaps what you should look at is seeing if the the school has a degree available in Medical Administration or the like. This leads to eventually being a senior administrator at a hospital and after a few years, more money than the nurses make. And you likely could go into it as a Junior, only having to make up a few pre-requisites. No starting over.
If they do not offer it, see if you can get your credits transferred to a school that does offer it.
Or maybe Technology Management. My daughter, with an economics background is getting a grad degree in Technology Management with an emphasis on Transportation. Her school also offers it in Medical and Computing areas. She is getting offers all over the place. This would qualify you to be the boss of the computing science graduates. While not having to take any tough sciences courses.
Going into a grad program like this would be the only reason to get a degree in General Studies. Otherwise General Studies means a career at Starbucks.
As well, do not worry about being older than the other students in residence. As long as you are a student, you belong there.
haha..cant help but laugh ..but ya it kicks everyone in the balls once in a while. i have been kicked just as hard a couple years ago- i had a boyfreind who didnt work , was a total looser- moved in with me and convinced me that my 700 a month mortgage was to much so i sold the place and bought a fixer upper in a city that i totally hated, 3 months later
the taxes in the city tripled and now this fixer upper was just as much as my nice home in the country was. 2 months after that while his lazy ass didnt fix up absolutely nothin – he accidentally knocked up his ex girfreind (who he supposidly only was with once). so i was stuck with a fixxer upper with a 600 a month tax bill, my best freind from high school was going through a divorce so she moved in – was a huge house but only suppose to be temporary, she lost her husband,job,kids all in a month or so and started stealing from me- i doubted it so much that i wasnt convinced untill it was tallied at over a grand and i identified her on a bank surveilance camera. ya my credit card was stolen in that time-3 freakin times for about 500 each time, and now i think back it was probley her and she sold it to someone. i got laid off in that time and decided- time for vacation , and while i was gone she pawned my kids xbox! she lied of course. all this and not to mention the state mistakenly arresting me for a suspended licence that didnt exist, the bankrupcy, the point that i grew up in a foster home and have no family help.
its a couple of years later and i was just thinkin about it the other day – i dont even know how i got myself out of that ditch, i now have a good job and small home, bills are paid. it seems things pass just as quickly as they are brought on, now its just a thing of the past- hopefully i learned my lesson, and hopefully you will to, like they say what doesnt kill us will only make us stronger..and smarter i wanna add. good luck
Lombard/Baker? That's the Marina Dist. I'd love to live there. It's close to everything, you can even walk a lot of places. The only problem is that this neighborhood is all built on bay fill (filled in for the Panama Pacific Exposition, a world's far early in the 20th century to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal.) So it tends to be more dangerous in earthquakes. I wouldn't let that bother me though.
You can get around just fine on MUNI, or you could get a motor scooter. They are very popular in the city because you can park them anywhere, and you can ride them year round. SF has a great state college (San Francisco State), also a community college (San Francisco City). I lived in the city for a couple of years and loved playing tourguide when my friends came up to visit. You could spend two years exploring SF and environs and not get bored, there's plenty to see and learn about. I have lived in the area for decades and I'm still discovering new things.
It's an expensive city to live in, but that's mostly the cost of housing. If you don't have to rent an apartment it's not that much more than where you live now. There are lots of cheap places to eat, used bookstores, cheap movie theaters, etc. You don't need a lot of money to have a good time.
I think you have a wonderful opportunity. I would do it if I was you.
That's what happens when you vote for an inexperienced person who hasn't even lived in the USA all his life
WAKE UP AMERICA
and dont forget obamas plan to send that 8 billion to Africa