Three Easy Ways to Save in College

College is expensive. Tuition, books, and housing may be the basics but if you’re in college you still need to live. Here’s a list of three ways to save a few bucks:

1. Do-it-yourself

Meal plans and dorms make life easy. You can take the five-minute walk from your dorm, go to the cafeteria or food court anytime you want and grab 2,000 calories worth or pizza. But this is convenient, not cheap. If you’re paying your way through college, you can live in an off-campus apartment and cook your own meals to save money.

2. Free-dom

College is the kingdom of all things free. There’s free entertainment, countless events on campus are open to current students and they’re actually fun. Even if it isn’t an actually event, you’re university probably has a free movie theater, gym, and club. It’s also not very hard to find seminars or some club event that serves free food to all who attend. Take advantage. you’ll hardly be hungry or bored.

3. More the Merrier

Pool expenses together as much as you can. Carpool instead of driving your car all the time, share books and form a study group instead of buying lots of individual books. Everyone can share and cook spaghetti, pancakes, and other cheap meals that can feed everyone.

Read more in my book Ditch Class, Go Greek, Party Hard and Succeed.