Endless discussion, and even a little nail-biting, surrounds the expenses involved in attending college.  Young people just beginning to plan on applying understand that a mountain of costs looms over the horizon.  Many of their parents lose sleep years before these applications are considered, and virtually everyone is schooled very well in an inescapable reality: college means money, and quite a lot of it.  So, all the steps are taken in advance.  Scholarships are eagerly sought after.  Student loans are signed with honest intentions and shaking pens.  Hands reach out to grasp at grants, and savings accounts begun from newspaper routes and baby-sitting jobs are pulled and offered up in the great piggy-bank cracking that is the funding of college education.

In all of this scrambling, strangely, one relatively critical element is somewhat left to the side.  Namely: on what, exactly, will the student live during this glorious period of learning?  Certainly, arrangements are made to an extent.  Dorm rooms are secured or staying at home is chosen as the best option.  Money is calculated as to meals, a tiny amount is set aside for a movie now and then, monthly bus passes are sagely purchased, and the notorious noodle diet is in the air.   Students always scrape and struggle, it is felt, and there are always part-time jobs out there to cover what are typically called, “discretionary expenses.”  The kids, it is believed in alternate waves of desperation and hope, will simply learn to go without fun.  They will, in fact, be so poor that they will be able to better devote themselves to study.  A win-win, all around.

Faith is a wonderful thing, but this particular type simply does not fly.  Somehow, the shadow of student debt, and debt accumulated only from living choices, mounts.  Somehow, all the planning and the budgets and the determination forged from the best intentions translate into ridiculous interest on a Visa bill for nights out very few can recall when the statement arrives.  Parents make hard confetti out of credit cards and scissors.  Students, and of all ages, curse their own indulgences for rock and roll, and the packets of noodles become fixtures of daily life as consistent and exciting as breathing.  It is, in a word, too difficult to resist spending money not there, and especially under the pressures of college living.  Add to this the significant, if not spectacular, fact that masses of young people living together tend to pursue fun in herds, and the issues are hardly mysterious.  No wonder credit card companies are very, very fond of issuing their products to student populations.  Dogs will, after all, jump at bones waved in front of their wet noses.

There is an answer.  It is not especially pretty, but this is not a scenario inviting the full-on happy ending.  The answer is that the student must approach the idea of entertainment expenses with all the seriousness they attach to the tuition fees.  It is all very well for everyone concerned in plotting the budget to casually wave away frivolous spending as a thing that will, miraculously, just stop.  It will not.  It will happen for the eager young freshman, as it will happen for the middle-aged junior needing the higher degree.  What must be done, then, is the calculating of something the younger person thought they would never need to see again: the allowance.  If the word creates a shudder down the spine of the imminent student, it is still the only rational means of both accommodating the inevitability of mindless spending and a way of restricting it.  Simply, a certain amount must be set aside apart from rent, tuition, books, computers, utilities, and meals.  An amount must be delegated as a “junk” fund, although it may go under the more rigid title of “entertainment.”   This is the money with no real intent to it, and which is as absolutely vital to the success of the college career as the professors.

Life, as most students learn fairly quickly, is a fluid thing.  It presents opportunities for fun all the time, and that fun is a potent force when it is being urged upon you by five, very cool people standing in your doorway, ready to head out for the evening.  With an allowance in place, the fun – or at least some of it – can be safely had.  Without it, and all too frequently, the student gently weeps over the chunks of a dismembered credit card.  And a bowl of noodles.

About the Author

Jack is an experienced freelance writer working for a professional custom writing service. Having received his PhD from Rutgers University, he enjoys writing in the fields of English and Literature, Philosophy and Religion. With his extensive research techniques and a true life passion for writing, he takes pride and joy in providing top-notch writing services and sharing his knowledge and experience with others.

WILD: Big-Time Bottle Collection

Taking the time to return your bottles and cans to get your deposit is a no-brainer. I’m talking much bigger here. Think about it—college students almost always have a drink in their hand (not just on Saturday night!). I guarantee every building at your school has one or more receptacles for bottles and cans. You just need to beat the custodian to ‘em.

The best time is usually in the evening. You’ll need a truck or a van, so you might need to get a friend in on this. Most of the time all that’s required is to remove the top of the bin and lift out the bag. Fill up the truck and drive straight to a store where you can return them. Apply that to your grocery bill and you’ll start saving the big bucks. Repeat as often as you’d like.

NOT-SO-WILD: Budget Your Money

I’m sure you’ve heard advice about budgeting before. But it really does help! The problem is that in college your income and expenses tend to vary widely from month-to-month. That’s OK! Even if you’re not staying within your budgets all the time the benefits are still there. Budgeting forces you to keep track of your money. You’ll also be able to reflect on where you spent a little too much money last month. This will help you avoid that frustrating moment when you think, “what the heck happened to all my money?” If you don’t know where to begin, I highly recommend Mint.com.

WILD: Dumpster Divin’

The key to this is finding the right dumpster. Most of them are just what you’re picturing in your head—smelly, filthy, downright awful contraptions. However, there are some opportunities. Think small convenience stores. Places without prepared food and produce. These establishments tend to trash whatever inventory passes the sell by date, which, as we all know, does not necessarily mean it’s gone bad.

For us it was the Wonder/Hostess Bakery Outlet near campus. We would drive over there at night, hop into the perfectly clean dumpster filled with packaged bread and tasty treats, and fill up the trunk. I didn’t pay for a single dessert all of Freshman year.

NOT-SO-WILD: Cut the Cable

This is getting more and more common these days. As much as you might think you’re addicted to ESPN, The Walking Dead, and trash TV, you really don’t need cable television. There is so much perfectly good entertainment available to you on the internet and with a much cheaper Netflix subscription. It will seem sad and terrifying at first, but give it a try for at least a month. I promise you will feel liberated. You can always head to a sports bar for the big game or to a friends to watch that one show you just can’t miss. This will easily save you several hundred dollars a year.

WILD: Lucky Host

Ready to open up your college home? Host a regular pot-luck dinner (once a month works well). This can be a lot of work, especially at first, but it’s college so nobody’s expecting much. And everyone’s always up for a social event. The key to this is the pot-luck aspect. Make it clear that everyone MUST bring something. People tend to over-do-it with this because they get excited and want to make sure there’s enough for everyone. This means leftovers! Now, there might be some people that are stingy and make sure they take their leftovers with them. But most of the time the host will end up with the extra. Be sure to be the one to clean up! If you’re lucky, you could have free food for days.

NOT-SO-WILD: Shack Up!

It can be tempting, especially in your senior year, to try living on your own. Resist this urge! You can do this once you graduate and have a regular income. While you’re in college, however, it’s always worth it to put up with a roommate. You’ll save money all over the place—rent, utility bills, food, furniture and housewares. If you can stand it, you can save even more by moving in with several friends. Lots of students rent out off-campus homes or multi-bedroom apartments. This could be a huge money saver for you so make sure you consider it!

WILD: Closing Time Customer

This one may help you hone your charm and negotiation skills. Most bakeries, coffee shops, delis, and similar corner bistros rely on having fresh food and baked goods everyday. This means that at the end of the day they often end up throwing out the stuff that didn’t sell. This is practically free food! To make it worth your while, make a list of 5-10 of these places around town. Pick a quiet weekday and figure out each of their closing times. Make a route so you’ll hit each just before they close up.

Usually the people working these shifts will be relatively easygoing and ready to head home. Use this to your advantage. Turn on your charm and ask them for the goods for free. If they say no, begin negotiating a very low price. You might find it more effective to buy a small coffee first. If you’re good, you should be saving plenty of money on some delicious baked goods.

NOT-SO-WILD: Brew-It-Yourself

Being a regular coffee drinker can really burn a hole in your pocket if you’re not careful. Put in the effort to brew it yourself. A $3 cup of coffee from Starbucks may not seem like much, but it certainly adds up over time. Even with the expenses of buying coffee, filters, and your own creamer, you’re shaving at least half of the cost off by making your own. More than likely it’s a lot more than that. If you’re saving $2 a day on coffee, that will add up to hundreds of dollars a year. Don’t believe me? Check out the math from The Simple Dollar.

Today’s guest article comes from Carl Phelps, an entrepreneur from Rochester, NY with expertise in digital marketing. He is a co-founder of Confidently, an online community that helps college students and recent grads start their job search, meet employers, and land top opportunities.

The following is a guest article provided by Angelita Williams

Many personal finance sites targeted to college students will purvey endless, though no less sound, advice on saving money. At some point, however, there’s only so much money you can save. Sometimes you need to actually make money. Now you may be thinking, I hardly have enough time to study, much less to go out there and make money. Well, think again. With a little ingenuity, you can make a few extra bucks here and there to make ends meet. Here are a few ideas that helped me when I was in college.

1. Be a test subject in on- or off-campus medical/psychological studies.

This is one of the easiest ways, bar none, to make substantial amounts of money quickly. If you are attending a university with a medical school, then it’s highly likely that you’ll have plenty of opportunities to participate as a test subject. I know it sounds sort of scary to be a guinea pig, but most of the time these studies involve surveys, taking games, or spending some time in an fMRI machine. And almost all of these studies compensate handsomely. Check your local or college newspaper—they’re usually listed in the back along with the classifieds.

2. Tutor high school or fellow college students.

Tutoring local students, whether in college or in high school, is another fantastic way of making money while not exerting a ton of effort. The best part about tutoring is that, when you tutor a subject, you’ll in turn learn that much more about the subject you are teaching yourself. Another great aspect of tutoring is that it commands top dollar, especially among high school students for subjects like SAT test prep. You can often ask for $20 an hour or more, depending on where you live.

3. Sell all that extra stuff you don’t need lying around in your dorm room on Craigslist.

Most college students are pack rats in one way or another, and it’s highly likely that you brought or bought a lot of stuff from home that you’ve found does not have any use in your tiny dorm room. Try decluttering and simplifying by selling items on sites like eBay and Craigslist. If you aren’t that attached to textbooks from last year or last semester, consider getting rid of them on Amazon and other similar sites. You can also offer items for sale to others living in your dorm or school, which avoids the hassle of shipping. This idea won’t necessarily make you a ton of money, but it’ll bring a bit of extra cash when it’s most needed.

4. Look into on-campus, part-time jobs.

If all else fails, getting an actual job may just do the trick. Of course, getting a part-time job off-campus can be tricky and time consuming, especially if it’s in the service industry. On the other hand, most universities offer plenty of job opportunities for students who are eager to work. The best part about on-campus jobs is that they are incredibly flexible. You often can get away with working twelve hours or less a week—just enough time to not interfere with your studying or social schedule, but enough time to make some extra cash.

Of course, the main object of attending a university is to learn and to develop personally, not to make money. But college students the world over know that it can be difficult to make do with what our loans or our families have provided us. Sometimes we just need a bit more to make it through the month. Hopefully these ideas will help others as much as they helped me. Good luck!

Today’s guest article is contributed by Angelita Williams, who writes on topics associated with online courses. You can reach Angelita with comments via email at angelita.williams7@gmail.com

The following apps will help students create and stick to a budget

A college student’s smart phone—be it an iPhone, BlackBerry, Samsung Galaxy S, or Android phone—serves a ton of purposes on campus. You can use the camera to snap pictures at your favorite student events, you can use the recorder to take audio class notes, you can use the calculator to try to budget your spending at the campus bookstore and pub, you can use the texting features to communicate with friends and co-students, and you can use the calendar and organizational tools to manage your day and plan the year ahead.

However, when it comes to student financial planning did you know that you’re smart phone can actually help you budget and save money? Because I was a struggling student once myself, I’ve put together this collection of inexpensive smart phone apps that can help students save money while they’re in college…

1. BookCircus (Free – for iPhone)

After you spend money on tuition, meal plans, parking or public transit, and books, you’re going to need to make some money back second year. The easiest way to do that is by selling the year’s previous textbooks. The BookCircus app will help you sell your old textbooks with ease by actually purchasing them from you directly. You can conduct the entire transaction from your phone by simply launching the app, and calculating how much your textbooks are worth when you enter the ISBN number of each book into the app. BookCircus will then provide the amount they are willing to pay if you sell them your books. Once the transaction is complete, the app will even automatically forward you a printable slip with instructions for how to ship them the books. Once the books are delivered, you’ll receive a check for your troubles.

2. Campus Special (Free – for Android & iPhone)

When I was a college student, I spent a lot of money going out to eat. However, the Campus Special app will help dinning out students save by locating the closest deals on food in your local area and even providing directions on where to find them. This app also features restaurant menus, contact information, hours of operation, and even lets you place an order online—directly from your smart phone. You can even look up coupons for every night of the week to plan your lunches and dinners ahead of time—so you’ll know you’re saving each and every time you dine out.

3. i-FinAid ($1.99 – for iPhone)

I approached college with anticipation, but also with fear (of all the debt I was going to dig myself into). However, college doesn’t have to be so daunting! The i-FinAid app will help you plan out every aspect of financial planning for college—including tuition costs, loan options, grants, scholarships, and of course if you choose to get a part time job, student income. The i-FinAid app will help you crunch the numbers before you decide on what college to attend. This app collects and records all of your personal information, including:

• Any student part time income
• Parent’s income
• State of residence
• College tuition costs
• Textbook costs
• Residence costs

And calculates how much money you can expect to spend. This app is ideal for students trying to decide where to go to college because it will give you a good idea of how much tuition and other related-college costs will be at each campus. This way, this you can start saving and applying to the proper grants in order to attend you chosen college.

4. Epicurious (Free – for Android)

One of the worst things that I did as a college student was to eat out all the time. The Epicurious app will keep you contained and saving money in your own kitchen by presenting you with unlimited options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This app is essentially a cookbook that encourages students to save money by making their own meals at home—rather than eating out all the time. You can search recipes by main ingredient, meal type, or level of difficulty, which is ideal for students who are away from home for the first time and don’t know how to cook.

Today’s guest article comes from Jane Johnson who is a writer for GoingCellular, a popular site that provides cell phone related news, commentary, reviews on popular providers like T-Mobile.

When preparing to enroll in a graduate program, it is important to budget carefully in order to avoid accumulating debt. There are many ways that students can keep costs low while studying to come out with a degree for the least possible cost.

Keep Working

Rather than putting off your job to further your education, keep working while you study to maintain your income. You won’t have to borrow as much, or if you earn enough, at all. If possible, work close to home to keep your travel costs down. Buy inexpensive work clothes that you can wash at home to save on dry cleaning costs. And of course, take a lunch to work with you instead of eating out every day.

Study Online

Balancing a job and classes can be tricky, but it is much easier if you complete your studies online. You can listen to lectures at your leisure rather than having to be on campus at specific times for classes. You also save money that would otherwise be spent commuting to campus several times each week. Additionally, tuition for online master’s degree classes is frequently less expensive than for the same class taught on campus.

Save on School Supplies

Textbooks are especially expensive, but there are many ways to save on them. If you have an e-reader, find out whether your textbooks are offered in e-book format, which is a less expensive option than paper books. You can also look into renting textbooks, which is significantly less than buying books. If you do have to buy a book, get it used if possible and resell it at the end of the class to get some of your money back. In order to further lower school-related expenditures, buy school supplies such as pencils, paper, ink cartridges, etc., in bulk whenever possible.

Budget at Home

By learning to live frugally, you can save untold amounts of money. Forgo cable, which is expensive and distracts you from focusing on your studies. You can also save money on your utility bills by using your heat and air conditioning sparingly and using space heaters or window air conditioners in areas where you spend most of your time. Use coupons and other money-saving methods when grocery shopping.

Track Your Money

Before enrolling in your program, make a plan for how you will pay for it. Create a budget for the years in which you will be in school; calculate how much money you expect to bring in each year through income, financial aid, and student loans. Subtract the tuition for the year, and then divide the remaining amount by 12 to determine how much money you will have leftover each month. Plan how you will allocate this between housing, food, transportation, insurance, and spending money.

Many worry that an advanced degree is out of reach due to limited finances, but anyone can learn how to budget to make dreams of a graduate degree within reach. With a little planning and foresight, you will soon find yourself applying to graduate school, with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you have what it takes to succeed in your venture. Best of luck!

Today’s guest article was provided by Joseph Baker.

The following is a guest article courtesy of Kelly Darmer on behalf of online degrees, a handy service connecting prospective students with the right higher education program.

With the price of tuition as high as it is, it can feel like you’ve broken the bank before you even start college, so how can you keep costs down while you’re there? There are plenty of things you could do to cut back, such as going out less, buying fewer drinks when you are out, or selling your text books. None of these options are particularly favourable, but there is one area where you can reduce the cost without reducing the enjoyment: food.

Eat From Your University Meal Plan And Avoid Vending Machines

If you’re in catered accommodation, cutting back on the amount that you spend on food can be difficult; there is an entire array of hot meals and desserts on display in the campus dining hall, calling out to be eaten, and a whole host of vending machines on your way back to your dorms. But you can use this to your advantage – if you stick to the meals that you get in the dining hall, it could save you a small fortune on snacks. As for the vending machine temptation, the mark up on those machines is extortionate, so choose multipacks of chips and candy from the superstore instead. Just make sure you don’t eat them all at once…

Plan Your Meals

If you’re responsible for feeding yourself, the opportunities to reduce your food costs are endless. The greatest piece of advice I can give you on this point is to plan your meals for the week before you do your weekly food shop. A friend of mine used to go to the store everyday to cook elaborate meals and ended up spending about $45 a day, which wasn’t far off my weekly budget.

It takes about quarter of an hour to sit down with a student cookbook or the internet in front of you and decide what meals you’re going to eat that week; seven hot meals, seven cold meals and seven breakfasts, plus a few snacks here and there and maybe some drinks. From that list, work out what ingredients you’ll need and write your shopping list. If there’s anything that’s on the list that will go off quickly, make sure you cook that meal at the start of the week so no food goes to waste.

Keep Track of Your Food Pantry

Writing a list of all the food you have in the kitchen and sticking it on the fridge is another effective way to make sure that you waste absolutely nothing. If you cross off each thing once it’s finished and add it as soon as you’ve bought it, you’ll make sure that you don’t buy something you’ve already got, and you’ll know to use it up before it goes past its sell by date. Checking this list before you do your weekly trip to the superstore can give you some inspiration too – if you’ve got a jar full of mayonnaise, for example, use it in a potato salad and it’ll be one less ingredient to buy.

As you get used to making your shopping list for the week it will become easier to plan meals that are going to be using similar ingredients so that you can bulk buy in the store without anything going to waste. For example, you can buy massive bags of potatoes which are better value, but you won’t get the benefit of it unless you use them all, so for that week you could make meals with homemade fries, mashed potato and maybe that potato salad for lunch. You can buy meat in massive multipacks as well, so make sure you freeze the individual portions when you get back so you don’t forget to use them before they go off.

Steer Clear of Fast Food

One of the easiest ways to end up spending an entire day’s food budget in about ten minutes is fast food; especially after a night out! Take out is always so tempting if you can’t be bothered to cook or if you’ve just been out and fancy an early morning snack, but it’s pretty easy to avoid (most of the time). For a start, if one of your meals one week is a homemade curry, you could make a massive one, eat one portion and freeze the rest in one-portion tubs. That way, it’s there for you when there’s nothing in the fridge but a block of mouldy cheese and a yoghurt pot. As for the fast food, buy some frozen oven chips and make some mini homemade pizzas on pita bread, wrap them in saran wrap and freeze them. The same goes with buying lunch on campus – if you’re really organised, make a sandwich or a salad the night before so it’s ready for you to take to college with you. It’ll work out a lot cheaper than buying a meal on campus every day.

Always Find The Sale Items

Finally, don’t forget to look out for anything on sale in the superstore – you could end up with a cheap substitute for something else that was on your shopping list. For example, if you’ve decided on beef steak one night but there’s reduced price lamb steak. Be careful though, sometimes the store makes it look like something’s cheaper when it’s not.

Good luck, and happy budgeting!