Student debt is a terrifying and real possibility for many college students. More and more students are applying for student loans to be able to pay for college and are increasingly getting buried in massive amounts of debt by the day.
By the time we are in college, we have already spent thirteen years of our lives in schools, yet not a single class has taught us how to manage our finances.
As a result, quite a lot of us have difficulties in controlling and monitoring our expenses.
In this article, I will disclose some brilliant hacks that you can use to end up paying a lot less for college.
1. Pick Up Online Courses
If you’re already an enrolled university student, then you should look for online courses that your university offers.
Most university students are fully aware of the fact that most of the lectures that they have to attend are more or less useless and give little to no value to the students.
Most of us regularly have to travel for two hours to end up watching a professor read from the slides, something we could have quickly done at home.
Online courses can help save up on your travel expenses, your boarding, and accommodation expense, and these courses are often much cheaper than on-campus classes. By just opting for online courses, you can end up making all these savings at once.
2. Start Investing
Now investing might seem like a super fancy thing that only financial experts do, but trust me when I say this, you can invest in organizations and startups and gain economic benefit.
Numerous financial experts are offering financial advice for free online, and there are so many free online courses from which you can audit and learn.
Put your spare cash to use by investing it in stocks, bonds, and bills.
Investing your money will help you gain a deep understanding of how the world works, and it will give you so many insights that will not only help you financially, but they will also play a significant part in honing your interpersonal skills.
Get your extra money to start earning you more money. You can use the money you earn as a means to stay debt-free.
3. Monitor Your Expenses
Knowing where all your money goes is the first step to save money and to pay less. Keep a small diary to note down all the expenses that you’ve made throughout the day.
At the month-end, look through that diary and outline all the unnecessary costs that you’ve made.
You can also download an app and keep updating all your expenses on it as you go. The essential thing is that you should stay consistent during the recording process.
Once you’ve identified your unnecessary expenses, you can cut down on them and set small goals that you can achieve.
4. Enroll In An Online College
If you’re a high school graduate that is thinking about going to college by taking on student debt, I have a much better proposal for you. You can enroll in an Online college and get all the learning and benefits for absolutely free!
As time is progressing, fewer and fewer companies are asking for college degrees, and more and more places are looking for skills. While I won’t deny that having a degree is essential, it most definitely is, and the brand name also holds much importance. But you can get international degrees all whole sitting at home.
There are so many online colleges like Berea college that has a no-tuition policy, and students often pay only $1000 annually for housing and meals. You can also enroll in courses on sites like edX that are offered by top-notch universities like Harvard and MIT.
5. Cook Your Meals
While cooking might seem like an arduous and impossible task for many, learning it sooner will help you save up immensely. Eating out every day just because you can’t cook is neither cost-efficient or healthy.
Start with easy dishes that require minimal cooking and then move on to more challenging foods. You can even prep and prepare your meals beforehand so that you only have to do very less cooking when the time comes.
Buying the ingredients yourself will also help you monitor your nutrient intake and will also help you stay healthier at a fraction of the original cost.
6. Don’t Buy Textbooks
The average student spends around $1k a semester on course-books only! Instead of buying these books, you could simply purchase their pdfs or rent or purchase pdf books on sites like amazon prime that offer a six-month free trial and 50% off on books for students.
7. Find Scholarships And Look For Financial Aid Options
You don’t need to be able to afford college to be in college; there are numerous financial aid and scholarship options you can use to be able to save up on money and avoid debt. Federal Financial aid isn’t the only option out there.
There are also a lot of non-federal financial aid options and scholarship options like College Board Big future. All you need to do is research and conduct your due diligence thoroughly.
Talk to experts and take their help on how you should approach your financial applications so that you can get the maximum amount of scholarship and relief.
8. Look For Part-Time Job Options
In your free time, you can also look for part-time jobs and also create ids on online platforms through which you can start work. If you have any skills like photo editing, then you can put that skill to good use. Even if you don’t have any skills, you could do voiceovers for your clients and earn some money.
Part-time jobs will give you industry exposure and also help you figure out what tasks are in demand and which tasks pay a lot. This knowledge will help you hone your skills in that direction.
These are my money-saving hacks that can make a massive difference if implemented correctly. Don’t forget to set your own goals and reward yourself along the way!
