5 Ways to Save Money While in College

Developing wise spending practices early can give you a significant financial advantage. Imagine being able to pay off your debt, including student loans and other obligations, as soon as you graduate or even making a down payment on a house.

5 Ways to Save Money While in College

The last thing you may want to do while you're  already learning in school is learn how to save money for college. It can get overwhelming. However, developing wise spending practices early can give you a significant financial advantage. Imagine being able to pay off your debt, including student loans and other obligations, as soon as you graduate or even making a down payment on a house.

With our Master College Funding Course, college can be affordable. For more information, click here.

Some of the additional benefits of saving include:

  • Peace of mind: It ensures that you have some savings available at all times. When you're living paycheck to paycheck, it can be comforting to know that there's something you can rely on if times go tough.
  • Safety net: Having an emergency fund means that you won’t be financially ruined if you have a sudden expensive home repair to deal with or, you have an unexpected medical issue, or you lose your job.
  • Planning for the future: Buying a house, having a family, and retiring are all significant life events that come with large price tags. The earlier you can start saving, the better your chance at having a financially secure future.

Saving money is a great habit to get into. Keeping your hard-earned stash in a dedicated savings account also comes with certain benefits, including stability, growth and safety!

Try using these money-saving techniques to help you save while you're in school. 

Before we get into the tip, let's go over these two important questions:

1. How Much Money Should You Save in College?

Start by establishing clear financial objectives for yourself while you are still in college. To reach your goal, such as paying for college or affording living expenses, you should figure out how much money you need to set aside each month.

Read here: Savings - How Much is Enough?

After that, just divide the required sum by the number of months you have to save it. You then deposit that sum each month into your savings account and live on the balance. It can be challenging, but you might want to think about cost-cutting strategies like skipping the meal plan, learning to cook all of your meals at home, or even moving back home for the summers. Even if you are unable to save the full amount required, you should nevertheless try to save as much as you can. You might think about setting up an automatic withdrawal from your account the day following each paycheck. This will enable you to save money rather than just spend it.

2. Where Should You Keep Your Savings?

Your savings should be reasonably liquid while you're in college. You don't want to keep the money in a place like the stock market where you can easily access it. Online savings accounts offer better interest rates than local institutions, so you might want to take them into consideration. You might think seriously about investing if you have a great part-time or full-time job, can cover your essential costs, and can pay for school without taking out any loans.

Speak with an advisor at Vincere Wealth to see if you are ready for the investing world and let their team get you started on the right path to building your wealth. You can reduce fees and other expenses by selecting the best bank accounts for college students. However, make sure to pick accounts that won't charge you any extra fees.

5 Money Saving Techniques to Practice

1. Give Each Dollar a Job AKA Budget

Saving for college involves more than just depositing funds into a savings account for a particular purpose. Setting yourself up to make wise financial decisions for the rest of your life is the goal. Doing this from a young age will set you up for a successful financial life. There are a lot of budgeting apps that can help you get a handle on your money. There's nothing better than being able to handle your own money, and if you learn how to budget while you're in college, you'll have a more secure future.

Read here: 7 Budgeting Tips for College Students

So always, always create a new budget each month and pay close attention to your “needs” vs. your “wants”. For example, living at home during your college time as opposed to a dorm or  moving into a less expensive apartment, getting roommates, or limiting your "fun money." Lower Your Starbucks bill. I don’t want to cramp your style but it can really add up.

Starbucks vs. Homemade Coffee

Even though you still need to have fun, you don't have to spend a hundred dollars every weekend. Set a cap on how much you can spend on leisure each month. If money is tight, you can still find ways to save even though you are a college student. Pay close attention to the discounts that are available to students and that you understand how to do your taxes and learn the different tax saving strategies. 

Not sure what those are? Get in touch with a tax specialist at Vincere Tax for advice and assistance if you need it; they'll make sure you claim all the deductions and credits to which you are entitled.

2. Apply for Scholarships

Apply for scholarships (like crazy). Scholarships aka free money. Free money is given to students through scholarships every single day. Did you know there are more than 1.7 million private fellowships and scholarships awarded every year, with a combined value of more than $7.4 billion?  So, your chances are definitely NOT slim to none. Without a doubt, the best type of financial aid is a scholarship. They are free funds for college expenses!

Read here: 17 Scholarships tips you need to know.

Scholarship Hack

3. Buy textbooks, clothes, and furniture second-hand

Buying new textbooks at the beginning of each semester is one of the more expensive 'hidden costs' of being a student. The greatest method to cut costs here is to acquire used books and then sell them on for a profit. Likewise, this is true for the acquisition of apparel and household goods. Buying used is a great way to save money compared to purchasing something brand new, and you can find some amazing deals if you look around. A smart shopper with some time on their hands can save a lot of money.

4. Start a side hustle

Having a part-time job or two on the side while attending school is a great strategy to reduce financial stress. Even though you'll be spending a lot of time with your head in a book, you should be able to spare 15-20 hours per week to pick up some extra cash. Want to know what else there is to do than work in a bar or restaurant?

To help you get going, here are some ideas:
  • Become a virtual assistant: Remote clients from all around the world engage virtual assistants to assist them with mundane tasks. This entails primarily responding to emails, scheduling flights, and organizing schedules, all of which may be done on your own time.
  • Sell your lecture notes: Students who weren't exceptionally attentive during lectures by the conclusion of the semester find themselves in need of lecture notes. By selling your lecture notes to them directly or through a learning platform like Nexus Notes, you have the chance to make some extra cash.
  • Become a campus library clerk: A campus library clerk assists librarians by sorting and shelving books, periodicals, reference materials and other print resources. They also help students locate items they need, assist people in checking out books and help answer phones and email inquiries.

5. Take advantage of your student discount

One of the best things about being in school? Your student ID. You can get loads of student discounts at a wide range of stores, restaurants, and cultural institutions with this card. You can also get big discounts on tech products from Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft. If you know how to use your coupons well, you can save a lot of money.

..and there you have it! All that's left to do is go out there and make those "S.M.A.R.T plans.

How to Create S.M.A.R.T financial goals?

A common acronym that can assist you in remembering the most essential aspects of a goal is called SMART. The acronym SMART refers to "Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound." The question now is, how does one go about developing SMART financial goals? Similar to this:

  • Specific:‍ When it comes to creating a budget and establishing goals, it is to your advantage to be as clear as possible. When you're trying to reach a financial milestone, not just to "save more" Make a decision regarding the specific amount of money that you wish to put aside for savings or the amount of debt that you wish to eliminate.
  • Measurable: Your ultimate objective ought to be a measurable thing so that you can keep track of how far you've come. If you want to save money, for instance, you need to devise a method for tracking how much money you've put away on a monthly basis in order to achieve your objective.
  • Achievable: It is essential that when you create a financial goal, you first determine whether or not it is attainable for YOU. There is no point in trying to achieve something that you already know you can't do. For example, let's imagine you have $5,000 in debt. If you have a limited salary, is it possible to reach your objective of paying it all off in one month? Almost certainly not. Give yourself some additional time to accomplish a goal of such nature.
  • Realistic: Evaluate the actions you want to do in order to accomplish your objective as you are setting it. Consider whether or not you can accomplish those actions in light of the conditions you're now facing. Having expectations that cannot be met almost always results in feelings of disappointment and a desire to give up. In order for you to achieve your objective, it must be something that is compatible with the way you now live. What can you realistically achieve in the next 5 months or year? Make note of that and give it your all!
  • Time: Always, always give yourself a time frame to achieve this goal. This will encourage you to follow through. For example, if your goal is to save $1,000 in one year, you can break that down into smaller goals per month to best suit you. Stop procrastinating, and keep yourself accountable.

Learn How to Save THOUSANDS on College

Avoid that crippling student loan debt with our Master College Funding Course! This course will cover everything you need to know on how to pay for college the RIGHT WAY. 

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