Ways to reduce college costs

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Background

College costs enough for tuition alone these days to shock parents into catatonia, and the price seems to rise each year, with no discernible upper limit. Families are stretched thin to meet basic expenses. Personal observation suggests many kids may be excluded from the opportunity for advanced education, just because of the lack of a relatively modest amount of money.

Thus, when budgeting for college, examine every cost closely. Eliminating any unnecessary expenditures could eventually ensure completing your degree, on the one hand, rather than dropping out for financial reasons, on the other. Let’s see what expenses might be eliminated.

Transportation: a car

Many campuses withhold parking permits from freshman, and others strongly discourage all students from bringing their own cars to campus. Colleges want students sticking around to study, not gallivanting off to waste their time on non-academic activities. Automobile care, especially without familiar and trusted mechanics, is a burden and a distraction. Car insurance for young people is notoriously expensive as well. The rule of thumb should be that unless a car is necessary it should be left at home.

Of course, there are exceptions. Many students need to commute to college, and public transit may be lacking. Another exception t is a job substantially helps with tuition. Alternatively, a job that maximizes one’s chances at a graduate program (e.g., research lab work as preparation for medical school) might justify a car.

Try to get the least expensive second hand vehicle possible that has a decent safety record. Stay away from flashy models that might attract the unwelcome attention of car thieves/vandals or prompt the urge to take road trips, with their attendant dangers of driving while intoxicated. Choose what is sometimes called a ‘beater’ car. Appearance and cool factor vehicle are irrelevant – these can wait until that first big job is secured.

Space-hogging TV

Unless you are jointly furnishing shared off-campus housing, chances are your living space will resemble a submariner’s. The space consumed by an enormous TV is better spent on living space or something that can actually save you money, for example, a refrigerator or microwave, if allowed. Additionally, the presence of a big screen in the room constitutes a constant temptation to watch (see below).

Cable TV service

This is not the time in your s life to be vegetating in front of the boob tube. Spending any time on TV when there are grades to be earned and knowledge to be gained is simply ludicrous. If you feel that life without your favorite show is not worth living, then services such as Netflix can feed the need at a lower cost than a cable subscription.

Lots of furniture

College dorm rooms, furnished with the basics, are already generally over- full (see above). Furniture merely makes move-in/out more cumbersome. Even most off-campus housing includes a minimalist supply of furnishings.

Besides, most college towns are blessed with thrift shops and second hand furniture stores. If, once installed, you discover that you simply cannot study without a Barca-lounger, chances are you will find one nearby. Check Craigslist for ‘free stuff’, or a curb alert, and exploit the desperation of most folks to offload such large pieces of furniture.

Trunks

These neither store as efficiently as soft luggage nor repel mice (from painful personal experience). Use soft-sided luggage for travel, and plastic bins for pest-resistant long-term or off-season storage. See about purchasing bins from departing seniors.

Books

Buy textbooks second-hand whenever possible. The college library should have access to everything else you need, either directly or via interlibrary loan, and you are paying for the service already. Choose your light discretionary reading from the college stacks and save!

Hometown Honey

You will spend vast amounts of money (on travel and phone calls, for example) that is not necessary to your academic future. More importantly, although this is non-financial issue, you will distract yourself from both your studies and the opportunity to make new friends, if you are tied emotionally to your high school past. Just agree to suspend your relationship after high school and if it was meant to be, it will last through college. Your experience at college will be much more fulfilling.

A super-duper-fancy computer

A good computer is necessary. An ultra-cool computer is not. A costly unit can be damaged in transit, stolen, or left behind just as easily as a cheaper version. Spend some money instead on back-up storage for crucial notes and paper drafts, whether a back-up drive, or the Cloud, or both.

Keep all these potential cost reductions in mind, and spend the savings on tuition or broadening travel or a down payment on a home, or an entrepreneurial investment.

Tuition costs keep rising and the final solution to college debt is beyond the scope of this blog and this writer’s pay grade. However, saving some money around the edges is certainly feasible. Many families are really pressed to pay for even the cost of community college and in-state institutions. Don’t let a pile of ill-advised expenditures drain the funds to complete college! Consider the following purchases very carefully before making them. There may be more cost-effective ways of getting the same result, or they may not be needed at all.

Giant stereo system/library of CDs

Although the notion one’s tunes blasting out the half-open dorm door as a sort of aural mating signal is fun, the fact is that loud music at all hours is inconsiderate, and possibly passé. Let others bring their professional dj – grade sound system to campus and have it broken or stolen!

Substitute something small with headphones and your personal play list. You will have your music, and you will not cause indignation on the part of your neighbors for many yards/meters around. Check out the college radio station as well, doubtless playing gorgeously idiosyncratic stuff, if you want to go the really cheap route.

Pet

No. No. No. This is neither the time nor place for Buster/Tweetie, no matter how accommodating your off-campus landlord promises to be. You will lack the time to give your long-beloved pet the attention that they deserve, if you are a committed student. A shelter rescue commits you to a level of maintenance and care that you can ill afford – at this point in your life! If you insist on dragging along your animal companion, you could be liable for very expensive damages to your residence, as well.

Companion animals

Otherwise known as pets, your childhood dumb chum, whether furry, feathered or bearing scales, really does not belong at college with you. Think of how little time you will have to walk, talk with, stroke, or change the litter of whichever animal you hauled along with you to college.

A pet in a dorm room is probably against the rules. In off-campus housing, a pet invites a small claims case, trying to reclaim your security deposit after Fluffy damaged your room while you were at the lab/library/study session. If you really miss animal companionship, volunteer at a shelter (but don’t bring home a rescue friend – that represents an even graver and less predictable commitment).

Huge wardrobe

Are you there to show off your style sense or get a degree/certificate? Especially freshman year, bring only the basics to begin with. What if your high school look does not synch with the campus vibe? More importantly, you will have a yard of hanging space, if that, and three small drawers.

Any more than that, and you will be constantly struggling with an untidy mess, or imposing on your roommate. Check out your college’s social media pages for clues to what’s cool at school, and choose selectively. Bring clothes enough to survive one, perhaps two weeks between laundries, and a few special outfits. Scoped out the campus before investing in a huge college wardrobe, and then buy only the minimum.

Tons of clothes

Yes, college students need enough clothes to last between weekly laundry sessions , but a massive wardrobe is a potential source of friction between roommates, rather than an asset. Storage space at most on and off-campus housing is minimal. Enough items to get through the week, and one or two dress-up outfits should be adequate. Your prom outfit will probably be a special acquisition, anyway. Comfortable footgear is where students/families should allocate some serious money.

Bulky home furnishings

Most dorm rooms have the basics in terms of furniture, and unless you want to rent storage space to house those items (dumb way to spend your college fund), you are sort of stuck with them. Even much off-campus housing is also rented partially furnished. Leave the family furniture at home, or ransack thrift shops and curbs on trash day if you must over-stuff your digs.

Wide screen monitor/large laptop

You need something you can carry easily all over campus, and that won’t break the bank if it gets damaged (highly likely) or ripped off (very possible in many locales). If you need lots more storage than a mid-range machine will provide, consider investing in a modestly priced external hard drive, or a subscription to a cloud file storage service. Your computer screen can show movies and television shows, but that does not mean that it has to be the most expensive or the biggest.

Subscription to a cable service/honking big-screen TV

You need to concentrate. A big TV singing a siren song to you every day is going to be difficult to resist. Reduce distractions by not spending the money to buy and transport a big TV. Cable service; not a good idea either. Chances are, somewhere on, or near, campus has cable, if you are desperate. Check out Hulu or Netflix to catch up with your favorite shows.

Automobile or other wheeled vehicle that requires a license

It costs a lot to buy, register, inspect, repair, insure, maintain, and gas up a car. Unless you are a commuter student, are working way, way off-campus, or have an internship elsewhere, you probably can manage without one. Wait for that great job to invest in a super-car.

Hard-sided luggage

These are hard to fly with and even more difficult to store for the school year. Don’t invest in trunks (they are not mouse-proof) but in soft duffle-style bags that compress into your limited storage space.

Girlfriend/boyfriend

How does this constitute an expense? Think how often you are going to want to head home to maintain this relationship over the course of your time at college. Think about the cost of travel and phone calls (ok, Skype is still free, but that is still a cost in time). The non-monetary cost is a bit more subtle: you handicap yourself in making new contacts at college if you are constantly clinging to a high school sweetheart.

Credit card

This is a sore spot for many families. On the one hand, a credit card informs your family where you have spent money. However, it can devastate your family financially if you mess up. A card in your own name, mishandled, can precipitate decades of credit. Consider a re-fillable card – this gives you flexibility and the look of a credit card, but limits the downside risk.

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