How to Save Money on College

The school year is rapidly approaching the end, with students and teachers alike contemplating the final few weeks of classes and plans for summer vacation, undoubtedly.

But for some students, summer time isn’t just about hitting the beach, pool parties and lounging in the sun until another school year starts.

Instead, thoughts turn toward finishing high school and moving on to the college of their choice, a path that is taken by most and relished by some.

The lack of excitement around college typically stems from the associated costs with attending a four-year university, not to mention the potential for grad school or any other extended educational piece you may embark upon.

For now, the four-year college endeavor is one that is met with a modicum of anticipation simply due to the amount of money students and parents alike are expected to pay with this necessary expense, but one that is concerning financially.

Since 2000, the increase in students attending college through 2017 is up significantly, approximately 5.1 million in that time frame, with the average cost of room and board ranging from $16,757 per year to $43,065, not to mention $6,613 in tuition costs and up to $31,411.^[1]

That is exceptional growth in under two decades, with cost association enough to be considered equally staggering.

What makes this even more of an issue for cash-strapped parents and students is the tuition costs consistently going up from one year to the next. In the span of the last 10 years, college tuition is up nearly three percent (2.4 percent exactly).^[2]

If you take the median average on tuition and room and board from the above numbers, and factor that over the course of four years, you’ll spend nearly $120,000 on room and board, along with $76,048 in tuition (even if you opt for a closer school to home that you can commute).

Imagine investing nearly $200,000 on a college education, more so from the standpoint of parents who are shelling out the money (not including other essentials) along with students who work feverishly for financial aid, grants and scholarships but the onus of that cost landing squarely on their shoulders or those of their parents.

Questions about college education abound, and with good reason.

Is it worth going? Should you consider other options? And perhaps the bigger question is how exactly do you plan to pay for this?

The last question has plenty of merit, because much like you’d budget out for a car payment, mortgage or utilities, you also have to consider how to save money in preparation for college or while you’re there.

Treating this four-year college journey as an open checkbook with the intent on simply paying loans back for the rest of your life isn’t the proper way to embark on this path.

What needs to come into play are ways to save money, even if a few hundred or thousand dollars seems like peanuts in comparison to what you’re about to lay out for the next 48 months.

Here’s your best options to save:

Think used: Don’t buy new in college from cars to textbooks

A lot of what ails students en route to college is that aforementioned open checkbook mentality, suggesting that they’ve resigned themselves to the fact that college is expensive, so why not just go with it? That includes other aspects of college that aren’t just room and board and tuition. You also have to take into consideration the two “T’s” of college: transportation and textbooks.

This conversation should be discussed with brevity and decisiveness in mind from parents to students.

Textbooks are a big-time expense in college, with the average cost of textbooks around $1,200 per year, or nearly $5,000 during a four-year stint at a college or university.^[3]

And rising costs of textbooks isn’t anything new, but more of a steady rise over the course of the last decade or more. So, this isn’t an expense that should surprise you.

Since 2006, college textbook costs are up an astounding 73 percent.^[4]

But the outlook doesn’t have to be bleak from a financial standpoint with textbooks and supplies in mind.

Buying textbooks used is a much better option when you consider the savings can be as much as 50 to 70 percent off what you’d pay for that same book brand new, with the wrapping still on it.^[5]

The good news is most college students, more than half, are deciding to skip out on the textbooks for used versions or simply opting to sharing textbooks with other students or study groups alike.

College textbook rental sites are gaining steam with popularity, and that 70 percent off piece has a lot to do with it, namely Amazon Textbook Rental and BookRenter.com.

In addition to textbooks, you also should adopt a “used” mentality and philosophy with just about anything college related, including travel.

Buying a used car or taking public transportation is going to be the smarter choice, especially if you’re investing to live on campus. Why would you possibly need a new or newer vehicle if you’re living on campus?

Optionally primed: Think community college or trade schools to save

The definition of post-secondary education or “college” has changed more so in recent years when considering the financial perspective of what lies ahead.

Students are taking a look at the job market, salaries and dissecting if college and an applicable field of their choosing is really the best option when weighing cost versus reward (i.e. what you’ll make every year on average for a particular field).

The cost of an associate degree pales in comparison to what you’d spend on a four-year college degree.

For students attending community colleges in state, you’ll spend $4,868 per year, with out of state students in the $8,614 neighborhood.^[6]

Consider that’s about double (or more) of the tuition in a four-year college.

What makes the community college or online degree programs so advisable and attractive are not only cost but convenience, too. The online sector is a market that is growing by leaps and bounds in recent years, mostly due to non-traditional students being able to secure a college degree online from home, while they’re working.

The average age of an online student is 32 years old, with 84 percent of them already being employed.^[7]

This marketplace remained untapped, and the last decade has allowed online universities to draw not only a different demographic than brick and mortar colleges can but also comes with incentives that are price specific.

If you don’t believe that, consider the enrollment numbers.

A study showed that as recent as three years ago online course participation was up 3.9 percent, while on-campus students dropped five percent.^[8]

This suggests a swing in the viewpoint of those who want to add convenience and savings to their college experience.

In addition, associate degrees, aren’t exactly earning “chump” change, either.

Consider that if you’re spending between four and eight thousand dollars to earn an associate degree that the average salary is around $41,496, and boasts an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, which is lower than any other educational average across the board.^[9]

You’ll make more coming out of college with a four-year bachelor’s degree, but again the cost has to be factored in. Associate degree graduates have versatility, granted, but also depending on the type of associate degree you get can also reach salary highs close to what a four-year college education can offer.

In addition, you can’t discount trade schools or vocational programs that allow you to learn a tangible skill and turn it into a career with longevity and security as key indicators. From mechanics to welders to HVAC and other job skills of that ilk, you can’t overlook these as alternatives that also aren’t cost prohibitive, either.

Food for thought: Consider where you eat and how much you spend

Most colleges are going to be quick to sell you on a meal plan that ties directly into a certain number of meals you have to commit to, which often leads to spending money and not really using it the way it was intended.

College students might be better off ingesting all the stats and figures they can about the meal plan programs versus take-out food and determine which makes the most sense.

The idea that a college student should invest in a pricey meal plan if they can get away with eating for an entire day on a few dollars is worth more than a second look.

Consider stats for larger schools, in this case study Texas A&M and Duke. Texas A&M have meal plans that are as much as $2,300 per semester, while Duke is a 12 meals per week plan that costs $3,341.^[10]

Some schools require the meal plan as part of your enrollment, so negotiating out of it isn’t an option. You’d want to consider that before you commit to a school, as silly or inane as that may sound. But that is quite a bit of money for a meal plan that you might not take advantage of, so if you can opt out, you’d be wise to do so.

When you consider the average person spends about $4,000 on food each year (not semester, but year) and individuals living on their own are around $4 per meal the average college students has a price hike for food on meal plans that are 85 percent, on average, more than a person who goes grocery or food shopping on their own terms.^[11]

The bottom line on food in college: avoid the freshman 15 or overspending on food if you can help it but saying you’ll pass on any meal plan that rivals the cost of books and tuition. The all-inclusive nature of making meals easy by blindly paying for what you’re not going to use or simply don’t need adds more cost to the college experience that truthfully feels more like it should be optional than anything else.

You’d be smart to rethink college or your post-high school education, if only to make sure that this is exactly what you want, and where you’d ultimately like to do.

The unemployment rate of college graduates has been flat in recent years, with approximately 2.5 percent of college graduates unemployed, or 1 in every 40; compared to 7.7 percent rate for high school graduates only. ^[12]

You could certainly argue that you’d be better served to have a college education, but those who only finished high school aren’t saddled with an extreme amount of debt for the next decade (or most likely longer).

That said, you still can work the college education piece into your favor if you choose to think smarter about your finances while you’re in college. Whether that means opting out of the room and board, taking advantage of renting or used textbooks, commuting minus the car and other factors that are breaking the bank far beyond just cracking the books.

Being able to go to school after high school also doesn’t always have to center on four-year traditional schooling, but also the opportunity to revisit the idea of trade schools, working out of high school initially and putting college off for a little while so you can save a little more or embark on an associates degree, getting basic education credits for much less at a community college, for example.

This isn’t to suggest education isn’t paramount.

The average college students makes just over $50,556 as of 2016, up from the 2014 number of $48,127, up five percent.^[13]

But doing education on your terms means being smart about it from a money standpoint when it comes to your decision making.

College should always be in the discussion, as long as its done with financial intentions and saving in mind.