College students and personal finance, Part 2: Saving on campus

Editor's note: As the new college year revs up, Consumer Reports Money Blog devotes several days to the personal finance issues of college students. Here, Michael Ng, one of our college-age summer interns, muses on what he's learned about saving money on campus:

Instead of buying all your textbooks...make friends! Every subsequent year I spend less and less on books when in fact, the books get more and more expensive. Textbooks are definitely not cheap, and oftentimes courses won't even need you to use the entire book, and sometimes, not at all! A mistake that some students tend to make is that they buy books before a class actually starts. DO NOT buy textbooks before attending the first class! Professors usually have a grace period for textbooks, since the first few courses are generally introductions and will not need the use of a textbook. Also, kinder professors have grace periods for students who cannot obtain textbooks–such as during shortages–or for those who bought the books online.

It is a good idea to not buy the books beforehand because in some cases, the professors will tell you not to buy the books on the book list; that happened to me in my first class at college. So, a good alternative would be to get to know the people who are in the same class and offer to pay for a part of the book in order to share it. It is definitely the easiest way to save money, and a great way to make friends and meet new people as well.

Learn how to shop around. Oftentimes, for things such as food and essentials, larger stores have coupons, sales, or specials that can save you quite a bit of money in exchange for some research once in a while. Keeping track of prices can save you money, and although fifty cents here or a dollar there may not seem like much, it adds up. Continuing that thought...

Learn how to cook your own meals. It may not be immediately apparent, but cooking your own food can be cheaper. Not only can you eat what you like, you could make more and store the leftovers for another time. Raw ingredients are usually cheaper for more, when compared to prepared food. Though it may not store as long, food is usually tastier fresh anyway. Plus, school plans are often overpriced. However...

Don't rule out a small meal plan. Personally, I do cook my own meals, but sometimes it may be inconvenient for me to cook a meal from scratch. At those times, I use the money in my meal plan to buy prepared food. My particular plan is non-mandatory, and significantly cheaper than the alternatives to eat exclusively at the dining halls. So, I can save money by not having to eat at the dining halls every day, yet I don't sacrifice the convenience of eating whenever I want without having to cook.

Invest in a water filter and a water boiler. Depending on the institution and dorm rules, water heaters may not be allowed. But regardless of living situation, whether it is on- or off-campus, definitely buy a water filter. Unless you particularly enjoy spending money on bottled water all the time, a water filter saves money as well as the environment. Just using water from the tap to get drinkable water saves money in the long run, and buying a durable water bottle yourself saves buying lots of plastic.

Know which banks are on campus. Instead of opening an account at a bank that is close to home, know what is more convenient on campus. More often than not there will be multiple choices instead of a monopoly, but it will still be good to know. Bank visits at school tend to be more dire–such as when you're low on cash–so it may be good to think about convenience at school in those situations, rather than thinking about the home situation.

Consider wholesale club memberships. If there are warehouse or wholesale stores near campus, such as Sam's Club or Costco, consider getting a membership at those stores if you don't already have one. Wholesale prices are generally better than retail, and for essentials like tissues, toilet paper, and paper towels, it would be good to buy those in bulk anyway.

Good Things To Have: Exacto knife, Tape (heavy duty, masking, all kinds), Can opener, Surge protector (since extension cords are usually not allowed),and a Microwave oven.

Michael Ng is a senior at Binghamton University, majoring in computer science.

Comments

[Brent]

While waiting on buying textbooks can be a good thing for the reasons cited in the article, there is a little bit of risk involved. It is possible that the campus bookstore may run out of a required book. To add insult to injury, suppose the book is a specific edition that is not easily found elsewhere. While this rarely happens, it did bite me once is school. Luckily I was able to borrow the book from someone who had taken the class before.

That brings me to my second point on textbooks. If you can, save the really good (and expensive) ones for reference. I wish I hadn't sold many of my computer science algorithms books for pennies on the dollar since they would have been helpful now.

[Mary]

Learning how to cook should be something one should learn just for the pure fact of being able to be self sustaining! Seriously! Its such a simple thing to do yet soo many people can't do it, and the whole thing about textbooks is sooo true! I usually search for my textbooks online with http://www.bigwords.com cause they compare the cost of all the book stores online. Sometimes you can find a brand new book cheaper then renting it! It just all depends on the book and the condition you want it in. I feel it never hurts to check all the bases before making a decision and when it comes to textbooks I try to save as much money as possible. Its seriously just all in where and how you look too. If you've never tried
http://www.bigwords.com before then your really missing out on
something that could be saving you!

[Amanda Rush]

Being able to borrow some books really worked for me. Making more friends in your campus can bring you a lot of advantages other than being able to borrow some important things.

[Pete]

One other possible strategy is for a college student to purchase a home to live in rather than paying rent. If purchased by November 30 of this year then the student could qualify for the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. If the student does not qualify for the mortgage due to low income then the parent could co-sign on the loan. Either way the student can claim the credit (if they did not owe at least $8,000 in taxes then they will receive the difference in a check!), live there for at least 3 years, and make payments rather than paying rent.

[J. Scott Allen]

Another way to save money in college is by buying your textbooks online. I use http://www.bigwords.com They are a textbook search engine that searches all the online textbook retailers (including amazon, half, ebay etc) and rental sites (including chegg, bookrenter etc) to find you the best prices. You can even use them at the end of the semester to search for resellers to sell your books to.

[Tanana Community Library]

I am looking for information on GOOD CAN OPENERS (manual) if there is such a thing... I have had a number of them and lots of frustration with jagged and partially opened cans... I don't have or want electric openers. Any help????