Today’s blog post comes courtesy of Zac Bissonnette, a personal finance expert and a current senior at the University of Massachusetts who has written a brand-new book (out in September) called Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents
1.) Buy Old Editions of Textbooks.
A few semesters ago I performed an experiment: instead of buying new books, I bought old editions of the textbooks for my classes to see whether they would work just as well.
They did and instead of spending $500 on books that semester, I spent $13 — including shipping! And they worked just as well as the new editions! Old editions of textbooks can usually be had on Amazon for between one cent and $3. So the savings work out to something like 95% off of retail. It’s a good idea to check with your professor to see if there’s any problem with doing this for your class; for some classes it won’t work.
2.) Unless You’re an Engineering Major, Buy an Old, Crappy Laptop.
I buy laptops used/refurbished by power sellers on eBay for under $200. They come fully loaded with software and, unless you’re playing massive multi-player online games or trying to use complicated software for an engineering or computer science class, they work just as well as the new ones you can buy from Dell. Plus, you don’t have to have a heart attack if you spill tea on it and fry the hard drive (Yes, I did that last year).
3.) Eat at the Dining Hall as Little as Possible: It’s Really Expensive.
At my school, using the campus meal plan ends up costing about $8 per meal on average, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To put that in perspective, a family of four that ate all its meals that way would spend about $35,000 per year on breakfast, lunch, and dinner! So, unless you are required to live and eat on campus, this is a fantastic reason to live off-campus where you can cook at home with roommates.
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
Ah, see, but I was an engineering major. Back in the late 80′s though, when only a handful of people even HAD computers. The rest of us went to the computer labs and signed up for time.
The good old days…
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Use caution with older editions. Sometimes there is a crucial update that you will miss. And some profs are sticklers about which edition you use. That being said, buying used is almost always the way to go!
Also – I ate in the school cafeteria because that WAS cheaper than eating a la cart or eating out!