Personal Finance Tips For College Students

College can be a fun time. You are making new friends, trying out new experiences, and probably have the time of your life. However, it can also be very expensive.

It might be the most expensive time of your life, and I’m sure there are plenty of new expenses popping up right now.

Here are my personal finance tips for college students:

Eat (and drink) more affordably.

In college, food costs can add up quickly. Your friends are probably asking you to go out to eat often. However, if you have a food plan at your school that you have already paid for, you should use it! You’re basically throwing money away if you do not use it.

Another thing is to watch how much money you spend on drinking. You might want to pre-game at home or at a friend’s house, or try to hit up happy hours first. This may help you save a decent amount of money each night you go out.

Look for scholarships.

You should always look for scholarships when you are in college. You can save a ton of money and stress by doing this. Who wants student loans?

NOT ME!

Searching for scholarships does not have to be hard. There are plenty of legitimate websites out there where you can search for scholarships. You can also search directly at your college because they probably offer some for your degree, your career path, your grade point average, and more.

Be careful with all of those credit card offers.

When you go to college, you will most likely start receiving plenty of credit card offers. If you do not know what you are doing, you either want to learn or just skip these credit card offers altogether. Too many college students go into deep credit card debt because they do not know how to correctly use credit cards.

Read 5 Tips To Manage Your Credit Cards.

Make some money.

If you have time, which you probably do, you should try to make some money. You might seek out a full-time job, a part-time job, a side hustle, or something else. Whatever you do, just make sure it fits with your school schedule.

Another tip is that you might want to try to find a job that fits along with the career path you are getting your degree in. This way you can see if it’s truly what you want to do because you go all the way through a long degree program.

What personal finance tips do you have for college students?