Five Ways to Save Money on Your Education

Ways to Save Money on Your Education

• Investigate Housing Options
• Employee Reimbursement
• Buy Used Textbooks
• In-State School Tuition
• Financial Aid or Scholarships

When you're trying to save money on college, you can eat ramen noodles and limit how often you eat out at restaurants. There are other ways you can save more like making smart choices about the college you attend and other large expenses.

1. Investigate Housing Options

Living on campus can be much less costly than living off-campus. You'll have to figure out what kind of expenses you'll have in both locations before you make a decision. If you want to live off-campus, consider getting some roommates to offset the costs associated with rent and utilities. If you're all students, it's likely that you'll have the same interests and be able to learn about other cost savings.

2. Employee Reimbursement

There are many companies that will help fund your education. Starbucks employees only need to work 20 hours per week to get help with college tuition. Other well-known companies like Chrysler pay part of their employee's tuition too. You can find out whether your current employer reimburses for tuition or find a new job where you can make money as well as get extra money for college.

3. Buy Used Textbooks

For every class, there is at least one book if not more. You could spend hundreds of dollars on one book that is brand-new, or spend a fraction of that for used books. This is a savings of thousands per year. You'll need to make sure that you visit the bookstore for their used section immediately upon receiving your schedule. If you can't find the book in a school bookstore, you can check online. You might even be able to rent a textbook for a semester from an online marketplace like Chegg.

4. In-State School Tuition

When you travel outside of your home state, you're paying extra for tuition. There's a difference of thousands of dollars between attending an in-state college or an out-of-state one. That could really help with the cost of tuition over a two- or four-year college education. When you're planning your education and career path, really consider whether it's worth it to travel outside of your state to attend college or not. While you might want to attend college in a sunny state, it might not be worth the costs.

5. Financial Aid or Scholarships

Never assume that you can't get financial aid or scholarships. You can fill out a Federal Student Aid Form to find out if you're eligible for financial aid. The application is free to fill out online, so you won't have to worry that you'll be turned down and lose any application fees. When it comes to scholarships, look locally first where you'll have a better shot at receiving the scholarship. Once you've looked locally, expand your search to other locations as well as online sites that might require only an essay to apply. The school you'd like to attend likely has scholarship opportunities on their website.

You will likely have to be creative to save money on your education. Before you attend college, you can check on scholarships and financial aid. While in school, save money with used textbooks and living on campus. Over time, all the savings will add up and won't leave you with tons of student debt.

Related resource:
Top 10 Colleges for a Cheap Online Degree