by Nancy Adossi

Created on: July 12, 2009

The college years will be the best years of your life and can become the most beneficial years of your financial life. Most college students are usually unaware of the expenses besides books, tuition, room and board. They often neglect to calculate the parties, additional class needs, food, hygiene, holidays, and travel expenses. Here are some basic simple, yet effective rules that should save money for many college students.

Home or board:

It is cheaper to stay home with your parents if you can get to your college by bus. If not, then living on campus is far better. Bus expenses are often less than personal gas expenses once compared. Besides, taking a bus to school reduces the temptation and resulting expenses of driving to an unnecessary destination such as nightclubs. Taking the bus also saves greenhouses gases. If you choose to live on campus and your dorm is far enough for the use of a campus bus, try a walking party. A walking party is when 5 or 10 students walk to the main building. It is called a party because everyone has fun walking together. Besides this induces weight maintenance (to avoid the dreaded Freshmen 15) and provides a way for everyone to be safe.

If you're good at it, CLEP it:

CLEP stands for College Level Examination Program or as I call it Colelge Level Easy Profit. This program enables you to take basic subject tests such as History and Math exams for a low price range of $70-$80. I call it College Level Easy Profit because if you pass the test, you can profit on the money you saved by putting that money in your bank account. You also save time spent on a class and profit by using that time to take another class speeding up your degree plan and enabling you to graduate earlier which in turn enables you an advantage in the career fields. The only warning is to make sure you're extremely exceptional at whichever subject exam you take in order not to lose time and $70 or $80!

Books:

Do not buy books from your school bookstore. Invest in your internet by buying used books at a low fraction on sites such as Amazon and Ebay. If you buy them online, sell them at a bookstore near you or create an Amazon and/or Ebay account or use ValoreBooks to resell it online. However, it's faster and easier to go to a local bookstore that buy used books, but the profit may not be as much as online. So sell online if you're not pressed for time. Another idea is to sell it to fellow college mates by sending emails or using networking.

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