Financing college education is a battle of attrition in which your checking account is on the losing side. Below are several tips to help you stave off defeat:
1. Get Cashback: Love Google? So do I, but it doesn't put any money in the bank. Microsoft's Bing Cashback, however, does. Find out how much by using the Bing search engine to look up products you intend to buy, or simply browse your Cashback options by store. A number of major vendors participate, and with seasonal fluctuations and targeted promotions by Microsoft, Cashback at individual stores can vary wildly from month to month.
Barnes & Noble was offering 20 percent Cashback on all purchases during the Microsoft back-to-school promotion, which, on top of free member pricing and free shipping on textbooks, translated to a huge savings off of standard cartel prices.
For those of you who like clothing or electronics, even high-end stores like Saks and popular Web sites like Newegg have a modest Bing presence, making it worth remembering when the time comes for a discretionary purchase or two.
The catch? You have to click through Bing to get your discount and wait 60 days from the date of purchase for Microsoft to mail you a check.
2. Call in the Savings: For those of you who haven't already, sign up for your 15% student discount via AT&T premier. Particularly if you have an iPhone with a text messaging package, you can save several dollars a month and enjoy waived activation fees on new phones along with other premier benefits. Don't be frightened by the $36 per-line "Sponsorship Fee" buried in the fine print, as it does not apply to students.
If you don't use AT&T, check for discounts specific to your wireless service provider. I believe T-Mobile also has a 15% discount available to students, and other providers may as well, though I have no personal experience with programs outside of AT&T.
3. Bulk Up: No, I'm not talking about going to the gym (though it certainly couldn't hurt). Purchasing sundries, such as toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, trash bags, and laundry detergent, in bulk can yield substantial savings over the course of a semester (or two).
Amazon is a great place to go to stock up on dry goods, though local retailers are often competitive and can sometimes prove superior for bulk purchases. What you don't want to do is purchase these items on an as-needed basis during trips to the grocery or convenience store, as doing so will result in your paying the highest price per unit purchased. There is no sense in hemorrhaging cash from what is likely an already pallid checking account.
4.Confederate: Confederacies are great for forming tentative colonial governments, starting civil wars, and saving money in college. A goal-focused alliance between you and your roommate/s centered on establishing basic dorm-room infrastructure can save you money and space, the two scarcest commodities in a college environment.
For starters, you and your roommate could collectively defray the cost of non-excludable goods, such as televisions. One moderately-sized television will yield more enjoyment when in use (and have a smaller footprint) than two smaller ones and is likely to cost less than two smaller televisions purchased separately.
While you may sacrifice some discretion in changing channels at will, rooming with someone is about cooperation, and agreeing on television programming is a good place to start. Forgoing separate mini-fridges is another cost-effective, space-saving option confederates can pursue.
With your dollars combined, you may opt to purchase a not-so-mini fridge with equal or greater storage area and a reduced footprint (as compared to two mini-fridges), potentially at a reduced total cost.
Just make sure that when the time comes to secede, you have at least a vague idea of who's getting what. The one component of confederation you can do without is its long history of failure (though if you can buck the trend, you'll save a few bucks in the process).
5. Park Smart: I know this seems an unusual addition to an economics-blog survival guide, but trust me, you'll be glad I mentioned it. Citations on this campus run $30 a pop and it doesn't matter if you're a terrorist or a nun, parking enforcement will paper your car with citations faster than you can say HEIL! Take it from someone who's been pin-cushioned by enough $30 mistakes to buy a gated decal.
DO NOT: park facing traffic, park overnight in any lot but red, park (even for one class period) in a space for which you don't have a decal, park on a line, on grass, on a sidewalk, in a service area, or at all, if you can help it.
Occasionally, should you presume to park in a space which correctly corresponds with your decal, you will get a citation anyway. I suspect this is UPD's way of keeping us on our toes and extending the fine tradition of appealing citations to the entire student body.
Should you manage to find a nice, cozy spot in the Hume garage (or whatever your corresponding lot), consider your car to be in storage and just walk/bus/bike to wherever you need to go (though even space for bicycles can be sparing).
You may be tempted to take your car downtown on weekends, but you can't park there either (it's almost as bad as campus).
Conclusion: Get free money back on purchases, save on your phone bill, buy in bulk, cut your collective costs, avoid the sentence of death-by-a-thousand-merciless-gouges that awaits all parking violators, and you might come out of the trenches slightly above flat broke (freed-up capital is reallocated to the alcohol budget, after all). I'm rooting for you, and I hope you'll check back every now and again for more tips and opinions as we fight the good fight.
