<p>Video game systems can be done without.</p>
<p>In terms of the meal plan, I’ve urged my son to get up and eat breakfast, to cut down on the need to snack later in the day.</p>
<p>My son eats breakfast without fail, but since he prefers a bowl of cereal - it was much cheaper for him to spend his own dime than use the food service.</p>
<p>A computer is a necessity. I was in college 20 years ago without a computer and if it wasn’t for sponging off my boyfriend’s computer constantly, it would have been near impossible to graduate.</p>
<p>If you gotta scrimp, there are many, many ways to do it. When I was first working, I took some business courses that were very useful at an inexpensive local college. It worked out just fine. However, if I had used that school to take foundation courses in some subjects to be followed with upper level courses at my undergraduate school, I would have had some big time problems. There is a big difference in the coverage of some of the subjects. </p>
<p>I took a lot of budget paths then that I did not take in my undergraduate courses such as selling back my books. But then I did not feel like I needed those books for future reference. Some of my text books were valuable resources since I knew where to find technical info that would be familiar to me. </p>
<p>S saved money by NOT being on the full meal plan. It’s a “use it or lose it plan”, and he used every bit of money. His roommate lost $800 over the year since he could not get up to use a lot of the breakfasts, particularly on the weekends. </p>
<p>Saving money takes a lot of discipline, and if you are weak in some areas, it may not be wise to push it too far. If you could use that textbook as reference sources, have problems making it to the cafeteria, need a full coverage course or find a computer to be a great resource, cutting out all of these things may not be the best thing to do. Pushing your kid to do so would not necessarily be wise either.</p>
<p>You might want to couch some of this advice as “getting full value” rather than “saving money.” If you put it that way, it argues for eating all the meals you’ve paid for, going to class, using the school’s facilities as much as you can, etc.</p>
<p>Quote from that article indicating that the writer is living on a different plane of reality: </p>
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<p>No, of course not, OUR students are CERTAINLY not the type to wait until the last minute. Who ARE these irresponsible idiots?</p>
<p>Another easy way to save money that I’ve not seen mentioned yet is to avoid the daily coffee house habit. $3 a day to Starbucks for 5 days = $15 a week = $450 over a 30 week academic year. Make it a grande specialty drink, and it could easily be double that. </p>
<p>D1, a high school sophomore, was out with friends for dinner and fun over the weekend. She complained about just how expensive it is to go out to eat. I was giving her tips on how to cut the expense by e.g. saying that she couldn’t make it to dinner but could join the group later for the movie or whatever. I also cautioned her about getting stuck with a big split bill when the rest of the group is ordering high on the hog (e.g. beverages, apps, dessert) and she’s ordering modestly, to make sure when she orders that she figures on another 30% for tax and tip, and to ask the waitstaff privately for a separate bill if she is concerned about being stuck with subsidizing others. All especially important when she gets to the point where alcohol enters the picture. One evening like that can easily destroy a student budget.</p>
<p>My S got away with NOT buying some of his books. He would either check them out at the library or get the readings on line.</p>
<p>He also didn’t have a working computer for a while (he fell asleep with his laptop open and it dropped to the floor) so he used the school’s computers. He didn’t mind using the school’s computers because he seemed to be more focused.</p>
<p>My younger S will NOT bring his car to school (at least for the first quarter). He can see being manipulated to take people places.</p>
<p>My S and D avoided the campus food at all costs. We actually went to a lower meal plans because they hated the food so much. I couldn’t believe how thin my S was when he first came home from school.</p>
<p>At any rate, you do what you have to do to save money.</p>
<p>It comes down to you make due with what you have. My oldest did not have her printer for the first several months of school. She got by and when she finally did get her stuff from her Katrina dorm room she found she did not really need it. She also had her laptop go out for repair. She found it much more productive working in the computer lab in her dorm. She was always the only one in there. Quiet and no distractions. But she would tell you she was very happy to get her computer back.
My son is a graphic design major and he could not get by without his own laptop. He did like having his own printer. He has saved us some money by taking some GE courses at the Community college. Has bought some books online.
After two yrs I have found that my son has few needs. He gets by on very little. He has no dorm frig, no TV. He washed and changed his sheets on a few occasions. He never used the 2nd set or the 2nd duvet cover.
He does not have a car.
One way he saved us money this year was searching out and finding someone with a car who traveled through our town. This saved us having to drive 6 hours each direction to pick him up and drop him off. Or having to spring for the airfare.</p>
<p>To me, the saying that “neccessity is the mother of invention” extends to doing college relatively on the cheap.</p>
<p>I get a grin out of all the ways S has come up with for saving $$ to let him do the things he wants by trading off not having a lot of stuff he doesn’t want/need.</p>
<p>This may be a more valuable a lesson than what he learns in the class room.</p>
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<p>While I realize every person has different needs and wants (and definitely respect that - mine are very particular), I would NEVER WANT TO GO HERE!</p>
<p>Clothes…well having a lot of clothes. I don’t know about in terms of saving money, but I remember bringing way too many clothes to college in the past. I’d often fill a good portion of my SUV with clothes when leaving college for the summer.</p>
<p>No cars we do that-I posted on another thread about cars.
How can they get along without a computer?
I know both D1 & D2 bought used books and sold their books, but would never sell the books they couldn’t part with. I am sure these books are out in our barn, gathering dust. </p>
<p>I think I paid for a land line for D1 First Semester for Freshman Year, then we cancelled it as she only used her cell phone. Cell phone & laptop are necessary items! </p>
<p>Those meal plans? “Use it or lose it”, especially graduating seniors, lucky for us, it paid for a dinner & a lunch for 6 family members over Commencement Weekend at St. Lawrence University. No restaurants for us! (I think D#2 knew someone who still had $900.00 left the day before Commencement-OUCH)</p>
<p>Speaking of meal plans - since D2 is moving off campus, we are looking into how to help her figure out a budget. I just got online and looked at her school meal plan. We have been paying almost $600/month for food service… Hope that can come down some off-campus… she’s not a big eater and avoids most meat.</p>