Welcome
Welcome to CollegeSavingsNut.com,™ a site dedicated to providing money saving advice,
tips and ideas on how to save money and get a low-budget, affordable college education
and find a great job. Tips on scholarships and grants, student loans, reduced-cost
college credits, textbooks, room and board, preparing a resume, interviewing for
a job and more. Start reducing the cost of college by reviewing the tips presented
below. For hundreds more tips, advice and savings, click on the navigation buttons
on the left. Tell your friends and family about CollegeSavingsNut.com so they can
start saving too, and feel free to add a link on your web site.
Scholarships/Grants - Unpublished tuition discounts of 50% or more are also being
offered by many colleges in the form of merit grants to the most desirable students,
regardless of income. The largest discounts are often available to students whose
grades and test scores rank in the top 20% of the school’s applicant pool. However,
lately some schools have been offering tuition discounts based solely on income levels,
with some even relatively high levels of income qualifying. Check with the college
admissions office or financial aid office.
Student Loans - Tuition for both public and private schools (such as High Point University)
is going up every year, and it's getting tougher to afford school without the use
of loans. Student loans are available through the federal and state governments.
Check with your high school counseling office, your State Department of Education
and the Federal Department of Education for government loans. A free booklet titled
The Student Guide is available from the Federal Student Aid Information Center (800-4-FED-AID)
that lists available loans and other student aid. Students can apply for education
loans through the government application process at www.fafsa.ed.gov, at their school’s
counseling office or financial aid office or at banks.
Reduced-Cost Credits - You may be able to take classes at a less expensive school
and transfer those credits to the college where you want to earn your degree. This
can be done by attending a lower-cost school full-time, such as a local college or
community college, and then transferring to the school of choice after one or two
years. Or rather than attending a less expensive school full-time and then transferring,
courses can be taken at the local school during the summer or other times to earn
credits, both more quickly and less expensively. Just make sure that your college
of choice will accept the credits that you want to transfer. Make sure you ask,
and if possible get assurances in writing.
Textbooks - Remember, new college texts are not just available at the campus bookstore.
They may also be available at off-campus bookstores and online at Amazon.com, eBay.com,
etc. Most books are available somewhere for less than their suggested retail price.
CompareTextbook.com is a good site that allows you to type in the title of any college
textbook and get a list of online bookstores and their prices. Alibris.com is another
good site that provides information on hundreds of independent booksellers. CampusBookSwap.com
is also helpful in identifying both new and used books for sale on your campus. Check
prices and get the best deal.
Room & Board - Eating at college is expensive. If you don’t cook and want to make
sure fast food or expensive restaurant food does not become the everyday menu, the
college meal plan may be a suitable alternative. However, they are generally expensive.
Also, if the student chooses not to take maximum advantage of the plan, and has
money left over in the meal plan at the end of the semester, these funds are generally
forfeited, causing the meal plan to become very expensive. So make sure if you have
a meal plan it is used to the maximum extent, given the funds spent.
Other College Savings - Computers like Dell laptops and other electronics and software
can often be bought on campus for less than prices at either local or national retailers.
Used computers may also be available at far lower cost than a new computer, and
work just as well. As for software, check to see if your school has site licenses
for major software such as Microsoft Office. Also, you may be able to get a copy
of these programs for very little from your school’s technology department. And
do not forget to ask for student discounts wherever you buy.
Preparing a Resume’ - Graduating from college is a big event, but only the beginning
in finding that perfect job. Having a professional looking resume’ to give to a
prospective employer is always a good idea, and most often a necessity. Use a simple
layout for your resume’. Fancy fonts, fancy bullet points, etc. often do not look
very professional. In addition, many jobs require you to paste your resume’ into
their web site for consideration. Fancy formatting usually gets disorganized when
pasting, resulting in a jumbled resume’ presentation. Many different types of formats
and templates can be found on the Internet for you to consider. There are also resume’
templates included in Microsoft Word and other word processing programs and software.
Your career guidance office at college will also have examples of well prepared
resumes’.
Finding a Job - Many colleges have career days where prospective employers visit
the college to “advertise” their companies and career opportunities. Take advantage
of these days to learn about as many companies as you can, and meet as many company
representatives as possible. This is your first chance to establish a relationship
with a company representative that could possibly lead to a job interview. And even
if you think you have no interest in a company, talk to them anyway. At a minimum
it is good practice, and you never know what they might have to offer.
Getting an Interview - Before submitting your resume for a particular position, it
is sometimes helpful to “customize” your resume for the particular job you are applying
for. This is particularly true with any job objective you may include in your resume’.
But, sometimes you can further strengthen your resume’, for a particular job, by
emphasizing aspects of your prior experience and accomplishments that directly relate
to the job opportunity at hand. Just make sure you are always truthful and accurate.
Interviewing Tips - The actual job interview has two purposes. The employer gets
to know you better and decide if you are right for the job, and you get to know the
employer and job better and decide if the job is right for you. Make sure you do
your very best, even if the job does not seem to be that interesting to you. Remember,
if you get an offer, you can then decide to accept the position, or not. And, of
course, rule number one is to present yourself professionally, both in looks and
demeanor. This rule applies no matter what type of job you are interviewing for.
You want to make yourself as attractive to the employer as possible.
Ten Tips for Saving Money in College
Thanks for visiting CollegeSavingsNut.com™ and we hope the ideas and tips for saving
money on your college education, and the advice on how to find a great job, will
make life just a little bit better for you and your family.
