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. Be sure
to visit our new Discounts & Deals section for the latest college deals and bargain
savings. 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Scholarships/Grants - Unpublished tuition discounts of 50% or more are also being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. Search for scholarships and student loans
here.
Student 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. Buy and sell new and used college textbooks here.
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, 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’.
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.
