As of 2023, the average debt for college students stands at $28,000, with 1.9 million Canadians taking out student loans and 40% struggling to pay the government back. For college students, managing their finances wisely is an essential skill that sets the foundation for a successful future. We outlined these three effective strategies tailored to help college students save money without sacrificing their academic experience or well-being.

Meal Prep

Food ranks as one of the top expenses for students per month. Especially on campus, many will find prices ranked much higher than what you typically find outside. An excellent way for students to solve this issue is by preparing their weekly meals by themselves, whether through online prepped meals or following recipes provided online. 

This solution has proven to have an impact as meal prepping can save you up to 50% in costs compared to eating out or ordering takeaways. The growing need to spend less on food has created the increasing options out there and it just takes a bit of exploration for students to explore for ways to cut costs and spend wisely. 

Get your study materials at a cheaper price

One of the biggest mistakes students often make is impulsively purchasing course materials once they see the course syllabus. Course materials offered by schools often can cost up to 1000 dollars per year. This amount of money can be easily spent elsewhere considering the alternative options available. A direct solution can be to find seniors or friends who have taken this previous course as the course materials for courses usually maintain mostly the same through the years. 

Prolong the life span of your electronics

There are usually two types of students you find in a lecture hall: those with 10-year-old Macbooks and those with the newest Macbooks. Other than purchasing power, a glaring reason for this difference is the maintenance of electronics. A particularly prominent issue is accumulating messy and clogged-up tabs during school season that heavily depletes laptop performance, leading to shortened life span. 

An innovative solution to this is Pondr, an easy-to-use Chrome Extension, it provides a streamlined solution as it organizes Chrome tabs through one click, the app helps instantly reduce opened tabs and helps optimize time management by finding the best time slot to enter the tab on your Google Calendar. The impact is a win-win for students as they save both the life span of their laptops as well as time in organizing their scheduled tabs.

University costs are in fact difficult to accommodate in today’s ever-changing economy. Despite this growing adversity, with the help of growing external resources, college students can make the most out of what they have and save up money to reinvest in other areas.

References:

How to Save Time and Money By Meal Prepping in 2023. (2023, January 5). We R Sports. https://wersports.com/blogs/sports-health/how-to-save-time-and-money-by-meal-prepping#:~:text=Meal%20prepping%20can%20save%20you

Other Costs of University. (n.d.). Future Students. University of Toronto. Retrieved August 6, 2023, from https://future.utoronto.ca/finances/fees/other-costs-of-university

The Most Surprising Student Debt In Canada Statistics And Trends in 2023 • GITNUX. (2023, March 24). https://blog.gitnux.com/student-debt-in-canada-statistics/#:~:text=According%20to%20Statistics%20Canada%2C%20approximately

Wong, A. (2023, June 18). How student loans keep some people trapped in debt. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/student-loans-debt-trap-1.6877888#:~:text=Some%201.9%20million%20Canadians%20owed