We all know that col­lege is expen­sive. Tuition, books, and hous­ing all add up to some pretty high costs. Con­sid­er­ing this, col­lege stu­dents need to find ways to save money.

Don’t eat on campus

For those of you liv­ing in the dorms with a meal plan, try to use it as much as you can. If you live off-campus, try bring­ing snacks or a lunch with you to campus.

Eat­ing on cam­pus is an addi­tional cost that most col­lege stu­dents can’t afford very often. Those $5 burger com­bos from the on-campus Carl’s Jr. can really add up.

In addi­tion, if you bring a sand­wich from home, it will also be health­ier than the fast food or pizza that you will find on most campuses.

Clip coupons

Not just for soc­cer moms! Coupons are fan­tas­tic ways of sav­ing money on things you have to buy. Many stores send out coupons in the mail, and oth­ers have them posted on their website.

Carry some in your pock­ets, wal­let, or purse when you go out so you will remem­ber to use them.

Also, keep a look­out for good happy hour deals, because you don’t want to spend all of your money on drinks.

Keep track of when bills are due

This is more for the off-campus, but the mes­sage is impor­tant for all col­lege stu­dents. For a lot of us, col­lege is the first time that we begin pay­ing our own bills, be it for rent, cable, power, or credit cards.

When you receive bills in the mail, put them some­where that you see them, and thus remem­ber to pay them on time.

This is espe­cially impor­tant with credit cards, an indus­try that gets its prof­its from hold­ers who don’t pay on time. As some­one who received a $37 late fee on a $32 dol­lar bill, I urge you to pay your bills on time.