College Life 101: Being Broke

Without the legendary golden spoon, or a full ride scholarship, a University student must find ways to survive the lifestyle while having a little to nothing budget.

 Now its common sense that you need money, in any form, but unfortunately many students are broke from what I call 

The Triforce

Yeah, like Zelda!

Anyways, this is based on 3 individual personal needs. Where each portion when added together becomes the reason money is so scarce.

1. Friends-

Unless you have none, friends can cost you money while going to school. Besides pothead Ted who's trying to borrow a 20$ everyday, your friends probably want to do "stuff" and that cost dollars. 

2. Time - 

Time is a great thing when there is plenty enough of it to become bored. But now, its full blown school and you need all the extra time for studies. You can't work an 8-5 job because classes are 8-5, so now you’re only part time folding clothes at Sears.

3. Life-

The sun comes up everyday whether you want it to or not. You need to eat, pay rent, get gas, and whatever other bills you have when the time comes. There is no way around the life effect when it comes to money, it would be awesome if food was free... It's not.

So the combination of Life, Friends, and shortage of Time are what make you broke, this scenario is unavoidable for many students. I've been there, so I have some tips&tricks with dealing with the Triforce.

First we deal with friends. The first thing you should learn is to 

Back out

You don't need to go shopping, or out to eat with them every day at Applebees. Many universities have clubs and organizations that can keep you interacted, and they will typically host activities that go on during the week and weekend nights. The campus hosted activities are normally free for students, which can include all there athletic clubs (football, hockey, etc.), art events and acting performances. These are actually pretty fun to attend and are a great way to meet new people with shared interests. 

Now time is a big issue, typically a student has enough time to have a life and complete all their work. But the time I normally think of is the time needed to have a job. Jobs are hard to find that actually pay a decent amount in a college town so basically you need 1 of 2 things:

-A good paying job that is off shift; like 5pm-10pm.

-A good paying job that is very flexible.

  A great option for students is bartending or serving. Tips are amazing!  Because for part-time you will get a full time pay.  Some people work weekends, or partial overnights to get there hours in. I personally think the best option for a student is to work on campus. Not only are they really flexible, but they sometimes carry perks: like being able to do your homework while "working".  I worked for monitoring the computer lab one semester, 10$ an hour and all I did was homework the whole time. Others include discounts at the university bookstore or campus cafeteria discounts. It's really nice to get out of class, 

Walk 100feet to sit down and get paid. 

Life is obviously a tough one to change. How you eat, shop, and just daily activities might need a complete overhaul. First off, the morning Starbucks coffee could probably go without, its time to take a trip to good will and get a coffee maker. Other Ways to save as a student is to find coupons in the university newspapers, you would actually be surprised how much freebies college students get, which is my next point

Always carry your Student ID

 Most businesses in a college town give discounts to students, and some even host "student night", where you can get in free! When you tie in Life with Friends, you can sometimes get a cooperative effort to do "free" activities. People don't always realize how many "free" things there are to do: Frisbee golf, ice skating, swimming, fishing, rollerblading, hiking, and many many others. You just need to change your mindset to figure out cheaper ways to enjoy yourself.

College life can be challenging. It has its ups and downs, but it doesn't have to be as hard as some make it out to be. Try looking for ways to save money instead of ways to spend it and it will ease your money worries. The best advice I can give anyone is to

Diversify your life

Whether its friends, interests or activities. The only way to completely enjoy college is to experience all it has to offer. 

-all images are from google with open usage rights-

Thank you for reading and up voting. I hope I reached a college student out there, happy start of the semester!