Graduate school requires hard work, dedication, and countless hours of studying. In most cases, working while attending graduate school is nearly impossible. Between studying, internships, practicums, and classes fitting a job into the mix is extremely difficult. As the cost of living rises and the amount of student loans stay the same, the question becomes how can graduate students save money and live comfortably while attending school. Here is the top five ways to save money.
1. Join AAA
AAA is commonly associated with roadside assistance for broken down vehicles. However, today it provides much more than roadside assistance. For a membership fee of under sixty dollars per year, you receive discounts on travel, movies, insurance, restaurants, shopping, various tickets to attractions throughout the United States, discounted auto insurance and of course roadside assistance. This membership allows immense savings in every spectrum of financial costs.
2. Use Reward Points
Nearly every restaurant, retail store, grocery store or cable provider now offers reward points. The most obvious savings is using your grocery store points to get discounted gas. However, by building reward points at restaurants you can receive money off purchases and also free food items. By building cable provider reward points you can receive gift cards to stores such as Walmart. These small financial goals help to save money in the long run.
3. Rent Your Text Books Or Use a Guarantee Buy Back Program
The cost of text books is extremely high. The best way to lower this cost is to rent text books through providers such as Chegg or Bookrenter. These websites allow you to rent your text books for approximately a third of the cost. This saves a great deal of money. The other option is to use a guarantee buy back program. This program is implemented through most graduate schools book stores and you are told how much the school will give you when you sell your text book back. By using these two options instead of purchasing a book, the savings will be immediately recognized.
4. Get the Right Credit Card
With so many credit cards on the market, it is difficult to determine which one is best for you. Two major things to look for is cash back options and if there is a special student clause. Cash back options pay you a certain percentage back for all of your purchases. This can be redeemed for cash or gift cards. Some credit cards, such as Visa Platinum, offer a special student credit card. This allows for bonus points based on your GPA average annually. This card also offers a $100 cash transfer upon proof of graduation. It also offers a 1% reduction of your APR after 12 months of on time payments. These advantages are only offered to students and is a great opportunity to save money on something that you are using already.
5. Use Ebates
Ebates is an online website that pays you a percentage cash back based upon what company you buy from. For online shopping, this is a very large advantage. You are saving money on things that you are already buying. Ebates encompasses every aspect of the retail shopping market. They also offer a very large discount associated with restaurant.com. This website features local restaurants in your area with dramatically discounted gift cards. These discounts are normally in the range of 50% to 70% off. This allows for you to eat out on a budget that is less than you would spend on groceries.
Graduate school is a large investment in your future. However, steps can be taken while still in school to save money and allow yourself to benefit even more from your advanced education.