College student housing and food

Providing housing and food for ourselves takes a significant amount of anybody’s ready funds. Because they don’t have much in the way of disposable cash, the cost of these necessities tends to be, especially, high for most college students. Any student who wants to graduate debt free has to make their dollars stretch.  College student housing and food can be very expensive.

College students aren’t the only people who see a large portion of their money go for food and shelter. Shortly after I got married, I joined the navy as a Seaman. That’s a very low rank, and I didn’t earn much. I was sent to Charleston, S.C. where my wife and I had to find something inexpensive for our first apartment. As we looked through newspaper ads for a place to live, I remember saying to myself at least a hundred times, “This is too expensive. We can’t afford it.”

We knew exactly what my pay would be. So, to cover a place to live, food to eat, and all the other costs of living, we would have to be frugal and have a budget we stuck to. College students often experience the same circumstances. They tend to know exactly how much money they will have for any given period—for a semester, a school year, or all four years. Most know there’s nothing more coming in and what they’ve saved and been awarded is all they’ll have to cover any and all expenses while they’re in school. (And yes, I know many students borrow money and view the availability of loans as an almost limitless resource. Shortly, after graduation, when it’s time to begin repayment, they face reality.)

Anyway, we finally found an apartment we felt we could afford. Even then we needed to make certain concessions to be able to live there and maintain our debt free status. Until I got my first promotion, we had a very limited amount of money budgeted for food; an extra sandwich in the evening could mean no lunch the next day. (Does that sound familiar to any of you who are already students?) Also, we made it a point to use cash for all purchases. That way we couldn’t spend what we didn’t have.

I’ll admit that the first couple of years were a challenge. There were times I felt like I would like to use a little credit so we could have a vacation, or a special birthday or anniversary celebration. We felt like were paying a high price to maintain our debt-free status. It seemed like we were missing out when everyone else was having fun. Later, when we were in a financial position to enjoy ourselves a bit, some of the people we knew were taking out debt consolidation loans and scrimping to pay off large credit card bills and small loans. That’s when we were glad we had not given in to the temptation to borrow money: A student who graduates debt free can be glad his financial future is unencumbered by the cost of his education.

The parallel

I included my story because I want college students to understand that if they intend to stay debt free there will be times when they’ll feel like they are missing out on all the “fun.” Many newlyweds feel that way, too. For a lot of them, just days ago, life was a party and Mom and Dad were paying the bills. Now it’s all on them. And what about people on fixed incomes? So, frugal college students are not the only people who feel might feel a bit deprived.

But…

How do you think you’re going to feel after graduation when you enter your new career debt free while other grads know that they’ll spend years paying off the party?

In a previous post, I told you that I knew a dental student back in the ’90s who was going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for his education when he started working. I think facing the need to pay off an amount like that would steal some of the joy from his accomplishment.

It’s well known that paying off education loans can, often, be delayed until after you leave school (as a graduate or not), so it’s possible for students to finance not only their education and needs but, also, a “lifestyle.” I’ve talked to some students who regret they used money, supposedly, borrowed for education to finance high end apartment living, beer cask weekends, Spring Breaks, or a down payment on the new car they bought during their senior year. When the bills started coming, they no longer felt the “fun” had been worth it. The price of the loans (monthly repayments plus interest) was too much.

Generally, a college education takes four years, though I’m well aware there are programs that can take longer. Four years will seem to be a significant amount of time. If you’re young, it’s a fairly large percentage of your years. If you’re an older student, you may feel like life is rushing past you.

Those four years are supposed to be dedicated to the concentrated effort of learning, which can be stressful, and it’s in our human nature to seek ways to alleviate that stress. Creature comforts and “fun” are two venues we use to do this. Both tend to be costly. It’s unfortunate, but what we really do is set ourselves up to face what can be a greater stress (huge indebtedness) in what ends up being a fairly short amount of time— those same four years.

Avoiding (or at least minimizing) debt while you’re in school can increase your enjoyment of life after graduation. It makes sense to take the long view and be frugal while you’re in school. Below are some ways to do this

College Student Housing and Food Reduce your cost of living

You have little direct control over the cost of your actual education. (Yes, you may have a choice of schools, but often the best degrees come from a limited pool.) You do, however, have some indirect control over the price of schooling in the form of scholarships and grants. That was covered in my last post.

There are other expenses over which you have much more control.  Student housing and food are two important can be very expensive.  The student does have control over a lot of the cost of their housing and food.

Let’s talk about student housing

As with any other commodity, you can often find a good deal by shopping around. Take everything into consideration: Should you be staying in a college dormitory? Or, would it be better to look off campus? One major issue that should be part of this decision is the ease or difficulty in getting to the campus.

Many colleges make available a list of student housing rental prices in the vicinity around the campus. Sometimes it’s correct. You’re going to be giving up a significant percentage of your money for a place to live. Do some research early: Check around on your own. You can use the internet, newspapers, or an agent. Learn what the student housing rental prices really are and make your arrangements. If you don’t, you may have an unpleasant surprise when you arrive at your school—as with anything else, the price of housing goes up when the supply gets short.

Another way to save on student housing is to have one or more roommates.

Roommates

With one roommate you can cut your student housing in half. The situation can be ideal if you have a friend you can trust going to the same school. Other ways to find a roommate is to advertise online, in the newspaper, or via a service offered by your school. You need to be careful in choosing a

roommate. Most leases make each of you fully responsible for the rent. That way, even if one of you breaks the lease, the rental company is fairly sure they’ll get all their money. (And if they don’t, they can take legal recourse against both of you if they don’t.)

When you select a roommate make sure to get one amiable to your needs (and you to their’s). Remember your two goals are (1) to get an education and (2) to graduate debt free. You don’t want either goal derailed by the temptation or distraction of partying.

There are rental companies that do more or less “cold” matches. Essentially, you and one or more strangers are assigned to a rental unit and have to make it work. But hey…Unless you’ve made arrangements through Housing ahead of the move in date, this is more or less the same situation you face when you move into a dorm on campus. If you’re living off campus, the only advantage I see to this arrangement is that if anyone else bails, you continue to pay only for your portion of rent and utilities.  Lets be honest.  If you are paying all the rent your cost of student housing and college in general will increase.  (What you decide just be careful)

And now we get to food

Some people maintain that food is potential energy, and that’s all. Do I endorse that philosophy? I most certainly do not. I’m a foodie. However, I do believe when money is tight (or even has the potential to get tight), the tough do what it takes. Not every meal needs to be a gourmet feast. Not every meal needs to be convenient (as in fast food). And not every bite needs to be my favorite. But, food can still be enjoyed. Why? Because … food is potential energy. It’s the “that’s all” I have a problem with.

You do know that if you eat out very much at all, you’ll spend a lot more on your food than if you cook the same foods—right? Let’s face it, the hamburger you cook at home is just as good as the one you buy at a fast food place. Choose the less expensive way to satisfy your hunger. A take-out lunch can be taken out of your kitchen when you leave in the morning. (And if you’re concerned about heating your lunch, microwaves are practically omnipresent in student lounges.)

Students who have regular access to a kitchen should plan to cook most of their meals themselves. There are excellent resources online or at the library for recipes and techniques. A good one is Good and Cheap: Eat well on $4/Day by Leanne Brown. $4 a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Think about this when you spend between five to seven dollars on a hamburger, fries, and a drink the next time you go through the drive-thru. Good and Cheap is more than a cookbook; it includes smart shopping tips. By the way here’s a hint: When you make it known you’re going to college, it’s quite possible your family will want to give you gifts. I know money is always welcome, but you could tell them you’d like a good recipe book and some rudimentary cooking equipment. (While you’re asking, it won’t hurt to mention other things you’ll need, like a laptop or notebook computer.)

Some tips

Have a budget and eat at home as much as you can. This means you’ll practice the art of shopping frugally; buy good food that isn’t expensive. Coupons can be helpful. Just remember you save money couponing only when you use to buy what you normally purchase. In other words, if it’s not something you use often, don’t buy it just because it’s on sale.

You can also build a small pantry of things you find on sale and will use in the future. For example: If you often eat mac and cheese, and you find it on sale at a great price, buy more than you usually purchase. The next few times you have mac and cheese on the menu, use what you bought on sale instead of buying more at the regular price. (You can “bank” the bit of money you saved for a future expense; it’s almost free money.)

When you shop, use a shopping list. A shopping list can help you save money. If you stick to it, you won’t buy what you don’t need, and you won’t forget items that would require a return to the store.

Dorm food

Most of the conversation above is more pertinent to students who live off campus. Food plans are available at a price to dormitory residents for meals served in dining halls. I’ve also heard that some colleges have arrangements to include particular meals (or monetary credit) at certain nearby restaurants in their meal plans.

While living on campus a student might be allowed to have—or have access to—a refrigerator and microwave, most dorms do not have real cooking facilities for residents. You have to get creative to save money … Long before I met her, my wife attended Indiana University. Once she enrolled in a summer session. She lived in a dorm room and purchased a meal plan for dinners only. She was on her own for breakfast and lunch, and she didn’t want the cost or inconvenience of going out to eat (especially, breakfast) every day. This was long before microwaves were available. Considered fire hazards, hot plates were not allowed in the rooms but coffeepots were, and she had access to a small refrigerator. So, she took a percolator (a coffeepot that had a lidded, pierced metal basket on a hollow stem for grounds) with her. She stocked the fridge with some perishables and a shelf in her closet with instant coffee, some canned vegetables, peanut butter, sugar etc.

A percolator works by circulating (almost) boiling water up and out the top of the hollow stem to go through the grounds basket, so my wife had decided she could cook with it; she never brewed coffee. Of course, she heated water to make instant coffee. She also used the hot water to heat and dilute condensed soups in a bowl. She cook canned vegetables in the grounds basket and even managed hard cooked eggs. I can’t remember everything she said she’d prepared using the percolator, but I do know seeped oatmeal made up a lot of breakfasts, and PB&J sandwiches were a staple for lunches.

Granted, it was only for about a month that my wife ate that way, but she says she could have done so for quite a while—if she’d needed to. Since the percolator and other few cooking and eating accouterments came from home, her parents figured she’d saved about half of what a full meal plan would have cost. I’d say she had implemented a frugal plan. (Oh, and we used that same percolator the first few years we were married—but we made coffee with it then.)

Conclusion

College student housing and food are two major expenses for students. If you want to graduate debt free, you need to be flexible and innovative with both. When you begin your career without a financial burden—or even one that just considerably less than those your fellow graduates carry—you’ll be glad you made the effort.

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