How To Save A LOT Of Money In College

What's up, guys? It's Graham here. So I took a look at my YouTube analytics the other day, and it turns out that a very large percentage of my audience, nearly 80%, is between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. I know from that a big part of the demographic is either currently going to college or is thinking about going to college.

In fact, a study found that 40% of working millennials had a college degree, and that was higher than pretty much any other generation. But do you know what else is higher than any other generation? And no, it's not Snoop Dog; it is student loan debt. And yeah, it's pretty scary. It was found that in 2018, 69 percent of college graduates took out student loans with an average debt of $29,800. With only half of millennial college graduates believing that the lifetime value of a college degree is actually worth the cost, it's not surprising why we should be talking about ways to bring the cost down and save as much money of that as possible.

Here's the reality: Even though college might not be for everyone and the cost of getting a degree is skyrocketing through the roof, that doesn't mean that it necessarily has to be as expensive as you think. There are ways to save money on getting a degree if you're simply willing to follow the steps here in this video. So let's talk about the best ways to save money in college. Whether you're currently going or wanting to go in the near future, I guarantee that this video will apply to you. Just watching it until the very end could end up saving you a lot of money in your future.

Like, seriously, just watching a 12-minute YouTube video could end up saving you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in the future, as long as you just make it to the end. And make sure to turn that like button blue for the YouTube algorithm.

So with that said, let's get into the video. Now the first way to save money on your college degree is by choosing your school very wisely. As we all know, every college is going to be a different experience with a different focus and a different cost. Just go and look at the numbers because the average price for a private four-year college is nearly three and a half times higher than that of a four-year in-state school. If you're wondering why that is, then here's your answer: Public state schools are funded by the tax dollars of the state, which then goes and subsidizes the cost of tuition.

This is also why tuition costs are a lot cheaper for in-state students than it is for out-of-state students. Private schools, on the other hand, are not publicly funded by the government and rely on donors and private individuals to pay for it. Hence, the cost isn't subsidized, and you have to foot the bill for that, not the taxpayers. Even then, the true cost of getting a college degree doesn't end there. There might be additional costs associated with living and moving expenses and also a higher cost of living depending on the area and other extracurricular activities like beer pong.

But maybe now you're thinking, "Well, if I go to an Ivy League school and spend a little bit more money, that would make a difference, and that's gonna be worth the extra cost." But if you think this way, then statistically speaking, you're wrong. See, two studies were completed in 1999 and again in 2011, which followed the academic pursuits and income of Ivy League graduates and non-Ivy League graduates. Their findings, honestly, were pretty surprising.

Now here was the study: They tracked the earnings of students from Ivy League schools or schools of similar caliber and then tracked the earnings of those who were admitted to those schools but instead chose to go to a less prestigious school. Now, if the Ivy League degree really mattered, then that should be evident in the salaries after graduation. But what was actually found was that the Ivy League degree made no difference whatsoever in the salaries of its graduates versus the salaries of non-graduates who were still admitted.

The finding really just suggests that it's the individual attributes of the student that really matter the most and not which place they got their degree from, and also not from the social networking capital of going to an Ivy League school. Given all of that, it's really important that you focus instead on the type of education you want and the experience that you want, not necessarily going to the most expensive school because you feel like that's gonna be your best chance at making a lot of money.

The second way you could end up saving a lot of money in college is by attending a two-year community college first. This is one of those choices I feel like is so underrated and so underappreciated, and I'm so surprised that more people aren't going this route because it just makes so much sense. Now, why is the cost of attending a two-year community college really just over $3,300 a year? That's one-third of the cost of attending a four-year state school and one-tenth of the cost of attending a private university. That's a massive savings right off the bat just for getting the first two years of your college degree out of the way.

Here's why this just makes sense: The first two years of your college experience are really just going to be general education classes anyway: English, science, history, math, smashing the like button, 100, yada yada yada. So really, given that there's not much difference of information between schools in the first two years, you may as well just save the extra money and spend a little bit less by going to a community college. That way, you have the money saved and can spend more money where it does matter in terms of learning the information that's going to be pertinent to your future.

Not only that, but I personally believe that for most people, picking a college degree and picking a major, and picking a potentially lifelong career at 18 years old right out of high school, is just irresponsible. At a young age, it's almost impossible to predict what you want to do with your life and if you go to college, what major you want to study. Chances are, things are gonna change, adapt, and evolve over time, so there's really no sense in tying yourself down to a specific school early on if things change and you want to just attend somewhere else.

A community college, on the other hand, will give you those extra two years just to get the general education classes out of the way. By the time you have a more well-rounded view of your career path, you'll be able to better pick a school that is better suited to your own needs and goals. In addition to that, community colleges also tend to offer you a more flexible schedule, including night classes and online classes, which means you're gonna have more time left over to gain more work experience, save more money, watch more YouTube videos, and smash more like buttons.

Finally, it was found that community college graduates who later transfer to a four-year university are more likely to graduate than those who are admitted from high school or those who transferred from other four-year universities. So this all bodes really well for going to a community college first, not only in terms of cost but also in terms of being able to work while still going to school and also later transferring and graduating from a four-year university.

Number three, while you're actually in college, no matter where you attend, I think it's really important that you use what you have, and that's by spending your time and not your money. Now here's what I mean: As a college student, chances are you don't have an abundance of money just pouring from the sky, but you do have your time to use instead. One could argue that that’s the greatest capital to use.

Instead of spending your money going out to eat, spend your time to cook food at home. Or instead of spending your money on a car, spend a little bit more time walking, biking, or taking public transportation to get to where you want to go. Instead of spending money on textbooks, spend your time sharing those textbooks with classmates instead. Or instead of going out on weekends and spending a lot of money, spend your time putting something together at home instead. You get the idea.

You could absolutely choose to invest your time wisely and save the money you do have. Otherwise, get the same experience for a fraction of the cost, even if that means using your time to find and apply for more scholarships, which could also bring down the cost of your schooling. Really begin to see your time as having value and begin using it now. Go and cook food in bulk at home. You'll invest in time upfront, but you're gonna have cheap, healthy food to eat throughout the entire week.

Go and look through all the free activities your college has to offer, preferably the ones with free food, by the way, and then go attend. You could end up getting a lot of great networking and meet some great connections all without spending any money and, also of course, getting some free food. So I really believe right now time is the greatest resource that you have, and it's so important you see your time as having just as much value as having money because it is.

Another huge component of the cost of college isn't the cost of education itself but also the cost of your living situation, and moving off-campus could prove to save you a lot of money. It was found that from 2017 to 2018, students spent an average of $10,800 per year for room and board at public four-year institutions, and that amount jumps to over $12,200 for private four-year colleges and universities. That's almost a thousand dollars a month that just goes to housing, not including the cost of tuition, books, transportation, food, and everything else that goes along with that.

So you could see how these all add up very quickly and get very expensive. For those reasons, if you're looking to cut down on these costs dramatically, then it might be worth it at first to potentially live at home with your family just a little bit longer. Sure, it might not be as glamorous as being able to live on the college campus, but if you're going to live at home with your family for the sake of saving money, now is the time to probably still do it while it's still socially acceptable.

Even from my own personal perspective, I've seen a lot of my friends live at home during and even after college, and those few years of being able to live at home and save all that money could set them up dramatically in terms of their financial future. Like, seriously, just being able to save $20,000 by the time you graduate college just by living at home is potentially worth about $261,000 by the age of 60 if you invest that money at a 7% return.

To me, I would much rather have an extra $250,000 in retirement than I would living on campus for an extra two years, but you know what? That's just me. But anyway, if living at home is not an option for you, then it might be worth it to look into living off-campus, which could still be significantly cheaper than living on campus or living in the dorms. You could look at living with roommates, and instead of spending $1,000 a month for a bed in a dorm, you could spend $500 a room for a four-bedroom house and cut down on your costs by like 50%.

You could still get the same college experience as though you're living in the dorms, except you could get that for 50% less. Fifth, as we all know, college would not be college without ridiculously high textbook costs. That means there's another way to save money to start. The College Board found that the average cost of textbooks from 2018 to 2019 was almost $1,300, which is insane.

Now, some colleges know that students will do whatever it takes to save money on textbooks. To get their money, they've implemented online codes into their books to ensure that each student has to buy their own copy for really no other reason than that they want to make a lot of money and that they're evil. But for those that don't have online codes, then here are some ways that you could cut down and save a little bit of money.

First, try searching Google for a free PDF of your book. All you got to do is type in the title of the book you're looking for with file type PDF at the very back, and that should bring up any applicable search results with what you're looking for. Surprisingly, this is also how you could get many books entirely for free, not just textbooks. So if there's a book that you've been planning to read and you just haven't gotten around to buying it yet, then go and search Google for it, and it might already be up there.

Now secondly, if you can't find it on Google, then you might also want to try Amazon or Chegg. They're both really good resources in which you could buy or rent your textbooks for much cheaper than what the university might be charging you. And as we all know, if you purchase an online book of something, it'll be searchable, so you can go and find keywords much faster than by using a physical textbook.

The third option: Talk with your professor and see if the book is actually required to have for the class. I've been told that waiting a week before buying any textbooks could end up saving you a lot of money because oftentimes the book is not even required or used in the class at all. Ratemyprofessor.com might be another great resource to use to look up the past experiences of other students before you.

Fourth, talk with other students to see if you might be able to share the cost of textbooks or be able to work out an agreement where you guys lend each other some materials. Or if you already found a PDF of the book online, go and share that. If you already have the textbook, go and share that with someone else. I really believe that everyone should help each other out and give as much as they receive in return. This type of collaboration could end up saving you a lot of money, and you could also make some great friends and connections in the process.

Now, sixth, I might get some hate on this one, but I believe if you're financially responsible and you have some self-control and you're gonna be paying for college anyway, then you may as well just get credit card signup bonuses so that that way you can redeem those for free travel rewards and perks for otherwise something you wouldn't get anything for. Well obviously, you should never do this if you don't know how to properly handle a credit card and you just see it as getting free money, because you could afford to make the minimum monthly payment.

But for everyone else, getting credit card points could be a very easy way to get free travel, free perks, and free rewards for money you would just be spending anyway. This is pretty much just the practice of opening up a credit card with a great sign-up bonus, meeting the minimum spending requirements, you get the points, and then you could repeat this with other credit cards.

Doing this while you're in college is really a perfect time to do this because the temporary hit to your credit score isn't really going to matter anyway unless, of course, you're in the process of buying a house or getting an auto loan. But long-term, doing all of this is going to further diversify your credit history and further strengthen your score. For instance, right now you can find a link to get the American Express Gold Card, which will give you 50,000 points when you spend $2,000 in the first three months.

That means that if you put all your textbook costs and college costs on the credit card, you would be able to redeem those 50,000 points for two free round-trip plane tickets anywhere in North America when you redeem that through Aeroplan. The same thing also applies with a variety of other credit cards out there. I'm just gonna link to a few down below in the description. Of course, I have to warn you: You must use your credit responsibly, and this is not for the person who just spends money on a whim without even thinking about it.

You must only spend money that you could afford to pay off immediately in cash, and you have to treat the credit card as though it's an extension of your bank account. But if you can do it all responsibly, then you may as well just rack up a ton of free travel and free perks and free bonuses for money you would just be spending anyway.

Lastly, let me just say, if at all possible, try to avoid taking out any student loans. Even if it means going to a two-year community college while living at home and then transferring to a four-year state school and living with roommates, just not having the burden of student loans by the time you graduate will be worth a tremendous amount of money in the future. Not only will you have more cash flow leftover to save and invest once you graduate, but you're gonna be decades ahead of the other person who graduates with $30,000 in student loan debt and pays 5% in interest payments until the entire thing is paid off.

Your choices right now about college will easily impact the next decade of your life. So if you're thinking about going to college, really consider all the ways that you could save money and which colleges are going to be the best value for the time that you spend. So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it. As always, if you guys enjoy my videos like this, make sure to subscribe.

Also, feel free to add me on Instagram; I post there pretty much daily. So if you want to be a part of it, there, feel free to add me there. Also, make sure to add me on my second channel. It is called The Graham Steppin Show; I post there every single day that I'm not posting on this channel here. So that means if you want to see a brand new video from me every single day, feel free to add me on that channel as well.

And then one little tidbit for those who made it to the very end—I haven't really done this before, but we're gonna do it today. For the first 10 people who are interested in my program, the YouTube Creator Academy, it teaches you how to grow on YouTube and turn it into a business and learn the YouTube algorithm so that your videos get pushed. If you guys are interested in that, the first 10 people will get $200 off using this code right here. 10 people, $200 off. There you go!

If you want to use it, great! If not, that's totally fine too. And as always, with something like this, full refund in the first 30 days if for whatever reason you're not happy with it. You just got to let me know within 30 days—that's all I ask. But I would hope that you would be happy with it, obviously. So anyway, with that said, thank you so much for watching, and until next time!