The first step is to never buy your text books before you have either been to the first class and you can see on the syllabus how much you will need each book, or talk to someone who has taken the class with the same professor. I’ve taken classes where you never actually needed some of the books or they were for background reading. If a book is for general info you don’t need to buy it, most likely another one of the books will tell you the same information or the professor will go over the same information in class. If you take good notes and pay attention in class you won’t need that college book. I’ve also had professors who simply listed a college book for students who didn’t want to attend class, so if you attended the classes you wouldn’t need the textbook.

The second step to saving money is to see if the textbook you need is in the school library. The library is the best place to do your homework anyways (I don’t care what people tell you, it is!) so if you only need the book sporadically you can just use the copy in the library.

And finally the final step is to see if you can share a text book with a group of people. I tried to take classes with friends so that we could split the cost of the textbook. This does mean you need to plan out who is doing the homework when, but its sure worth it when you only have to pay $33 as opposed to $100! For finding cheap college books see my second article.

Work Study is a program to help pay for your education by working at part-time jobs on or off campus. There are both Federal Work Study programs and State Work Study programs. Be sure to investigate what is available at the school you are planning to attend.

A Community Service Benefits program is AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps Graduates have seven years to use their education award, and can apply it to any non-defaulted federal student loan.

Financial Assistance for Military Service. There are numerous programs available to military personnel, whether they are active personnel, selective reserve, ROTC or are Veterans. There are also programs available for those that are Air and Army National Guard.

Financial Aid for Specific Populations. If you fit in to any of these populations you may have loans, grants or scholarships that you may be eligible for. Survivors and Dependants of Military Veterans, American Indian Students, Orphaned or Fostered Children, Students who are Deaf or Blind, Dependents and Spouses of Public Safety Officers, Adult Students and even if you are an Undocumented Student.

If you fit into any of these categories, you can click on any of the related links on this page or contact the schools you are considering to attend and see what may be available to you

Many schools have different approaches to how they credit your grants, scholarships, or loans to your account. Then, once you have had them all credited to your account, you will usually have to wait a certain period of time before you will get a refund check, if you have one coming, for your other expenses.

Typically, most schools will wait until the semester’s drop/add date comes before they will begin to disperse any refund money. This date is usually about 2 weeks after the semester starts. Once this date comes a schools Business office will take 1 to 3 weeks to process refund checks. If a student needs money to purchase books, they can get an advance from the business office to use at the school book store.

Because of this delay, it is very important for students to have a good financial plan and some money in the bank when they arrive at school!

If you fall into any of these situations, you need to be aware of the dispersement timeline.

Pell Grants. Pell Grants will be credited to your account 1st Towards Tuition, room and board on the first day of the semester. However, if you are expecting to get some refund money from this grant, funds will not be released until mid semester.

Direct Stafford Loans. 1st time Stafford borrowers will have to wait 30 days from the first day of the semester, to get their funds released and then the 1 to 3 weeks it takes the business office to process a check. After your first semester of borrowing Stafford Loans, your money will be released after the drop/add date.

Parent Plus Loans. This money is typically released on the drop/add date also.

If you are a student who is living on campus and is part of a school meal plan, the dispersement of money should not be a problem for you except for incidental living and travel expenses.

However, if you are living off campus and paying for your own food and need this money for rent and food, you may have a challenge! If you fit in this category, you will need to have some of your own cash to get you started at the beginning of the semester until your refund for living expenses is dispersed. Typically, you should plan on having at least the 1st months expenses on hand to cover your self until you can get your refund check from the college.

For exact dates for release of Grant, Scholarship and Loan money you should contact you schools Financial Aid office.

If you put away $400 per month from age 22 until age 32 you will put away a total of $48,000 over that 10 year period. Over time the stock market averages about 7% per year so if we use that for your baseline you can have roughly $672,000 by the time you reach age 65.

Now consider the cost of waiting: If you don’t start putting away money until age 32 and put away the same $400 per month you would have to continue putting it away until age 65 and still you will only have about $658,000 over the same time period. You end up with less money despite the fact that you contributed $163,000 instead of only $48,000.

Another thing to consider is the type of IRA or Retirement Account you want to setup. The most important thing to review is the IRA Rules and the Roth IRA Rules so you have an understanding of the differences between them. The traditional IRA or 401k allows you to write off the contributions you make therefore reducing your taxes. The Roth IRA contributions are made with after tax money so they do not reduce your tax burden but then the money is taken out tax free at retirement. All money that is withdrawn from a traditional IRA or 401k is considered taxable income so you pay taxes based on your current tax bracket. Most people decide to use a combination of the two types of accounts so they have some tax benefit now and some benefits later. If you don’t need the tax break now, it’s best to do as much in a Roth account as possible.

Regardless of which type of plan you choose to use, the main thing is to start young. That way you take full advantage of the compounding effect over time. As you can see from the example above it’s very costly to wait until you are in your 30′s.

If work study is part of your Financial Aid package, the actual amount will be determined by your financial need. Students that participate in this program can work up to 15 hrs a work and earn up to $3,000 a year that is not counted as income for determining financial need for next year. Your Financial Aid administrator will consider your award amount, your class schedule, job skills and academic program to determine the hors you will work. Be sure and contact your Financial Aid office about this program, this is money that you will not need to ever pay back!!