Old Dance for Young Students?

One foot into the recession, or one foot out; getting a college education has become more challenging no matter what your take on the state of our economy.  Amidst financial aid cuts, shrinking savings, and parental layoffs, some students have found resourcefulness and flexibility to be their best ally when dancing the financial ”Hokey Pokey” thru school.

Here are a few of their recommended budget recommendations:

1. Vintage Clothes:  for a cool look without saying a word.
2. Free Stuff:  there are on-campus promotions throughout the semester, shaving gel, soap, food samples, it’s all good.
3. Home Cooked Food:  packing lunches, eating at home, making your own cup of Joe.  I’ve been told that some students have actually become good at cooking making NECESSITY the mother of  TALENT and invention.
4. Dorm Decorating:  shop from garage sales and arrange swaps with your fellow students.
5. Coupons & Specials:  they may take extra time and be a bit tedious, but using coupons and taking advantage of specials is does save money.

A large expense comes in Textbooks.   Just going to the bookstore and buying a second hand book does not guarantee the best deal.  There are a lot of competitive online stores of both New, Used, and Digital textbooks.  Each individual title could have significant price differences depending on the vendor.  If a student took the time to do serious comparison shopping including online vendors, they could stand to save a lot of money.  I saw “save on shipping costs” on the window of a college bookstore.  This is not necessarily true because many online vendors offer free shipping.  Depending on the title, a savvy student could get a new textbook for less than the cost of a used one!

Here’s an example:

Molecular Biology of Aging by Guarantee  (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 1st edition (October 30, 2007)

This textbook can be found at Buy.com for $107.99, free shipping, and when bought as a Tibesti member thru Tibesti.com, Tibesti then pays the student back $3.62 in cash.

Barnes and Noble has been a serious textbook contender this fall, offering this same book for the cover price of $135 but their B&N member’s pay $108, it qualifies for free shipping and if bought thru Tibesti.com as a member, Tibesti pays the student back $6.48 in cash.  Compare this with A1books.com that sell the used copies for $127.50 - and it’s easy to see how just a little extra keyboard work on the internet could go a long way!

Note: the Tibesti Textbook Promo ends Oct. 15th.

Kat Kekona, Tibesti Senior Content Editor