By Fae Cheska Esperas

Money is always a problem for many college students. They have to pay for tuition, dorm fees, computer needs, and spend for a social life.

If you are a college student who has to deal with scarce resources, here are some ways on how you can effectively stretch out your school dollar:

Cook food in your dorm room. Preparing your meals in your dorm room can save you almost half of your daily allowance since you don’t have to go somewhere else to have lunch or dinner. Include dorm-cook meals in your weekly grocery trip so you don’t have to worry about what to cook during the next few days.

Get a car pool. Are you saving on gas? Then tag your friends along and get a car pool instead. You not only save money on transportation costs, you get to bond with your college buddies as well.

Financial aid packages are made available to provide for your allowance. They’re just a click away.

Settle for second-hand books. Second-hand books contain the same lessons as the new copies, right? Then it’s more practical to buy second-hand books because they are cheaper. And since they’ve already been used, chances are that you may find notes and highlights important in your own course of study.

Make it a habit to save. Place a piggy bank near your bed and drop all your coins in it before you sleep. You may not notice it but your quarters have already reached a big sum by the end of the semester!

These simple tips can save you from falling into student debt, so why not give them a try? You can also try applying for student loans and scholarships to pay for your bigger bills. More scholarship grants and other financial aid packages have also become available to help college students meet their needs.