It is a known fact that being in college is not cheap and as a student myself, I try to find every way possible to save money. There is something so satisfying about knowing you received the best deal possible.
Since there seems to be an overwhelming amount of apps in the market, I took the liberty of finding the best ones to save college students money and time. These apps will surely make your life as a busy, frugal college student easier and more efficient:
For Anything Dealing with Shopping and Dining
1. Hooked:
Popular on so many college and university campuses across the nation, Hooked provides deals for food and drinks from places in your surrounding area. The deals are updated and cycled out every few hours, so if you don’t see your favorite pizza parlor having a deal, in a few hours the app could have it. All you have to do is download the app for free and when a deal catches your eye, go to the place of the deal, “hook” the coupon and show it during checkout. So simple! Local eateries are often on the app as well as popular chains such as McDonalds, Chick-Fil-A, Smoothie King, and more.
2. Pocket Points:
This mobile app gives students rewards for not using their phones during class. With Pocket Points, you can get great deals and focus more in class! All you have to do is find your campus on the app, lock your phone while you are in class, and gain points. Once you earn enough points, you can redeem those points in local shops, online businesses, and popular places around you. The app provides awesome discounts, coupons, and free gifts from places like Domino’s Pizza, ASOS, Panda Express, and so many more chain and local places.
For Anything Dealing with Education
3. Wifi Finder:
Sometimes you just cannot afford to keep using up data on your phone or you are in desperate need of Wifi to finish your online quiz. While most campuses provide free Wifi for their students, Wifi Finder will scan for Wifi hotspots nearby and tell you which signal is the strongest. Wifi Finder works worldwide and provides you with directions to the hotspot. You can also filter your location searches by coffee shops, hotels, and libraries. The best feature of this app though is that it works both offline and online.
4. GroupMe:
Perfect for group projects or messaging people on an online server as opposed to using your data. GroupMe allows you to customize your group messages more than average text messaging. I love using this app for school organizations and class projects. It’s a great way to communicate without taking up storage on your phone with a ton of text messages, and the app is perfect for those huge college classes of over 200 people. Those mega group chats are great for asking questions about homework or creating study groups for tests. I mean, we are in college for a reason right?
5. iFlipd:
Textbooks cost a lot of money…like a lot. iFlipd does not have an app for your mobile phone anymore, but I thought I had to include it since the idea is so genius. You can access iFlipd as a website to rent textbooks. Just sign up and rent the books you need by weeks instead of by semester. Also, iFlipd provides you with rewards every time you rent. Another amazing feature is that you can rent specific chapters of the book. So if you have a test covering only a few chapters, you could rent out those particular chapters for whatever time you need.
For Anything Dealing with Entertainment
6. Netflix:
Everyone and their mother have heard of Netflix. The Netflix app has become a staple is so many people’s households. Especially in college, the convenience of Netflix over cable is really appealing. What I would recommend is getting the Premium Plan for $11.99 a month. With this plan you can watch up to four separate screens at the same time. Now split the cost between a few friends or roommates and you’ve got yourself unlimited streaming from Netflix for about $3 a month. How chill is that?
7. Bandsintown:
This app doesn’t necessarily save money. But Bandsintown does provide a free way of syncing your Google Play, iTunes, Pandora, and Spotify accounts to it so that you can be notified when an artist you listen to is in your area. The app can notify you when the artists announce their tour, presale opens, and when tickets go on sale. The app will also suggest musicians to you it thinks you would enjoy based on your synced music collection. It’s a great way to keep track of your favorite bands, discover new music, and finding tickets so they don’t ever sell out.
For Anything Miscellaneous
8. Mint:
Mint is basically your personal accountant, life-planner, and financial advisor all wrapped into one little mobile app. You can create your own budget and track your money transactions. College students need to learn how to manage money more than anyone, and this app makes it quick and simple. Mint gives tips to help with your financial planning. It teaches you how to improve your credit score and calculates your free score (and if you don’t know what a credit score is, Mint can help with that too).
9. Venmo:
I can’t even remember how I survived without Venmo. This app either links your bank account or credit card so you can easily pay or get paid with anyone else who has a Venmo account. It is a completely safe way to pay your roommate back for that midnight nugget run. The digital wallet deposits the money directly into the person’s account. This has also make splitting bills so much quicker. Seriously, get Venmo.
10. GasBuddy:
This app has saved me quite a bit of money. GasBuddy scans where you are and shows you gas stations nearby, listing them either my distance to you or by price. The app makes finding the cheapest gas so simple. Each entry is timestamped so you know when the prices were last updated. It also provides the average price of gas in your area for comparison. You can even filter your search for regular, midgrade, premium, and diesel gas.
By using all of these apps, we’ll be really well off when we’re older…
Cheesy, I know. *Wink*
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