Unless you’re lucky enough to be a Trustafarian with parents who gift-wrap you money in regular care packages, you’re probably a pretty broke college student. The money you stash away over the summer always seems to evaporate the second you move into your Ohio University apartment for rent. But there are ways to save by just rethinking what you do every day. Here are some hacks to saving money that don’t actually hurt.
Stop Buying Textbooks
The money you could save on textbooks could practically fund a European vacation, seriously. At $100 to $300 a pop, textbooks are a serious racket. In fact, the price of textbooks has risen over 800% since 1978, and publishers have gotten even sneakier about it since then with “new editions” that change three sentences and render your secondhand copy useless.
Rent them instead. Chegg.com and Amazon both offer textbook rentals, and Barnes and Noble does too. You can also find digital versions for your iPad or laptop that cost a fraction of the print price. Better yet, check your library first; Ohio University’s Alden Library keeps copies of many required texts on reserve, and you can borrow them for free. ThriftBooks and AbeBooks are also worth checking for older editions that work just as well for a fraction of the cost. Between all these options, there is genuinely no reason to pay full price for a textbook in 2026.
Make Your Own Coffee
At $6 to $7 a cup for a quality brew at most coffee shops, coffee is an expensive daily habit that sneaks up on you fast. Buy a coffee pot and brew your own. That way, you can still afford the good stuff if you’re a snob about beans, and your kitchen is always serving even at 3 am when you’re pulling an all-nighter before finals. A reusable travel mug helps, too, both for your wallet and for the planet, which could also use a little help right now.
If you’re an espresso person, a cheap milk frother and a stovetop moka pot will get you embarrassingly close to a café latte for about 40 cents a cup. Do the math on what you’re currently spending and then try to unhear it.
Pay Your Rent on Time
Always pay the rent on your Ohio University apartment on time. Most Athens landlords who rent to students have late fee policies baked right into the lease, and those fees are not small. Miss the due date by even a few days, and you’re basically lighting money on fire for no reason.
If you’ve got the cash at the beginning of the semester from a summer job, consider paying a few months ahead if your landlord allows it. One less recurring bill to track means one less thing to forget during a chaotic semester. Set up automatic reminders on your phone, use a budgeting app, or just old-fashioned calendar alerts. Whatever it takes to make sure you never hand your landlord an easy excuse to charge you extra.
Use Student Discounts Aggressively
Your student ID is essentially a discount card that most students forget to use. Amazon Prime is free for six months and then half price for students. Spotify and Apple Music both offer student pricing. Adobe Creative Cloud is heavily discounted. Many Athens restaurants and local businesses offer student deals that never get advertised loudly enough.
Apps like UNiDAYS and Student Beans aggregate student discounts across hundreds of brands, all in one place. Spend ten minutes going through both, and you will find deals on things you’re already buying. Free money, essentially.
Cook at Home More Than You Think You Should
Eating out in Athens is genuinely fun, and the food scene on and around Court Street is worth exploring. But doing it four or five times a week adds up to a number that will genuinely upset you when you look at your monthly spending. Cooking at home for the majority of your meals and treating eating out as a social activity rather than a daily habit is one of the highest-impact money moves you can make as a college student.
Meal prepping on Sundays, even just making a big pot of rice, roasting some vegetables, and grilling some protein —means you always have something to eat without thinking about it, you’re not reaching for DoorDash at 9 pm because there’s nothing in the fridge. Your wallet and your body will both thank you.
Avoid Pets (Seriously)
Pets are cute and all, but they’re a massive money suck. Between food, bedding, toys, vet bills, and the almost-certain pet deposit your landlord will tack onto your lease, pets are essentially furry children with worse table manners. And in 2026, vet costs have gotten genuinely eye-watering for anything beyond a routine checkup. This applies whether you’re renting one of the cozy Ohio University apartments near campus or splitting one of the houses for rent in Athens, Ohio, with a big group of friends; landlords across the board will hit you with that pet deposit without blinking. If you absolutely must have a living creature to care for, get a fish, a hamster, or, honestly, a very convincing plant. They’re cheaper, easier to clean up after, and won’t destroy your security deposit.