Without a doubt, college is expensive. Students (and some parents) are investing all they can to earn an education.
Grand Rapids Community College is no different, while it may be less expensive than a four-year university, it still costs a small fortune when you add in the cost of textbooks, parking and food. There are many ways for students to save money during their time at GRCC.
Food:
Most college students, like most human beings, love to eat. There are a vast array of restaurants and food spots around GRCC, the best way to save money throughout the school year is to avoid eating out and bring your own food from home. Or, limit your food purchasing to once, maybe twice a week.
Activities:
There are a multitude of activities that are free or discounted for GRCC students with their student ID. The libraries (GRCC and Grand Rapids Public) are great places to learn, read and study. The Grand Rapids Public Museum offers discounted tickets to students, as well as most movie theaters. (Good luck with concessions, however).
One of the most basic but necessary tactics to save money is to save income and budget every month is to know how much you are spending per month and where you can eliminate or reduce costs as needed.
Parking:
Another bank breaker is parking, paying $3.50 per exit sounds incredibly inexpensive, but that is PER EXIT. If you leave two times in one day, that is a full $7 in parking. Multiply that by four days in a week, and there goes $28 dollars in parking alone. Carpooling, walking or biking are money savers. Just make sure you leave plenty of time before your class starts. There is a locked bike corral that can only be accessed with Raider Card (All entrants to the corral are tracked). The Rapid also runs a shuttle to-and-from Sneden Hall from Main Campus for free, and offer a variety of bus passes for GRCC students. A little extra time biking or walking can and will save big time dollars in the long run.
Textbooks:
Costs of textbooks have been in question for years and have skyrocketed in recent years. After making sure you actually NEED the book for the class, renting books at the GRCC Bookstore (not all are available to rent, be warned) or buying or renting on Amazon (or other online stores) are a great way to save money on books, and if you rent, you do not have to keep those bulky textbooks that you will never use again. If you decide to not purchase textbooks, the GRCC Library have a vast collection of textbooks on reserve free of charge for you to use, make sure to double check that your book is available on the GRCC Library website.
