College Freebies

ActuallyFree.com was started by a college student who was looking to reduce expenses while on a college budget. The more college freebies he could find the more it helped is monthly expenses. Now this information is available to you. The entire website will help whether you’re a college student or not, but this page is dedicated as portal to discover freebies that are only accessible to college students. More information will be added as it is discovered. If you have information that could be added to this page, please let us know.

This entire site is dedicated to helping individuals get free stuff and save their personal budget. Much of what applies to individuals and families who are not in college will also apply to college students. Yet, college students find themselves in a very flexible position since they have full control over their schedule and their living situation without anything to tie them down. They are young enough, creative enough, and sometimes hungry enough to try many of the freebie strategies described on this site.

Common expenses for college students include tuition, books, housing, food, entertainment, clothes, computer and other expenses.

Free Money

If you can get free money, you can use it to pay for anything. A few really easy ways to get free money include bank bonuses, donating plasma, and book scouting. See Free Money for other ideas.

Beyond getting free money, it will also help your budget to learn to good financial habits and generally try spending less or living within your means.

Learn how to be good with finances. They don’t teach this enough in school at any level. Budget your money and stick to your budget. Don’t use a credit card for anything, unless you’re taking advantage of a rewards program and you have the money in the bank to pay off the credit card immediately.

Look for ways to save. Compare all the costs of having a car with public transportation. Buy CDs cheap from eBay and Craigslist and then rip them into MP3s and iTunes. Instead of paying $1 or so for each song online, you can pay $2-$3 for an entire CD. That comes out to about 20 cents per song. See if the library has your text books. Textbooks can cost anywhere from $50-$500 a semester. Imagine not having that expense at all. If the library has your text books then you can do all your studying there without having to pay anything. See if the library has subscriptions to journals and magazines you could use for research. Then you wouldn’t have to pay it yourself.

Free Tuition

If you can forego the credit, there are many resources online and offline where you can get a free education. See Free Classes from Local Businesses, Web Freebies: Free Education.

If you’re reading this page far enough in advance, then you can save for college with a tax-free 529 college plan. Some Rewards Programs will deposit earned rewards into your 529.

For free tuition and college credit, you’ll need scholarships. See Educational Scholarships and Scholarship Directory. Not all scholarships are academic or sports related. You’d be surprised what’s available.

Find tuition-free colleges. Some tuition-free colleges are supported by a new “promise programs”. Some are work-study programs.

Do whatever you can to avoid college debt. If you have to pay for college then you can at least avoid paying tuition plus life-long interest.

Free Textbooks

See if your school library has a copy of your textbook. You’ll have to strategically plan your study schedule during library hours since they sometimes only offer textbooks on reserve, but this might be better for your night life anyway.

You may be able to find a local public library with your textbook.

Find friends in your major or minor who have already taken the classes and ask if you can borrow their book. You might plan to buy books for some classes and have a friend buy for others and then share with each other.

Ask your professor if you can use an older edition of the textbook. If you can use an older edition without compromising your grade then it will be easier to find text books for free or as little as a few dollars on eBay, online bookstores, and classified ads. You may also be able to check out the older edition from the library instead of having to read it on reserve.

Another economic option, which is not actually free, is to rent your textbooks.

See also Free Ebooks: Textbooks

Other Free Books

There are many ways to get free books. The strategies listed here are for getting books that aren’t necessarily textbooks and that may be required reading for some classes.

Check out books from a local public library.

Digital Libraries – You may find your school library and local library don’t have a hard copy of the book, however they may have online digital libraries where you can “check out” the book. These online libraries usually require a free software download and then you can download the book file with a time limit. These types of files expire at around 15-30 days.

If the book is in the public domain (i.e. the copyright is expired) then you can find it for free download at Google Books, Gutenburg.org and a number of other places online.

See also Web Freebies: Free Ebooks Online.

Other related pages include Book Scouting, Classifieds, Sites Like Freecycle, Trade & Barter, and any other strategy listed on this site that you might get lucky with.

Free Computer & Free Internet

Most schools offer free computer access in the library and multiple computer labs on campus. It is possible to get by using only these computers. However, you must be very strategic in planning your studying. Once the library and computer labs are closed, you won’t be able to do any “last-minute” editing or printing of an essay due the next day.

One of the best ways to get a free computer, and learn about computers, is to volunteer for a non-profit computer repair, refurbishing and redistribution organization. These non-profits will usually teach you how to build and repair computers and after a certain number of volunteer hours, they’ll give you a computer for free.

Some schools offer free printing, some don’t. If you rely on the school resources, you run the risk of not being able to do any last-minute fixes at 3 am when you realized the project was due the next day. You may be able to get your own free printer from the same resources where you get a free computer, but even if you can’t, a low-end printer is not usually expensive. However, the paper and ink refills can be.

See also Free Computer and Free Internet.

Free Software

See Free Software and Web Freebies: Free Software.

As a student, you can buy commercial software for a discount. This is not actually free, but the discounts are usually very substantial. Some discounts could be as much as $400 or more depending on the software package. Your school bookstore may have student-pricing contracts with companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Adobe. Websites like JourneyEd.com also offer discounts for students.

Free Housing

Get a job as a resident assistant (RA) and basically become an apartment manager in student dorms.

Get a job as a live-in nanny or care giver. This is another flexible way to cover housing and still have time to study. Some of these jobs only require that you be on call in case of emergencies. However, others are a little more involved. This is an excellent free housing option for students who want to go into health care.

Become the landlord; let your tenants buy your house for you. A lot of college students don’t even consider this option because the thought of buying a home is way down the road. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it could be easier to buy a home when you don’t have student debt affecting whether you qualify for a home-owner loan.

Go to a local school and live at home. This is not as fun, but it is free.

See also Free Housing.

Free Food

Go to all the campus events, club meetings, church activities and community events for free food.

Start or join a dinner group. You cook dinner for one night for a group of people and then you get several nights of dinner for free, all different meals. And you can make friends in the process. (Not actually free, but still a lot of fun and its cheaper).

See also Free Food for many more ideas.

Free Entertainment, Free Things To Do

There are multiple things to do for free, especially if you’re creative. See Free Things To Do, Local Freebie Scavenger Hunt, and Local Freebies. If you discover any local freebies, please let us know.

Check your school’s calendar for free movies, theatrical presentations, concerts, admission to museums, garden exhibits, and other events.

Check with your local public library for free book, movie and music rentals, as well as culture passes (free admission to museums), free workshops and movie viewings.

Free Transportation

Walking and bike riding are two methods of free transportation. These are mostly only practical in short distances and in good weather. You could possibly get a free bike on Craigslist.

See Free Car and Free Transportation.

Other Expenses

See the following pages for additional freebies that could apply to college: Free Clothes, Free Furniture, Library Freebies.

School supplies are commonly offered for Free After Rebate and as Free Samples. The Coupons page may also be helpful.
See Free Samples: Office, Free Samples: Students.

College students may also like Free Music, Free Video Games and Free Movies.