In addition to expensive tuition and rent, students need to take into account of other miscellaneous expenses such as text books and study material (software, additional paid tests). School does provide the estimation of the expenses, which can be managed in afford way.

Textbooks

The sooner you get the information on required textbooks, the better it is because you don’t want to spend more than a hundred bucks on textbook and shipping. Once you have the information then you need to search the book online to find the best deals. There are a bunch of website that compare all the textbooks price for you like BookFinder, Textsurf, Cheapesttexbooks, etc. I’d prefer to rent the book rather than bought because of weigh and other expenses when you hold on to it. It is quite daunting to manage, especially when you have to move around often.

Another option is to take advantage of Amazon Prime for student, which is free for the first six months and then it will be $49/year. To register for Amazon Student Prime, you need a school email address to register for it. Unfortunately, community colleges don’t provide their students with school email address like at university/college. I suggest you to talk with them, if they can wave the process and let you join the program. After that, you can just keep renewing your Prime account with a verification from Amazon, which can be found in account setting. All you need to do is to reply them and you are good to go.

Since most schools in the US run on semester system, book rental often offer in semester but there is flexibility for 30 days, 90 days and more. There is might be an option for free shipping or $3.99 for shipping. It is better to know your textbooks so that you can prepare accordingly.

Another way to get around it is to look for PDF file, which might be available on the web for free. You can also ask your classmates if they have the PDF version, you never know. My experience is that Chinese students, they can get textbooks in PDF easily.

Study Material

Some classes require a certain material specifically for that class. Student normally finds out during the first of class. Not all of them worth your dollar because once you are done with the class, it will sit around for nothing. I suggest to get study material information as much as possible and then get the one is needed now. There is a chance that class will run behind intend program because of public holiday, last minute class cancelation and so on.

In addition to that, you can a cheap notebooks, pens, kitchen supplies and so forth at Diaso Japan. It is cheap Japanese chain store for daily products for $1.5 for most items. Although, the quality is not as good as those at Targets or other store, it is good enough to go by for a year or two. Another option is Marshall and Ross for Less store, these stores have a lot of stuff at a discount up to 50% or more. It is another place to grab for furniture, clothes and much more.

Software requirement like Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Office can be bought at a cheaper price at CollegeBuy. It is cheaper than buying on the Adobe or Microsoft website, which they do have a deal for students but at a slight higher price. Students need to fill out some information regarding their school location. Students need to a copy of receipt or unofficial transcript with student information for verification. The process is less than a day to get the promotional code.