There are tons of ways and variations of how to cut costs that it's kinda hard to just have one-for-all guide. It depends entirely on the individuals. Your priorities, occupation, income, location, responsibilities, hobbies, etc, everything can be done more frugally. It also depends on how much convenience/time/pleasure you're willing to give up to reduce your expenses.
I know this is blasphemy to recommend reddit in lemmyverse but the community there is so much more active (reddit . com / r / frugal) than what it is right now in lemmy. Here are some of the most recent posts about living frugal as college student:
Most of them recommend being frugal on food & drinks and I agree. If it's too overwhelming read, basically these are the skills I would recommend:
- Collecting coupons/food stamps/meal promo, etc. Depends on your region.
- Buy groceries and cook (I absolutely recommend to have rice cooker to make rice; rice is cheap and goes well with a lot of stuff)
- Weekly mealprep (Needs fridge and at least 7 lunchboxes)
- Only drink water, no sugary beverages or alcohol (coffee and tea are acceptable). Your future self will be thankful.
- Practice clear boundaries. Peer-pressure is strong in college, your classmates/friends will invite you to do stuff, you can decline or accept as long as you know your boundaries well. The reaction of your peers to your boundaries will let you know which are the good bunch.
Other things to do:
- Save a lot of money finding PDF equivalent of your textbook. If you prefer physical book, print and bind them.
- Graduate on time.
- Actively participate in college life. It will be useful after you graduate.