How To Travel Cheap As A College Student

This was a guest post provided by Elizabeth Cutten. You can find more of her work at FindCollegeCards, a student credit card resource / blog helping students with guides, tips, advice and more.

Being a college student isn't pretty when it comes to money. While many students partake with some part time jobs, after all the bills are paid and done with, there isn't must money left. If you want to take a trip this summer as a college student, I wanted to give out some tips that you should consider if you want to save some serious dough.

#1 Consider student discounts – Some sites such as StudentUniverse allow you to purchase airline tickets at a student rate. While the discounts aren't extravagant, there are times when a college student can take advantage.

#2 Consider travel deal sites – A personal travel deal site of mine is TravelZoo. This site posts the top 20 travel deals for the week, as well as many more deals. What you're going to find is that this is a fantastic place to find last minute deals. For example, a hotel that would normally be $189 a night could be $55 a night with TravelZoo.

#3 Name your own price – Another great service I use when traveling is Priceline. This is a great way to name your own price when you want a hotel, a rental car or even an airline ticket. This is great for college students that want to hit the road and get great deals on hotels. To learn more about this, Priceline has more information on their site.

#4 Couch Surfing – This is very common among people who don't want to really pay for a hotel. Sites such as CouchSurfing.org allow you to find people across the world who are willing to open their homes to have you stay over night. While many don't ask for money, it's always nice to clean up after yourself, or even offer a smaller tip. Also, don't overstay your welcome!

#5 Do you have family? Do you have any family that lives out of the state, or somewhere you want to visit? This is a great way to come in, crash for a few days and take advantage of the sights and sounds. While you don't want to come off as intruding, it's a great way to have a very reasonably priced vacation.

These are all tips that you can follow as a student. You will find that there are so many ways to save when you use the Internet as a resource. Plan ahead, test out these tips and see how you can save!


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