107 Free and Cheap Things to do as a College Student!

Table of Contents

When I finished paying off my student loans in 2016, I had crushed a total of $30,000 dollars in student loan debt.

That was A LOT of money to pay and it took me 40 months to do it. I scratched and clawed until every cent was paid back. It sucked. But part of the reason why I had to pay all of that back was because I borrowed too much and spent too much money while I was in college. I wasn’t frugal and I didn’t care about things being cheap or free.

But you’re different.

This list that I’ve put together has 107 of the best free and cheap things to do while you’re in college. It’s the list I wish I would’ve had. But I didn’t. I spent too much back in the day. But you don’t have to. Use this list to have almost unlimited fun on a tight budget.

But first, here are three reasons why it’s important to find free and cheap things to do in college.

Why it’s important to find free and cheap things to do in college

1. college is expensive enough

I mean, seriously. The price of college is going through the roof these days. Most public, state colleges are approaching $25,000 dollars per year if you stay there and attend full-time. So that means people are going to either be paying A LOT of money or borrowing A LOT of money.

So do yourself a favor. Find free or cheap things to do so that you can put any extra money you have into tuition.

2. you’re broke

You’re in college so you’re probably pretty broke. Don’t cause yourself any more stress by overspending and/or borrowing money to have fun. Just live like a “broke college student” because you ARE a broke college student.

3. you want to graduate debt free

If you can swing it, you want to graduate college completely debt free. I highly encourage you to live on as little as possible so that you can take any and all extra money and put it toward your future college expenses. If you live on nothing and pay your way through school, you’ll be insanely glad you did that once you graduate with little or no student loan debt.

It will also give you a financial advantage over millions of other people who graduate with crippling amounts of student loan debt.

If you’d like to learn more about how to graduate college debt free, check out the following 3 posts below ⬇️:

“How to Go to College 100% Debt Free in 17 Easy Steps”

“37 Ways to Save Money for College (Tips for Kids and Parents)”

“127 Simple Ways to Save Money as a Broke College Student!”

107 free and cheap things to do as a college student

Free

1. Go to the Rec center/gym: the campus recreation center can be a fantastic way to spend your time because it’s fun, healthy, and free (you pay tuition so you might as well use it)!

2. Midnight workout or swim in the Rec center: if you’re bored at night and don’t have a ton of classes in the morning, check to see if your recreation center is open for a midnight workout. Hey, it’s free, right?

3. Running: not only is running incredibly good for your health, but it’s also good for your wallet. As long as you have a pair of sneakers, jump out the front door of your dorm and start running.

4. Start a running plan for a race: there are thousands of resources and programs online that can show you how to plan for a 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon, or ultra-marathon. You have to put the time and effort in, but it won’t usually cost you anything.

5. Run a themed 5K: themed 5K races can be good for you and insanely fun to boot. Whether you do a run for cancer or a color run, find one in your college town to sign up for. Google “color run (your city and state)” for more.

6. Go hiking: I love hiking. There are hundreds of trails in every state and it’s almost always free to do. However, I would suggest having good pair of sport hiking boots if you hike a lot.

7. Go camping: camping can be fun and free. But you will need a tent. Family or friends could probably let you borrow one or you can grab a super cheap one at Walmart.

8. Visit the dining hall and try a new dish: I know there are some things that you’ve never tried before. So visit the local dining hall and grab something new, like an international-inspired dish or whatever catches your eye. Anything at the dining hall is most likely going to be free with cost of tuition and meal plan.

9. Library: the campus library is going to be a treasure trove for a broke college student. Free books, movies, resources, and sometimes games can be borrowed here. You pay tuition so take advantage of everything they offer!

10. Read a book: sitting down with a good book can be entertaining and free (hint: the campus library is full of them).

11. Binge watch a show: almost everyone and their family has some kind of streaming service like Netflix, Hulu, Paramount Plus, HBO, Peacock, or Prime Video. So use what you’ve got and find a show to binge. You might be paying a small monthly fee, but almost everything is free once you have one of those services.

12. Listen to music or an ebook: if you have a streaming service or can stand to keep the YouTube app open, listening to music is always a free/cheap option. You can also sometimes get free audiobooks at your campus or local library.

13. Learn a new language: learning a new language these days is easier than ever. You can find tons of free books in the library, thousands of articles and post resources online, or you can just download Duolingo like I did. It’s free and is a brilliant language-learning app.

14. Write out a list of goals: goals can help you become insanely successful in life. Depending on how detailed you are, goals can be set and achieved in as little as a week or two on up to decades or more. I set goals every single year and try to at least make progress toward them. Check out #32 for more.

If you’d like to learn more about goals, check out this post – “How to Make More Realistic Financial Goals This Year.”

15. Create your ten-year plan: this can be similar to setting goals, but can be things you wish to do career-wise or goal-wise over the next decade of your life. Start dreaming and get going on your ten-year plan.

16. Call your family: I know you may be off on your own at college, but that doesn’t mean you don’t miss your family. It’s completely okay to take some time and call your family to catch up (and tell them how college is going)!

17. Call some old friends: if you’ve got some free time, call a few old high school buddies to keep in touch.

18. Visit home: instead of calling friends and family, why not take a quick trip back home? Sometimes you need to put schoolwork aside for the weekend and recharge. Friends and family can help you do that.

19. Spend the holidays with your roommates family: you can also try something different and hang out with roommates family during a holiday break. Obviously make sure you’re invited, though!

20. Learn how to budget: learning how to budget your money might not be the most fun thing you do in college, but it can help you to get a handle on your personal finances. If you learn how to budget properly in college, you’re almost guaranteed to do well with money once you step into the real world.

If you’d to learn more about budgeting, check out this post – “7 Ways a Zero-Based Budget is the Best Budget for Your Money.”

21. Learn about personal finance: learning and understanding personal finance is extremely important in your life. So why not spend some of your free time in college researching and learning all about personal finance. It might be tough at first, but once you get it, you’ll be hooked. I love personal finance these days (yes, I have a whole blog about it). You might love it, too!

22. Make a college financial plan: a college financial plan can be a brilliant and free way to pass the time. A college financial plan is simply a plan that you make for how you’re going to pay for college.

First, make a “Total Cost Estimate.” This is approximately how much you’re going to pay for college each year and in total. If your total cost of everything is $18,400 in year 1, $19,300 in year 2, $20,800 in year 3, and $21,500 in year 4, your total for all 4 years is $80,000 dollars.

Next, your financial plan is exactly HOW you’re going to pay for it all – how much you have in scholarships and grants, how much parents are contributing or paying in cash every month, and how much you have to pay every month yourself.

Last, subtract how much you have to put toward tuition every year from the approximate cost. Whatever’s left is what you have to pay yourself. That’s your college financial plan in a nutshell.

23. Study up: one really easy way to pass the time for free is to study up and study hard. In all reality, you don’t have to have a perfect 4.0 to graduate but you’re paying a lot of money for college, so you should take pride in your grades and make sure you’re at least maintaining a B-average or better. This will also help you to pass all classes and not have to stay longer in college or take any extra classes (that all costs more money)!

24. Study party at the campus library: get up with roommates, dorm mates, or friends on campus for study parties in the campus library. You can spend some time with friends AND get some good studying in, too!

25. Ask for tutoring/time with a professor: a great way to pass the time for free and get a better understanding in a specific class is to ask for tutoring or extra time with one of your professors. Who knows, you might get a new mentor out if it as well.

26. Apply for more scholarships: scholarships don’t end once you get to college. Hopefully you’ve done well with scholarships up to this point. But if you’re still trying to find extra money to cover tuition costs, continue applying for scholarships every year until you graduate. I want you to apply for at least 1 scholarship per week, every week, for all 4 years of college. That’s the minimum. If you can do that, you’ll have 208 more chances to win scholarships and earn more money toward tuition!!

27. Start planning your graduation: pretty simple. Start planning what you’re going to do on graduation day, and during the following months after. This can be a crucial time to start finding a job. So don’t wait!

28. Work on your professional resume: having your professional resume fine-tuned and ready can be a great way to get your career started. If you find yourself bored in college, start researching how to build the perfect resume and perfect it during some of your downtime.

29. Attend a career fair: if you’re unsure of what you really want to do after college, find a college career fair or a career fair in your city. These can be great networking events and opportunities to get great jobs locally. Even if you aren’t planning to jump into the workforce, you can still talk with employers and get an idea of what full-time work will look like after college.

30. Start planning your career after graduation: if you already know what kind of career field you’ll be going into, start planning your future career and where you might possibly want to go with it.

31. Make a vision board: I love vision boards. According to Wikipedia, a vision board is “a collage of images, pictures, and affirmations of one’s dreams and desires, designed to serve as a source of inspiration and motivation.” Basically just a bunch of pictures of stuff you want. The premise is that your goal is to get whatever is on that board like a nice car, big home, or something really awesome. Put a picture on your vision board and set a goal to work toward it. Seeing it every day on your vision board can help you continue to think about it and work toward it.

32. Start a yearly goals notebook: I love my yearly goals notebook. Every year, I get a small spiral notebook and fill it with many different things including all of my goals that I’d like to achieve this year. I also will do different activities in the notebook, like a goals breakdown, where I write out each goal and 3-4 things that I need to do to get closer to achieving each individual goal. You may already have a spare notebook, so give this a try!

33. Write letters to friends and family: none of us write letters anymore and that’s sad to me. If you’ve got some extra time, write a few letters to friends and family and see who writes you back. In the age of technology, this could be a fun way to keep in touch with people while you’re in college.

34. Write a letter to your future self: if you have the time, write one more letter – to yourself in the future. Tell yourself about where you’re at, your mindset, your goals, and what you hope to achieve. Seal it and open it in about 10 years to see what you’ve achieved. Try writing a a couple of these to yourself in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and 40 years out. You’ll be glad you did.

35. Go to a college party: if you find yourself with nothing to do on the weekend, hit up a college party and have some fun (but make sure you’re 21+ if you’re drinking).

36. College formal dance: all colleges will have some kind of formal dance every year. Figure out when it is and go have a ball!

37. Local campus trivia night: trivia nights can be a hit on campus. They’re usually free and can help you meet new friends.

38. Attend a campus sponsored event: campuses always have hundreds of campus-sponsored events every year. So take advantage of those opportunities to have fun for FREE.

39. Attend a local campus cultural event/festival: there are also tons of other cultural events and international celebrations on most campuses. These are fantastic ways to learn more about each country and try most things out for free (or really cheap).

40. Learn about your school’s history/architecture: check with local dorm RAs, tour guides, or tenured professors. Someone on your campus knows A LOT about the history and architecture of the college. You just have to find them.

41. Keep a campus calendar: keep a campus events calendar nearby for when you run out of ideas. On most decent-sized campuses, there will be something to do on almost every single day of the school year. So make sure you find that calendar.

42. Visit the downtown area in your college town: downtown in most college towns is where the fun is at. In Downtown Greensboro, where I live, they have bars, restaurants, and a ton of other entertainment for college students and residents alike. So check out your city’s downtown area and you might discover someplace awesome.

43. Meet your floormates: if you’re new to campus or to your dorm, get out of the room and start introducing yourself to people. Easy way to pass the time AND make new friends.

44. Plan out your week: one easy way to pass the time is to plan out your week. Try to limit yourself to going to class, studying, eating, and only doing free or cheap things in your spare time.

45. Declutter and organize your dorm room: this is for the guys. You ladies keep your dorm rooms spotless. But the guys need to get on that level and start keeping the room at least semi-clean. But I was the same way. Just try to do better. If you have some free time, and not much money to do anything, try cleaning up and organizing your dorm room. It can actually be stress-relieving to have everything clean and organized for studying purposes.

46. Go for a walk around the campus: if you can’t think of anything better to do, just get out and walk around. Walking is beneficial for your health and completely free. Plus, if you go to a decent-sized university, it’s probably got a lot of cool sights and architecture.

47. Explore your entire college campus: in one day, try exploring the entirety of your campus. Could be fun. I wouldn’t skip class for it, though.

48. Unplug for the day: sometimes we all need a break from technology. Try putting down the phone, laptop, and video game controller and unplugging everything for 24 hours. It’s time to recharge YOUR batteries. And sometimes all of that technology can get in the way. So take a random Saturday and just chill. Read a book. Go workout. Get your haircut. Take a walk. Play a board game. Or you can…

49. Meditate: meditation can be extremely stress-relieving, allowing you to find some inner peace during all of those crazy days on campus. There are hundreds of ways to meditate so find something that works for you and a relaxing place to unwind.

50. Do yoga: yoga can be another great way to pass the time, and unless you’re paying for classes somewhere, can be completely free to do as well. If you’d like to try yoga, check out YouTube for thousands of yoga workouts. But be ready. Because Yoga is a TOUGH workout.

51. Dorm workout: if you know enough people in your dorm that like to exercise, get everybody together for a workout session. That’s fun AND free.

52. Try out for a sports team: if you’re good enough at a college sport, like baseball, football, or soccer, why not try out for the college sports team. Now granted, most of the people on the team are going to be REALLY good. But if you think you have the skills to compete at a high level, contact the coach and ask for a tryout.

53. Play on an intramural sports team at your college: most colleges have intramural sports teams for a bunch of different sports like basketball, volleyball, kickball, ultimate frisbee, soccer, cornhole, and a slew of other sports. Find out where you sign up and you’ll be good to go!

54. Join a school club: chess club, political clubs, theater and arts, and the debate team all highlight some kinds of clubs that you can join in college. Find out what your college has and join up.

55. Pull an all-nighter: wired? Got a ton of work to do? Need something to do for free? Try pulling an all-nighter! You’ve probably already done this before. But college work could be giving you a chance to really be productive with that all-nighter. If you’re staying up just to stay up, I don’t recommend it. But if you have a lot to do, why not?

56. Skip classes for a day (don’t do this often): seriously…don’t do this often. And make sure you check your classes and absence policy. If you have a completely full day of classes, a test due, paper due, or something important, just go to class. But if you’re in need of some rest and recharging, and your day is light with nothing due, skipping a day every once in awhile is completely fine.

57. Become a tour guide: if you love your university and know the school’s history and layout well, you can become a tour guide for visiting parents and high school students. Not only do you get paid, but you get to try and persuade them why they would want to go to your school! Give it a shot!

58. Become an RA: becoming an RA, or Resident Advisor, isn’t an easy job by any means. I mean, you’re basically the police of your floor. But you can get a monthly stipend from the school and free housing out of the deal. You just have to put in the work and do a good job in order to keep getting those sweet perks.

59. Volunteer: if you’re the giving type, but don’t have a lot of money to give away, give up some of your time. Volunteering is a fantastic way to spend your time, doesn’t cost you anything, and can always benefit someone or someplace. If you and your friends are looking for things to do, think about volunteering. It’s always a good idea.

Cheap

60. Disc golfing: I love disc golfing. It’s been a HUGE hobby of mine for years now and I’ve even built an entire website about it. Disc golfing is similar to ball golf, but with plastic discs and a metal basket instead of clubs or holes in the ground.

One of the reasons I like it, though, is because it’s a REALLY cheap sport to play. You do need a few discs up front and a bag, which run about $100 bucks, but then you can play unlimited rounds for free after that. Most disc golf courses are on public park property, so 90% of them are completely free to play.

If you’d like to learn more about disc golf, check out my awesome disc golf blog here – DiscgolfNOW.com.

61. Rent a movie: you can rent a movie for like $2-3 dollars these days. It’s not free, but a movie and some snacks split between buddies won’t cost you but a few bucks for an awesome movie night in the dorm.

62. Hit the movies (but skip the concessions): Going to the movies normally isn’t that expensive until you start adding in popcorn, drinks, and other snacks. So either find a matinee showing (before 4pm) or bring some snacks along to a premier showing!

63. Game night: game nights are always fun amongst friends. I remember getting a bunch of people together in the dorm and either playing non-alcoholic drinking games or board games. Either option is fun and cheap.

64. Video games: grab a few controllers and put on your favorite video game. Back in the day, it was Halo or Call of Duty. These days, you have unlimited options to choose from.

65. Bowling: I’m a big bowling fan. In fact, after I built my disc golf blog, I considered starting a bowling blog. But I just never got around to it. However, I still like to go bowling on occasion because it’s normally very fun and fairly cheap (unless you go Friday and Saturday nights). If you go most other days or nights, you’ll get a pretty steep discount on your lanes, games, and shoe costs. Cheap AND fun.

66. Run a Spartan Race: acording to Wikipedia, “a Spartan Race is a series of obstacle races of varying distance and difficulty ranging from 3 miles to marathon distances.” These races are tough but always super fun. They do cost a little bit, though. So make sure you know which race you’re doing and exactly how much it’s going to cost.

67. Visit garage sales/Go garage saleing (not flipping): if you’re in college, you’re most likely pretty broke…as in you’ve got very little money to spend. So hitting yard sales and garage sales on the weekend can be a fun way to get stuff for your dorm, other things you want super cheap, and a good time with your buddies. If you’d like to start garage sale flipping, check out #107 at the end of this post.

68. Potluck dinner: dinner doesn’t have to be expensive. Have 4-5 friends all commit to bringing a certain dish potluck-style. Each person will make their own dish and bring it to dinner. That way, there’s a lot of good food and it doesn’t have to cost you that much. $10-15 dollars will normally cover a good meal like this (with leftovers, too)!

69. Learn how to bake: learning how to bake is an insanely cheap way to pass the time. You do need a few ingredients for each dish, but it shouldn’t break the budget.

70. Learn how to cook better: if you’re really looking to save money in college, learning how to cook food better can help save you in your food budget. Instead of needing a meal plan or eating out every day, you can simply get groceries and whip yourself up a few good meals.

71. Learn how to make a new dish: figure out 2-3 new dish ideas that you’d like to try out then commit to becoming REALLY good at making those few dishes. It won’t be that expensive and you can have friends critique you on your meals!

72. Meal prep your food for the week: one cheap way to pass the time AND save some money in college is to do some meal prepping for the week. The idea is to prep a bunch of food and make it into ready-to-eat meals for the week. Aside from money saved on food, you’ll be saving a lot of time, too, with those meals ready to go when you need them.

73. Ramen noodle cook off: I love the idea of this challenge and I wish I would’ve known about it when I was in school. All you have to do is get with a couple of friends and challenge yourselves to see who can make the best Ramen noodle recipe with plain, cheap Ramen noodles. Each person needs to go find the recipe they want to use online, get their ingredients, and then everybody will cook their own version. Then you all judge each person’s Ramen and judge to see who wins. Oh yeah, and you can’t vote for yourself!

74. BOGO coupons for eating out: if you regularly get fast food coupons, try taking all your friends out and getting a couple of free meals. That way, everybody can just split the cost.

75. Try out every dining option on campus: this option might be a little bit more expensive, but make a list and find a new place to eat on campus every day until you’ve eaten at every spot at your university.

76. Midnight snack off campus: there are normally a lot of food choices near college campuses. And those places know that college kids stay up late. So many fast food spots in the local area stay open extra hours for the constant cravings of college kids. If you don’t have anything to do, check out some of the local late-night spots nearby.

77. Go to a college performance: from the college band to plays put on by the theater department, your college is going to have A LOT of different performances and your student I.D. will usually get you a hefty discount. Check these events out because they’re usually pretty good at the college level.

78. Go to a college sporting event: if your college has a sports team, you can also get discounted tickets to these games, too! If you’re at a large college, check to see if your college is ranked in their sport. Those games can be some of the most awesome, thrilling games to go to!!

79. Tailgate a sporting event: tailgating at sporting events can be pretty awesome as well. Tailgating is simply hanging out with a bunch of people before the game, often before you go in to watch the game, but sometimes outside of the stadium for the game as well. Tailgating is awesome. Give it a try if y’all have a decent NCAA sports team at your school.

80. Join a fraternity or sorority: these brotherhood and sisterhood clubs can cost a little bit for yearly membership, but can often help you make friends for life and join exclusive groups that can offer many opportunities for career networking and connections.

81. Celebrate a holiday on campus: if you don’t want to go home for the holidays, hit up Christmas Tree Shops and get some decorations for whatever holiday you’re going to be celebrating.

82. Plan a weekend dorm staycation: write out a weekend plan for a dorm staycation – school work, studying, listening to music, binging your favorite show, and just chillin’ is never a bad idea.

83. Water balloon fight: if your dorm is fairly active, try to get everybody together on a hot day and have a MASSIVE water balloon fight. This sounds insanely fun and I wish my dorm would’ve done this back in the day.

84. Nerf gun war in the dorm: this is one thing that I have tried. The whole dorm gets their own Nerf gun and some nerf ammo. Then you have a huge Nerf gun war in whatever room is the biggest. Super fun and not really that expensive. Be careful, though, because you can spend way too much money on Nerf guns if you’re not careful.

85. Do a puzzle with the dorm: if you’ve got a few patient people around you, grab a 1,000-2,000 piece puzzle and have everyone work on it!

86. Go to a local club: if you’re looking for more to do outside the dorm, head out with some friends to a club in your city. Dancing and fun.

87. Go on a local ghost tour: I just recently went on my second ghost tour. And both were pretty awesome. They’re not too expensive and they offer fun, creepiness, and some local history.

88. Hit the local arcade or barcade (21+): arcades and barcades (arcades with a bar) can be insanely fun. But I’d skip the alcohol at the barcade if you go. It’s normally overpriced anyway.

89. Local live music at the bar (21+): live music at a local bar can be completely free. But the alcohol is expensive. So don’t go crazy if you drink. Also, make sure you’re 21 if you plan to do that.

90. Karaoke night at the bar (21+): karaoke nights can be cool, too. But again, make sure you’re 21 if you plan to drink.

91. Cheap beer pong (21+): if you’re old enough to drink – and you have a legal place to do it – grab the cheapest beer you can (probably Natural Lite or Fat Tire) and play some beer pong. Have everybody chip in for beer and cups and have a blast.

92. Local food festivals: Local food festivals are usually pretty cool and you can experience some of the best local food around.

93. Check out local farmers market: one cool way to pass the time is to hit the local farmer’s market. It’s always cool to see what kind of food people can grow and you can usually get a good deal on fresh fruits, vegetables, honey, and everything else sold there. If you’re looking for something cheap to do, this is always a good option.

94. Thrift a new outfit challenge: my wife and I are getting ready to try out this challenge because it sounds awesome. Go out to shop for clothes at local thrift shops. The challenge is to find a complete outfit for as cheap as possible. Have a few friends try this out. Whoever comes up with a decent outfit, the cheapest, wins the challenge (don’t forget shoes and socks, too)!

95. Go thrift shopping: shopping for other stuff at the the thrift shop can be fun and cheap, too!

96. Make a college scrapbook every year: with just the cost of a scrapbook, some supplies, and the cheap cost of printed photos, you can make a college scrapbook every single year. Good times and good memories deserve to be remembered and this could be the perfect way to do that. This is cheap and a great way to pass the time.

97. Explore a neighboring city (on the cheap): get your friends together and travel to a neighboring city to find something to do. This shouldn’t cost you too much and you’ll probably discover something awesome!

98. Explore a neighboring state (on the cheap): instead of the neighboring city, grab a few friends and hop in the car for a day trip to a neighboring state. Try to do it as cheap as possible. You never know what you might find.

99. Day trip to the beach: day trips to the beach can be cheap and super fun. It will usually only cost you a little bit of gas money and the cost of food for the day. The beach is free. So round up the peeps and hit the surf.

100. Road trip with friends: plan a sweet holiday road trip with 3-4 different friends during your college days. This might be one of the most expensive things on this list, but most of the costs of the hotel can be offset with 3-4 or more people paying for the stay each night. My buddies and I did this right after high school. 6 of us piled into an expedition and drove 20 hours up to relatives houses in Wisconsin and Minnesota. We had a blast for over a week and made memories that we’ll all remember for life.

101. Create a list of fun things you like to do: just like this epic list, create your own list. Write down 20-25 of your favorite free things to do and 20-25 of your favorite cheap things to do. Then have that list ready to go when you’re looking for ideas.

You can also try out the idea jar. Write all of those fun things to do down on various small strips of paper. Each idea is it’s own seperate piece of paper. Put them all in the jar and when you’re bored, open up the jar and pick out a piece of paper. Whatever you pull out is the activity or idea that you’ll be doing.

102. Build a blog: a few years ago, I started building the website that I talked about earlier in this post – DiscgolfNOW.com. It took me a couple of years to grow but now it makes me a decent monthly passive income. If you have a cool hobby, think about trying to build a blog about it. Building both of my websites is something I’ve become very passionate about and it’s fairly cheap to do as well.

Starting a website won’t cost you more than a couple hundred bucks and it’s very easy to maintain. But it’s not easy. In order to actually make money from a website, you’ve got to put in a tremendous amount of work and effort. But if I can do it, I know you can, too!

103. Start a YouTube channel: if you’re not up for writing and building a website, you could try starting a YouTube channel. It won’t cost you anything to start. Just your phone’s video camera and some video ideas. Some college YouTubers make an insane amount of money. So what will your channel be about?

104. Apply for an internship: if you know what field you’ll be going into for a career, you can always apply for an internship with a certain employer or agency. These don’t always pay, but you can get great experience and it won’t cost you anything more than your time.

105. Get a job: if you find yourself with too much time and you need to make some extra money, just go out and get a part-time job somewhere. You can either find a job on campus or go off campus and work just about anywhere.

106. Start a side hustle: a better way to make more money is to start yourself a side hustle. Most side hustles, like mowing yards, cleaning houses, and walking dogs, are cheap to start and can net you around $30-40 dollars an hour. Side hustles can be tough work, but the money and experience is worth it.

107. Yard Sale flipping: one last cheap way to have fun AND make some money while you’re at it is to learn the art of yard sale flipping. You simply find a few yard sales, buy decent stuff on the cheap, and re-sell it for more online on sites like EBay and Mercari. It might sound complicated but it’s not. And it’s a perfect way to make extra money while you’re in school!

Finally

Finding free and cheap things to do while in college can save you thousands of dollars over time. But it’s ultimately up to you whether you’re going to use this list or not. Most college students won’t and they’ll continue to overspend while in school. That won’t lead to anything but debt and stress. So be better than that. Learn to be frugal in college, while still having a ton of fun. The list above is proof that you can have fun for free or for very little money. So bookmark this page and try out every single thing on this list before you graduate!