The price of college in North America is increasing almost 8 times faster than wages. With tuition becoming more and more expensive, it becomes much harder to save money as a student. What most of you may not know is that there are some easy things you can do as a student to save a substantial amount of money. Here are 6 financial life hacks that you can easily apply to your life and start saving instantly without changing any of your lifestyles/spending habits.

==============Links===============
Ebates
Canada ★★ https://www.rakuten.ca/referrer?referrerid=lD%2Bug%2Bzy0hw%3D&src=Link
★★
USA ★★ https://www.rakuten.com/r/FINANC883?eeid=28187
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Unidays Website
★★ https://www.myunidays.com/CA/en-CA
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USA Grants, Scholarships & Student Loans

★★ https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/
★★

Free Microsoft Office
Canada ★★ https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/education/products/office
★★
USA ★★ https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education/
★★

Financial Hack #1 Shopping Portals 0:35
Whether it’s getting that new laptop you need for school or updating your wardrobe, everyone’s doing lots of shopping. But did you know that you can easily make some cash back from buying stuff you already need? All you have to do is create an account at one of these shopping portals and find the store that you were already going to shop at.

Financial Hack #2 Unidays 2:20
There are many discounts available for students, but one very useful and underused discount service is Unidays. The great thing about this particular student discount service compared to some of the other ones like SPC cards, is that they provide you with a discount code. This generally means you can apply this discount ON TOP of whatever sales the store is ALREADY HAVING, making it possible to combine multiple deals together to qualify for huge savings. as an added bonus, you could use this in tandem with ebates to get stack double the savings. The savings from this method is especially amazing when you purchase large ticket items such as a dell laptop.

Financial Hack #3 Financial Aid 3:13
There are many scholarships that are based off availability and you’d be surprised how many people automatically get awarded a scholarship just because they were one of the few people in the whole program that applied. There are also many bursaries that are rewarded base off financial need rather than GPA. So if you’re a B+ student like me who gets relatively high grades, but not high enough for those large scholarships, you can apply for bursaries and easily get an additional $250 per semester. Information for both scholarships and bursaries are usually readily available in your school’s financial aid office. You can usually apply from your online portal under the financial aid section as well. Most universities also compile all the bursaries into one general application to make it easier for students to apply.

Don’t forget to apply for student loan grants as well! As someone from a low income Canadian household, I frequently received $1,500 grant money per semester. There are grants available for American students as well and you can go to studentaid.ed.gov to get more details and apply for federal student aid.

Financial Hack #4 Student Visa Cards & Bank Accounts 5:00
There are many visa cards out there that typically have a $10-30 annual fee that is waived for students. Go ask your local bank about these free student visa cards and sign up for one as soon as you can. Not only do you get perks such as 1% cash back or points for free movie tickets, but more importantly, you can begin to build your credit rating. This will help jumpstart your financial options right after graduation or when you purchase your first house. Many financial institutions also give a nice welcome bonus for first time user of that specific credit card.

Also be sure to ask about student bank accounts to save on all of your bank fees as a student. I used to work as a teller at the bank as a university student and you’d be surprised how many fees I see students pay simply because they aren’t using our free student accounts.

Financial Hack #5 Get Micosoft Office for Free 6:44
This one is as simple as it sounds. Most students are unaware, but Microsoft office is absolutely free for students. Forget about purchasing the suite for $109 per year.

Financial Hack #6 Opt out of Student Society Insurance Plans 7:29
Universities usually include some sort of student insurance on your tuition fees, forcing most students to opt into one. What you might not know is that there is a valid way to opt out and save a few hundred bucks each year.

Now this one is not for everyone and is dependent on whether you got insurance coverage from your parents or other sources. if you have access to an insurance plan covered by your parent’s occupation, you may be able to save $200-$700 per year by opting out of the school insurance plans.