Welcome to a new semester!

Here are my favorite resources for college students.

Favorite Resources for College Students: Buying, Selling and Renting Books

chegg.com: I used chegg for the first time last semester to rent 2 textbooks. I saved hundreds of dollars and would definitely use them again! It was super easy to order my books and they sent me online trials of them so that I could start reading before the books reached me. Returning the books was just as easy. They give you a due date for return and you can print the return label from their website – free of cost. If you need to keep the books a little longer there is a fee so make sure you return them on time!
half.com and ebay.com: These were my go-to places in the past to order textbooks. I have found so many great deals and saved hundreds of dollars on books by searching these two websites for textbooks.
amazon: I have ordered textbooks from amazon several times in the past. I like that I can usually find any textbook that I need – sometimes at great prices.
ecampus: I haven’t personally used ecampus, however, I have heard great things about the prices from several other college students.
bigwords.com: I just discovered this website last semester and had never heard of it but I thought I would add it in there if you want to check it out.

Favorite Resources for College Students: Paying for school & books – Financial Aid, Grants and Scholarships

FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid): Offers financial assistance through grants, loans and work-study funds.
Sallie Mae/ Navient: You normally have to go through your school for loans through them, however, they also have scholarship information on their website as well.
Your college
+ Their website and social media: A little search can give you a wealth of information.
+ Financial Aid Office: Get to know your Financial Aid Officer/Counselor and know them well. They will hook you up!
+ Bulletin Boards: Check out the boards around campus – you can sometimes find scholarship opportunities that you didn’t even know existed.
+ Clubs: If you are in a club on campus ask if there are any scholarships or grants that the officers know of.
+ Classmates: I often find out about scholarships from other classmates so if you have some fellow students that you feel comfortable talking to – bring it up in conversation.
+ Your Job: Many companies offer scholarships, grants and other financial resources if you are working towards a degree (especially if it is in the field that you are currently in).

Favorite Resources for College Students: Music for Studying

Focus at will
Coffevity: If you like the “buzz” of coffee houses you will LOVE this website.
Pandora: I like to listen to their Classical stations sometimes.
Youtube: You can search and create your own study playlists.

Favorite Resources for College Students: Studying & Learning Resources

Khan Academy: They offer FREE practice exercises and instructional videos on hundreds of different topics. Helped me significantly with a statistics course! Also great if you just want to learn some new information or brush up on a topic.
BioDigital: Want to learn more about the human anatomy? How does 3D simulation sound? You can check out all the different parts of the body and learn more about what is going on inside.
Blackboard: Tons of great resources and valuable information.
Crash Course (youtube videos): Great videos to learn about different topics from History to Psychology. Most of the videos are 10 minutes or less and there are also playlists if you want to learn more about something.

Favorite Resources for College Students: Productivity

ToDoist

Favorite Resources for College Students: Team/Group Projects and Collaborations

Slack: leaves all messages so others can read them
Trello: you can add ideas, links, pictures and more. set dates, view calendar.
Google Hangouts: Great for video conference calling.
Google Drive: Great for collaborating and working on projects. My last group project used this and it was so great because we could all work on the project at the same time, there is a chat feature as well.

Favorite Resources for College Students: File Storage

Whether you are looking for a place to file your assignments, syllabus, pictures or anything else I suggest that you always have a backup stored somewhere besides your computer or flash drive. Just imagine working hours and hours on a paper and your dog knocks coffee onto your laptop ruining it.
Dropbox: If you need a FREE online space to store all of your assignments, pictures, files and so on, Dropbox is the place to do it. You can also share files. It has computer/laptop/tablet and mobile access.

Favorite Resources for College Students: Google Drive: If you have a google account/gmail account you should be taking advantage of Google Drive. Some schools even offer it as a part of your student account.

More Favorite Resources for College Students

Ibotta: Check out Ibotta to get cash back when you shop at your favorite grocery stores. Use my referral code, bgfbcpf, and you can earn an extra $10. Sign up at Ibotta.com
Amazon Prime: “Getting an Amazon Student membership has been one of the best things I have done recent., you already receive:
FREE Two-Day Shipping with no minimum order size on millions of items. Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access. 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals on Amazon, and new events on MyHabit.com. Update now to get Amazon Prime for only $49/year (normally $99/year) and also enjoy:
Unlimited, instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video.
Thousands of books to borrow for free, as frequently as once a month, with no due dates through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Access to over a million songs and hundreds of playlists, ad-free.”

My favorite college bloggers
Dani Dearest
Sara Laughed