As we all know, many college students are poor. We spend our life savings paying for school and food. We try to save a little extra cash any way we can. Why should internships be any different? I found some great tricks to save money while having an internship (especially unpaid ones because those really hurt the bank).

Number one: Make your own food and bring your lunch to work. When you think about it, if you spend money on lunch every day, that’s about $200 per month! Put all of that back in your pocket by simply packing a PB & J.

Number two: Live in university dorms or sublet an apartment on campus. If your internship is far from home, living at local universities may help save money especially in NYC.

Number three: Try not to buy coffee and use the office coffee maker instead. Most offices have a coffee maker that everyone can use. You can even choose from a variety of flavors! You can save up to $60 a month by not buying coffee.

Number four: Look for student discounts. Student discounts exist everywhere including the movies, clothing stores, gyms and restaurants. When you have off time from your internship, check out some deals.

Number five: Carpool, take public transportation or bike. Carpooling with co-workers near you will be cheaper in the long run but in the city, public transportation or biking is cheaper and less of a hassle.

Hopefully these tips help poor college students everywhere. From one college student to another, experience is very important. Don’t turn down an internship because it’s unpaid. It may give you the best work experience and help you put money in the bank down the road.

Kaitlyn Richard ’16
Senior, UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Kaitlyn Richard is a senior Communications major with minors in Marketing and Spanish. Kaitlyn works as the Communications Specialist in the School of Business Marketing Department. She is a part of Alpha Phi Omega and Net Impact on the UConn campus. Kaitlyn has twin dogs named Ollie and Riley. View Posts