Back To School Giveaway - Win an iPod Nano, cash and more from the College Money Network
Aug 4th, 2008 by Jennifer Lynn
There’s been some juicy stuff going on around here. To celebrate the start of another school year, the College Money Network has decided to throw a giveaway with over $200 worth of prizes up for grabs. Here’s your chance to win a 4GB iPod Nano, cash and more.
So let’s get to the good stuff first, you salivating rascals. Here’s the current list of fabulous prizes.
Prizes
• 4GB iPod Nano
• $50 cash
• $20 cash
• Copy of The 4-Hour Workweek
• $10 eBay gift certificate
• One-year magazine subscriptions:
- Young Money
- Kiplinger’s
- SmartMoney Magazine
- Money Magazine
You can enter the College Money Network’s Back To School Giveaway multiple ways and increase your chances of winning by completing a few (or all) of the methods mentioned below. You may enter each way once, and some of these are really worth doing considering how simple they are.
If you are a current college student: Share your financial goal for the upcoming semester, quarter, or school year and how you will achieve it. Make the goal specific and explain the actions you will take to achieve it. Here’s an example of what we’re looking for:
My financial goal is to save $1,000 by the end of the school year. I will do this by getting a part-time job and putting $100/month in a high yield savings account.
- Leave a comment on this post with your response. (1 entry)
- Or write a post on your own blog about your “Back To School Financial Goal” and email me to let me know about it. (3 entries)
If you are not a college student: Share some tips and ideas for managing your finances as a student. If you’ve already been there and done that, what is the most important financial advice you would give to college students? And if you’re still in high school, share some of your current money tips.
- Leave a comment on this post with your response. (1 entry)
- Or write a post on your own blog with your “Financial Advice for College Students” or “High School Money Tips” and email me to let me know about it. (3 entries)
Simple Ways Everyone Can Enter!
- Subscribe to my Broke-Ass feed via RSS or email, then send me the super secret phrase that appears at the end of each post. (2 entries)
- Leave me a comment on what topics you’d be interested in reading more about on Broke-Ass Student, or any suggestions for the site. (1 entry)
- Subscribe to the College Money Network group feed. (2 entries)
- Mention the CM Network and include a link to this post on one of your favorite sites (e.g. comment on a blog, post in a forum, etc.). Just be sure to mail me with a link to where you mentioned it so I can record the entry. (3 entries)
You can also visit individual College Money Network member sites - the links are listed in my right sidebar - for opportunities to earn additional entries. (Up to 6 extra)
All valid entries will be assigned a unique number and we will use a random number generator to select the winning numbers. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received.
** Please note, all entries must be received by August 31, 2008 at 11:59 PM PST **
Winners will be notified the following week and after all the prizes have been dished out, an official announcement will be released with the fabulous winners and their respective goodies. Further rules and restrictions can be found on the CMN giveaway page (it’s nothing too scary, I promise!)
=^..^=
My financial goal is to keep my loans down to a minimum
My financial goal is to eat out no more than once every two weeks, withdraw a maximum of $100/month from my “personal” account for any frivolous needs, and find ways to keep my “school” account well-stocked with cash for books, laundry, and any other important needs.
My goal to save money for college is to minimize the use of electricity in my house
I get up early because the sun is up and I sleep early when the sun goes down
I wear a sweater when it gets cold
With the small use of electricity, I’m helping to save energy and save money on the electric bills which will go towards my college
Topics I’d like to read more about is how to turn several pieces of junk into something new and different lol
My financial goal is to have as much money at the end of April as I have at the end of August, minus tuition and supply costs. To do this I hope to earn enough each month to pay for my rent, food/drinks/groceries, and extracurricular costs. I’m aiming to keep my food-and-drinks/grocery bill below 160$ each month (through price-checking on fruits and veggies to see what’s in season, cutting down on alcohol, etcetera) enter as many writing contests as I can, look for bursaries and scholarships, and work as many part-time hours as it takes.
My goal is 2 fold:
1. By the end of the semester finish paying off all my consumer debt. I have a loan and 2 ccs that need to be payed down to 0.
2. Save up for an emergency fund (I have 2 high interest savings accounts), $1000 for starters, because I so need one.
My Financial goal is to save an extra 2000$. I will do that by taking a teaching assistantship position at my university.
My financial goal for Fall semester was a bit hard for me to come to terms with: I’m taking Fall off from classes in order to work full-time and set aside tuition money for Spring, pay down my credit cards (which were all used to pay for school expenses), and enroll in an affordable health plan.
Once Fall is over, my bosses (who are amazing people) have agreed that they will work with me on a schedule that will allow for me to be able to come to work and go to classes.
I really love school, so it took a few months for me to realize that the financial burden it was putting on me was really going to hinder my academic performance, so taking time off to “get ahead” and take the pressure off is worth it!
My financial goal of fall 2008 is to not spend any money on any entertainment and to replace it by finding other ways to enjoy myself with friends. In addition, to save up at least another $1000 for an emergency fund with my part time job.
My financial goals for my last year of undergrad:
First, I need to start some sort of savings account. I have a past-mature savings bond that is making less interest than it would in a savings account (just found out about this bond). I am depositing it today, and will open a savings account with $700 of the money. With the rest of the money, I will pay my parents back for some doctor bills, and I will have some money as I will be between jobs(the new one starts a week after I leave the other). I want to have $1000 by January, and I cannot withdraw unless it is an extreme emergency (an emergency is not “I can only afford rice”, but “I need to go to the hospital, or fly home for a funeral”).
Second, I need to start establishing a credit history in order to rent an apartment after I graduate. Once a week, I will buy my groceries on it (any supplemental trips are out of my regular account); that is all.
Third, I need to finish reading Suze Orman’s Young, Fabulous, and Broke. I have skimmed it, but my financial knowledge is lacking.
Fourth, I will bring my lunch (or eat at home, depending on if I’m in class or at work) 9 days out of 10. On the 10th, I can go out with friends.
Fifth, I’m going to learn to cook! This is the first year I’ve had a dorm with a kitchen, and while I can make stir fry, noodles, and rice well, I need to start stretching dollars with cooking.
Sixth - cheap booze, at home. That’s all I’m going to say on that!
My financial goal is to buy all my books for the fall semester without help from my parents or student loans. I will do this by saving up as much as possible during the summer, and then by buying cheaper older editions, or by not at all buying books that I’ll seldom use. I’ll have to ask around a lot. I’ll be taking 6 classes, most of them polisci and history, so I have my work cut out for me.
If you do use credit cards (which I know a lot of people do not recommend for college students but I had one and was responsible about it) make sure you understand the terms and make sure you get one that does not require a yearly fee. Definitely get a credit card that pays you back either with rewards or cash(most are 1% or more of your purchases).
Here are two things I did as a student that really helped me budget.
1. Immediately deposit any tips I made after work in the ATM. This made me less likely to spend it on little things and have money for books.
2. If your school offers the ability to load money onto your student I.D. card use that. Many off campus places will give you a discount with your i.d. and once the money is gone so is your ability to just “go buy a coke”.
My goal this year is to pay off my credit cards and start socking away money in a savings account–better late than never
Great contest. I have shared some tips in a recent post on Six sure fire ways for college students to ruin their financial future . Offcourse I also point out ways to avoid doing this by some good financial practices. One that I highlighted was learning to cook and avoid take away food on a regular basis. Cooking at home means you will have more control of your food finances and hopefully lower your eating/dining out costs significantly. It is also a big plus point for impressing someone on a date!
You seem to have many giveaways and contests to reward your readers. I think that is really great, but I’m wondering, what is the conversion? Do you get a lot of subscribers? Or is it only for the purpose of rewarding the readers. Just curious.