No matter how broke you are, there are some things you need as a college student. These gadgets aren’t sexy but they will help you get through the college years, whether you’re a working student in an online rn to msn program with two kids and a mortgage or you’re a junior with two jobs and not enough time.
Battery pack charger
These handy, portable chargers come in all shapes, sizes, colours, and price ranges. The lipstick-size version lets you charge one device on the go, such as your phone, while the larger options charge multiple devices. Don’t worry about your tablet or laptop dying in the middle of class or while trying to finish a term paper that’s due in four hours. Keep the battery pack charger juiced up – with fresh batteries or a fresh charge – and plug yourself in when there’s no wall outlet or charging station handy. Chargers range in price from $5 to $50 or more depending on the size and style you choose.
Headphones
Want to listen to music while you’re writing a paper in Starbucks? Have a loud roommate and need to block them out? Need to drown out the sound of screaming toddlers during your online lecture class? Whatever your reason, headphones are a must for any college student. If you’ve got a little extra cash, you can buy headphones that block background noise, feel comfortable, and make the bass pump for around $50. Too rich for you? Earbuds are always an option and can cost anywhere from $5 to $20. Remember, the more you spend, the better quality you’ll get.
External hard drive
You’ve got a project that’s due in two days, no exceptions. You’ve worked on it over the course of several weeks, but your old laptop is finally starting to sputter and die on you. You can’t afford to buy a new laptop, and you can’t afford to lose your hard work, either. This is when you need an external hard drive. This might be the time when it’s worth the $50 or $60 you’ll need to spend. Regularly back up your files and know that when the laptop dies, it won’t take all your hard work with it.
USB Thumb Drives
This may sound a bit old school, but keep these babies around for those times when you’re working on papers and projects from multiple computers. Like anything, the more you pay, the better the thumb drive, but for $10-$50, you can buy a thumb drive with anything from 8GB to 64 GB. You’ll be able to grab a file, share a file, and work from your friend’s computer, the computer room in the library, or your mom’s laptop when you come home for the weekend.
The life of a broke college student is one of balancing exams, papers, and class participation while still managing to pay the bills and buy books as well as groceries. With these tech gadgets, you can survive the college years without breaking the bank.
Photographs by Japanexperterna / Timothy Takemoto / WD / Evan Amos
