Do you run out of TigerCard money too quickly?

A lot of students do, especially if they live off campus. Check out how to keep that from happening and save some money along the way!

The best way to make sure your TigerCard money will make it all the way to finals week is to budget your money from the start of the semester. Whether you have $300, $1,000, or even leftover money from the previous semester, you need to figure out how many times per week you can realistically eat on campus with TigerCard money.

Average cost of an on-campus meal? $10 dollars. If you only eat Chick-fil-a sandwiches, you can lower this estimate, but if you like to only eat at Tiger Zone in the Village, you may want to raise it.

Depending on whether you live on or off campus, this means that you will have estimated 100 or 30 meals on campus per semester. With only 72 class days in a semester, on-campus residents should be able to eat on campus every class day, sometimes twice if they don’t eat on campus on the weekends. However, those who live off campus have to be a little more strategic.

Check your schedule and see how many days per week you actually need to eat lunch on campus. If your classes end before lunch or don’t start until after, save money by going back to your apartment or dorm and making lunch there. If you are on campus for lunch every day, try to bring your lunch for about half of those days. This is significantly cheaper and doesn’t take too much extra time. If you’re sick of packing PB&Js and chip bags, mix it up with some of these packed lunch ideas and see what your favorites are!

Making it to finals week and discovering that you still have extra money left on your TigerCard is a glorious feeling of relief and even accomplishment. Finals go just a bit smoother when you don't have to worry about how much money you are spending at Caribou Coffee. This semester, try budgeting your TigerCard money. Trust me, it adds up.

Be well, Auburn.

Photography: Jack P.