The 16 Best Apps for Saving Money in College

College tuition in the U.S. continues to climb. According to the College Board, in 2021-22, tuition and fees rose by 1.6% for in-state students at public four-year universities.

To effectively handle the mounting costs of higher education, all students should develop a high level of financial literacy. Smart money management lets you minimize post-graduation debt, while simultaneously helping you save funds for outings with friends and that study abroad trip.

This guide provides a list of 16 mobile applications to help you create a budget and save money in college. We also provide some useful money management resources.

Budgeting can prove challenging for college students. Young adults have often never needed to analyze and set limits on their spending before. Fortunately, many free and low-cost apps let users track their expenditures across multiple credit cards, bank accounts, and investments.

This section introduces nine of the best money management apps, providing details on function and interface to help you pick the tool that best suits your needs and habits.

Created by Intuit, Mint offers tools and advice to help you make smart, data-supported financial decisions. This app aggregates your credit card, checking, savings, and investment accounts, presenting all of this information on one page so you can get the full picture of your financial life.

Mint also provides free credit reports and tips on how to build a good score or recover from a bad one. Additionally, the app lets you compare credit cards, investment portfolios, and bank loans.

The Personal Capital app enables you to monitor your banking accounts, credit card transactions, and investment returns in real time. You can also set reminders for upcoming bills and request reports of spending habits on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.

One of Personal Capital’s unique features is its retirement planner. This comprehensive calculator lets you run different life scenarios so you can create a personalized spending plan showing how much you can afford each month.

Similar to the two apps above, PocketGuard allows you to connect your checking, savings, and credit card accounts. The more accounts you link, the more effective the app’s tools are. With this app, you can analyze your spending habits, identify areas where you can save money, and set reminders for upcoming bills.

The “In My Pocket” feature is what sets PocketGuard apart from its competitors. By using an innovative algorithm that considers factors like annual income, ongoing expenses, and savings contributions, the app can accurately calculate how much money you’ve got left for daily spending.

A premier money budget app, Acorns makes the investing process so intuitive and convenient that it now boasts more than 7 million users. This app works by automatically rounding up the purchases you make through linked accounts. It then uses this spare change to grow optimized portfolios, which it monitors using modern investment theory.

Additional features include recurring deposits, special savings accounts, and a variety of articles on topics like high-demand jobs and the current state of mortgage rates. To use Acorns, you must sign up for a $1, $3, or $5 monthly product bundle.

You Need a Budget (YNAB) uses a proactive system that focuses on changing future spending through planning and prioritization. You’ll assign every dollar a job and identify all your expenses so you can figure out where you need to spend less, where to spend more, and how to accrue savings.

After trying YNAB for free for 34 days, you can sign up for either a $15/month or $99/year subscription.

Spendee possesses all the conventional features of a money management app, letting you sync accounts to track your spending and set up bill reminders. The app also boasts some unique tools, including a real-time currency converter and an e-wallet that allows you to link digital payment methods and cryptocurrency investments.

You can stick with the free version or pay for either the Spendee Plus ($15/year) or Spendee Premium ($23/year) upgrades.

Dollarbird eschews the automatic tracking feature of other money budget apps and instead requires you to manually add your transactions to a calendar so you can evaluate your spending on a daily, monthly, and even yearly basis.

As a cloud-based software, Dollarbird lets you share your financial calendar with colleagues and loved ones; however, the sharing feature is only available if you pay for a pro ($40/year), pro unlimited ($55/year), or business subscription (price varies).

Created by personal finance expert Dave Ramsey, EveryDollar takes a baby-steps approach to tracking and saving money. Users assign each dollar to one of eight categories or a savings account to analyze their spending over time, and can make adjustments to keep themselves on track toward achieving their goals.

If you want EveryDollar to automatically input transactions or connect to your credit card and/or bank accounts, you’ll have to pay $60 for three months, $100 for six months, or $130 for 12 months.

In addition to helping you create a budget and track your spending habits, Qapital rounds up every transaction you make to the nearest $2 and funnels those funds into an FDIC-insured account. Alternatively, you can use that money to grow a goal-based ETF investment portfolio, allowing you to save money for a big purchase or expense.

You can pay $3/month for the basic version of the app or opt for a premium subscription at $6/month or $12/month.

Your financial plan is only useful if the knowledge and methods you wield evolve alongside your changing mindset, habits, and goals.

The resources below will help you understand the complex processes involved in taking out loans, using credit cards, and making investments. They’ll also provide guides on topics like finding cheap flights and accommodations and how to prepare tasty, budget-friendly meals.

DISCLAIMER: The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, constitute professional financial advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Readers of this website should contact a professional advisor before making decisions about financial issues.

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