Strapped for cash? Found that your Free Application for Financial Student Aid check is not stretching as far as you hoped? Remain calm and keep a cool head before raiding the couch cushions for extra pocket change. These five tips could help ease the pressure on your bank account.

1. Work study

The Federal Work Study program gives students employment opportunities on the COCC campus. Students doing work study can work up to 8-10 hours a week. Money from work study

can be used for day to day living expenses or educational costs. To be eligible, students have to have been awarded Federal Work-Study as part of their financial aid from COCC.

2. Family aid

You might not have a rich grandmother happy to shoot money at you, but chances are there’s at least one sympathetic relative who would respond to a letter. Instead of asking for vague help, ask them to pay for a specific class or lunch for a month.

3. Work around

Babysitting. Housesitting. Tutoring. Music lessons. All of these are easy and sometimes well-paying jobs that fit easily around your school schedule. Just be mindful that you’re going to need to take out your own taxes!

4. Scholarships

There are various scholarships available for students through the COCC Foundation. Also be sure to take advantage of SALT, a free online scholarship resource tool that allows students to find scholarships personalized to their situation. The program offers tools to find scholarships with wide varieties of selection factors and the application takes only about an hour to complete.

5. Two terms on, two terms off
Some students at COCC take classes fall and winter term, and then head off for spring and summer to work jobs in Alaska, North Dakota, and all over the United States in the trucking or tourism industries. If you can find a job that pays for room and board where you can save a lot of money, working at your education more slowly might be the way to go.