All work and no play can make your life deathly dull, and although you've probably resigned yourself to plenty of time spent studying while you're in community college, you're no doubt keen to cut loose and have a community college social life with your newfound friends.
Of course, you might be operating on a pretty tight budget (most college students are) and that could seriously limit your options when it comes to entertainment and events.
But with a little planning and an open mind you can have fun every weekend and save up for pricy tickets to one or two special events each year.
Here are just a few ways that you can have a great social life on a community college budget.
The Best Entertainment and Event Options for Community College Student
Movies.
Okay, I know what you're thinking: movies are expensive! But there are a couple of ways to save on this easy-access form of entertainment. Instead of paying full price at the theater you can use your student ID to nab a discount for evening shows (or hit up matinees when you don't have afternoon classes). You can also look for late-run theaters in your area, which show movies a couple of months after their initial theatrical release, but at significant discounts (you might pay as little as $3-5 per ticket, even for night showings). And of course, you could always set up a Netflix streaming account and get access to tons of movies and TV shows each month for less than you might spend on a single movie ticket.
Game nights.
Whether you and your friends are into RPGs and MMOs, you'd rather play the latest Madden, or you prefer old-timey board games, this is a great form of entertainment that you can enjoy virtually free. Okay, so you do have to shell out initially for the equipment (if you choose electronic forms of gaming) as well as the games themselves (unless you play charades or set up an outdoor game like capture the flag). But if you utilize your games frequently rather than paying for other types of entertainment you could end up saving a lot over time.
Cultural events on campus.
Most campuses host cultural (or other) events throughout the school year and you can definitely have fun if you participate. You might attend seminars, learn dances or crafts, and even sample foods from other cultures. This is a great way to expand your world view and enjoy some free entertainment. You can also attend band concerts, plays, sporting events, and so on at your own campus, at high schools, or at nearby universities on the cheap.
Community-sponsored events.
Depending on where you live, there might be all kinds of community-sponsored events scheduled at any given time. These could include free occurrences like art fairs, outdoor concert series, or Shakespeare in the park, just for example, as well as low-cost paid events like car shows, chili cook-offs, county fairs, and more. Check the community calendar for your city frequently to see what's coming up in your area.
Concerts.
There's no good way to save on concert tickets, per se. You're almost certainly going to have to pay at least the face value (and probably more). What you can do to keep the price low is sign up for memberships that will gain you entrance to pre-sale events so you have access to the least expensive tickets. And if you're the enterprising sort, you might even buy a couple extra tickets to an extremely popular event and sell them for more (provided there are no laws against scalping tickets in your state) to recoup the cost of your own tickets. Just hope the ticket seller's bulk data media services are up to snuff so that you can contend with the flood of other consumers trying to buy tickets online at the same time.