7 Free Apps That Make College Life Simple

College life brings a new amount of responsibility. Students suddenly have to manage more aspects of their lives than they did back in high school. From finances to homework, handling it all can be overwhelming. Thankfully, the digital age makes it easy and straightforward. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you have your choice of hundreds of apps to keep you organized.

To get you started, here are seven free apps that make management simple.

1. Mint

Mint is a free financial tracking app that lets you see all of your accounts and expenses in one place, which is very useful for college and beyond. Its bank-level security means that you can’t move funds, but neither can anyone else. You can track costs like rent, food, gas, and car payments. It’s easy to see when bills are due and where those sneaky hidden fees come in. You’ll even get notifications about unusual activity. Instead of trying to manage your money in your head or in stacks of papers, keep it all together in one simple app.

2. Chegg 

Chegg is geared toward renting, buying and returning textbooks. With the mobile app, you simply scan the barcode to compare the best prices between Chegg and other book retailers. You can even sell your books directly to them, check shipping and due dates, and extend or purchase your rentals. Textbooks are expensive and many of them are priced between $80-$200. So, take advantage of an app that’ll help you save that money for other things.

3. Evernote 

Store everything from lists to websites and music files in this award-winning free app. Evernote lets you keep your class notes, recipes, pictures, ideas and more in one easy to access place. It works with almost all computers and mobile devices. Sync your notes between devices so that it’s always up to date. Did a friend mention a good movie at lunch? Write it down in Evernote so you can look it up later. Create multiple notebooks for easy navigation and use tags to search anything in an instant.

4. StudyBlue 

Create high quality flashcards in any subject to help you study on the go. You can quiz yourself and keep track of your score while waiting in line or during lunch breaks. The StudyBlue website allows you to search through hundreds of shared flashcards on any subject that students everywhere have made.

5. MyHomework

myHomework lets you easily keep track of assignments and due dates by color coding projects based on priority. You’ll know exactly what’s finished, what’s due and what’s late. For each day, you can see what classes you have and what homework to do. This app is great if you have trouble planning ahead for your assignments or if you can’t keep track of all your projects in your head.

6. Wikipanion 

Get instant access to Wikipedia with this mobile app. You can bookmark and save pages to read later, create folders and share with your friends. Wikipanion formats each page for optimal viewing on iPhones and iPads, meaning all information is easy to see. Just don’t tell your professors you’re using it.

7. SparkNotes 

The infamous “cheat” website now has an app that comes with 50 pre-installed study guides and access to many more online. Read up on Shakespeare or Dickinson in the ten minutes it takes to walk to class. Use it to look up summaries of that chapter you just couldn’t get to last night. Your English professors may roll their eyes, but at least you’ll be better prepared than if you’d read nothing at all.

College life can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. Keep it together with these apps so you’ll have more time to enjoy your experience.

For more information on how to best prepare for college, visit GradGuard!