As a college student, you have a limited budget that is used on tuition, books, school supplies, and living expenses. One of your biggest expenses is your rent if you live in an apartment. It can feel impossible to have enough money to pay your rent and take care of your other expenses. However, there are ways that you can talk to your landlord to try to get your rent to be lower each month. This may seem scary, but if you go into the request with knowledge and confidence, you may be able to save some money each month to use for other needed expenses.

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Know your landlord

Negotiating your rent to be lower is something that those renting from a private or accessible landlord or someone they are subleasing from should do. Private landlords or those who are subleasing are often looking to rent their apartment quickly in order to avoid vacancy, so they are more willing to reduce the rent to make sure money is coming in at all. Use this information to your advantage when negotiating your rent to be lower.

Know the market

While you do not need to know the ins and outs of the economic aspects of the housing market in the United States or elsewhere, knowing the general rental prices around campus or where you live can help give you insight as to how your current place compares, especially in terms of similar size and amenities. Use online websites or even ask classmates how much they pay in rent. Also, know how long your current or prospective apartment was empty and how long area apartments are empty. These pieces of information can give you leverage since landlords are often more concerned about having their rentals filled. This information also lets you know the average rental price for similar apartments so if you are paying higher than average, you can use that as a way to negotiate your rent down.

Timing is everything

If you are looking for a new place, wait until the end of the month to ask the landlord to negotiate the price down since that means the space has been empty for a longer period of time. Landlords are more willing to negotiate rental prices than have a vacancy. However, if you are in a lease, start your negotiations early so that you can either find another apartment or convince your landlord that you could.

Be confident

Before talking to your landlord, know exactly what your goal is and what you expect to say. Have notes available to prove evidence of your market research. Aim for a lower rental price than you are expecting and negotiate from there to get the actual price you are hoping for. Explain your reasoning in a non-aggressive tone and avoid using filler words like “umm” and “I mean” as these make you appear less confident.

Negotiate parts of rent

If negotiating overall rent is not successful, consider negotiating parts of rent. This can include things such as a free parking spot. Landlords are more inclined to have money coming in than none, so they are willing to negotiate on smaller things even if not on rent in general. Not everyone uses their parking spots or other amenities, so negotiating these smaller aspects can be more successful if lowering rent overall does not work out.

Other methods to save money

If negotiating with your landlord does not work out, be creative with how you save money on rent. Consider getting a 2-bedroom apartment and moving in with roommates. You may consider having up to three others living together, two in each bedroom, in order to split rent and save money. You can each have your own bed and side of the room. If you lived in dorms, the small space will not bother you as much.

If something like your fridge breaks and your landlord has to fix or replace it, consider asking for credit on your rent. Be tactful, but frame your request in a way that says you had to eat out more because you could not eat the food in the fridge until the fridge was fixed or replaced.

Sign a lease. Yes, a lease is a legally-binding document, but without a lease, your landlord can increase rent each month. By signing a lease, you are locked into the monthly cost, and your landlord is not allowed to raise the rent for the length of the lease.

Know the law and how much the former tenant was paying. Landlords are not legally allowed to hike up their rent prices. If the previous tenants were only paying a fourth of what you are paying, file an appeal to help lower your rent.

Negotiating rent with your landlord can be daunting, but there are ways to go about it confidently. Even if you are unsuccessful, there are other ways to creatively lower rent.