Being a college student isn’t as easy as it used to be, nor is it as cheap.

According to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, funding for California community colleges has been cut by $809 million, causing tuition to go up and making it difficult for students to pay school tuition while working.

“It’s hard working and paying for everything on my own when every year, the cost of classes raises up more,” said Renee Sava, a 20-year-old film and television production major.

Sava said that she has difficulty cutting back on spending money due to being a student and working.

“It’s hard when you have to commute for a job and forced to fill up your gas tank almost everyday, especially with gas prices right now,” said Sava.

With school tuition and textbook prices going up because of the school’s budget cuts, Sava says she feels frustrated.

“It’s actually really frustrating, especially when they say we have no money then they start building more things,” said Sava.

On top of school tuition, book fees and the cost of transportation, students struggle to keep up on payments and other things outside of school.

According to Bank of America, the best way for college students to budget their money is by creating a list of things that are important such as bills, while also leaving some money for social and entertainment activities and eating at home instead of going out to eat.

Early childhood education major Cathy Chao, 20, said that she cuts back on spending money by going to her friend’s house to cook instead of going out and spending so much money on meals.

Shawn Cha, a 20-year-old biological psychology major, said that working a part-time job isn’t enough to help with bills.

“I have to pay bills such as school bills, car bills, phone bills and house bills so it’s hard to keep up with payments,” said Cha.

He said he makes a list of what he needs, how much it costs and how much money he has left over to spend.

Even though Cha manages to create a budget, he still struggles with money because of school textbooks.

He said he hates how expensive textbooks are and how cheap the school buys books back at the end of the semester.

“It just makes being a college student that much harder,” said Cha.