By Katelynn Padron, Guest Columnist

Keeping up with popular television is part of the college experience. At only $7.99 per month, Netflix allows viewers to watch a wide array of shows and movies on a tight budget. But somehow Comcast and other cable providers are still in business.

 If you watch every game or match of every sport, you may want to pay for cable.However, if you only follow one or two teams, you should consider dumping it.

This football season, my husband and I went to family members’ houses and to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Seahawks demolish the competition. It’s a lot more fun to watch live sports in a community setting and it can save you $70 per month.

While Netflix doesn’t have movies until a couple months after they exit theaters, Redbox does — and you can rent them for $1.30 per day and return them to any Redbox. There’s one at Walgreens on the corner of Pacific Avenue and 121 Street.

It’s much cheaper than buying movies on demand from your cable company, and it’s still pretty convenient. Even if you absolutely need movies on demand, you can still ditch cable.

I admit, I miss watching television premieres on cable. Especially premieres of suspenseful shows that inspire spoilers on social media, like “The Walking Dead.”

But in the long run, it’s better to make friends and attend “Walking Dead” viewing parties instead of wasting money watching the show alone. However, if you have too many shows that you like to watch right when they air, Netflix may not be for you.

You may have noticed that if all your friends and family followed my advice and got rid of cable, you would never be able to watch live sports or television premieres.

I suggest you make friends with a few people who are ridiculously into sports or television premieres and cannot part with cable. That way, you’ll always have a place to go to watch the Seahawks and “The Walking Dead.”

Netflix can help students on a too-small-for-cable budget enjoy movies and television.

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