According to high-fashion magazines such as GQ, Valet and Esquire, dressing like a million bucks might actually cost a million bucks.

Fortunately for the college man with a college budget, high-class outfitting can be affordable, so springing $400 on a silk tie won’t be necessary.

Don’t flip open the coupon book just yet. Finding deals on dresswear requires a little more work. Scoring great prices will require patience, know-how and maybe even some haggling.

When looking for deals, the best place to start is any secondhand store. Older men trying to thin out their closets will blindly donate ties, shirts and even suits to places like Goodwill without realizing the value in some of their items.

Not every item in the pile at Goodwill is attractive or worth money, but if you stay patient and look hard, the best piece of clothing in the store might be waiting for you at the bottom of the stack. My favorite tie cost me $2.50.

If your local secondhand store isn’t helping, the next-best place to bargain hunt is, believe it or not, the mall. It’s often stores like Express and Banana Republic that will have sales that can save the budget-minded shopper from spending hundreds of dollars in one trip. Sometimes these sales are only advertised through mailing lists, so sign up online to get the news ahead of the other shoppers.

While you’re online signing up for your email newsletters, stick around the stores’ websites to find some online-only deals. Stores like Macy’s and Dillard’s will put items only on sale on the web. Bear in mind, this only works if you know and are confident in your sizes. Get fitted so you can take advantage of the deals that might only last a few hours.

In the end, it’s important to remember that dresswear is always going to cost a bit more than casual wear of similar quality, regardless of deals. This doesn’t mean deals can’t save you a lot of money in the long run.

Watch out for sales, capitalize on opportunities and begin (or expand on) the growth of your dresswear wardrobe.