College can get quite expensive, and not just because of the books and the tuition cost. When you go away to college, all of your normal habituals will be disrupted and you will spend a lot of time learning about the new area your in, and getting comfortable to your new surroundings.

In life, there is the time where you are fully supported by your parents, there is the “real world” where you have to take care of yourself, and then there’s college – the in-between state. And being social in college can end up costing you a lot of money.

It’s been estimated that a college student can spend more than $23,000 a year on things unrelated to tuition. That’s a mighty bill, and many college students that do not have jobs usually use credit cards to get most of their spending done.

Clothes, food, entertainment, your cell phone, your coffee, and your social life all add up. There are basically four different types of expenses besides the actual tuition:

• Room and Board
• Books and Supplies
• Personal Expenses
• Transportation

Out of these four, room and board is usually the most expensive. A student can spend close to $8,000 in room and board fees alone – and this is something that usually mandatory, so there’s no way around it. If you want to start saving money at college you have to start planning and spending wisely in the other three areas. Here are some ways that you can save monster amounts of money during your four years at college:

• Buy a coffee maker
• Invest in a Bike
• Use a family plan for cell phone
• Buy store brand foods
• Memorize food deals in your local area
• Use price comparison sites like We Compare Books to buy cheap textbooks and resell books

Another great way to save money is to trick yourself into saving money. There are many ways to trick yourself into saving money, but one of the main ways you can do this is by purchasing gift cards right when you get your money. This may seem odd at first, but once you figure out your daily routines you will usually know where you will end up on certain days of the week, and setting a balance for those days and nights at those certain places can really help avoid any extra spending. The best part about this is that you can usually find gift cards to places on different auction sites on the Internet where you can pick up gift cards for half the price.

The best way to save money can be summarized with one word: Studying. There are a lot of distractions in college, and not only does studying help you save money, but it helps you make more money in the future as well!

This guest post was written by Philip Russell.

Philip helps to run and maintain CreditDonkey.com, which is a web site that helps people find the best small business credit cards.

This is a guest post from Welles. He is a recent college grad who now writes content for Creditnet.com, a site which provides info about credit cards for college students.

So you’ve finally stepped out from under your parents’ umbrella and settled down in the beer soaked world of college. While it’s awesome to escape the watchful eyes of the parental units, there are some things that you’ll realize are kind of a drag.

One prime example: increased financial responsibility.

Now that you’ll be paying your way for most things, it’s up to you to start organizing your money in an intelligent way and preparing for your future. As long as you are a responsible spender, opening a credit card account and getting a head start on building your credit score is a very wise thing to do.

There are a few classic mistakes that college students make when they’re just starting out with a credit card. Make sure you don’t fall victim to one of these errors, or you could wind up foregoing all your Top Ramen money to pay for textbooks.

1. Charging too much

Let’s say you open up a credit card with a $500 line of credit. While it might be appealing to the average college student to promptly order a $500 bulk shipment of frozen pizzas, in the world of credit cards, this would be a very bad idea. Even though your new card gives you the capability to spend $500, you don’t ever want to charge that much in a given month.

Think of it this way: let’s say you offer to share some pretzels with your roommate, and then he goes ahead and eats the entire bag. You wouldn’t feel that good about pretzel-sharing situations in the future, now would you? Credit issuers feel the same way, and it may hurt your credit score if you adopt the same “give an inch, take a mile” mindset of your pretzel monger roommate.

Experts recommend spending no more than 30 percent of your available line of credit, so charge wisely.

2. Keeping a balance

Credit cards provide spenders with the luxury of not having to pay for their charges immediately. But this does not mean you should put off paying your balance until the next Olympics rolls around. Not paying in full can be a great way to incur interest charges and decrease the confidence credit issuers place in you as a spender.

A good way to handle this is by only charging your basic living expenses- like gas, utilities, and groceries. This way you won’t forget about that killer pair of shoes you bought at the mall and have a big surprise on your hands when it comes time to pay your bill. And if there is ever an emergency need to carry a balance, it’s best to opt for an interest interest free credit card so you won’t waste any of your money on interest charges.

3. Not having a credit card

This is the most common mistake that college students make. Life is pretty simple as a student and many might assume that credit cards may complicate things. While paying for everything in cash can often simplify things, it comes at the expense of not building up your credit score. Just a few years after college, you may need to make a large purchase on credit for something like a car or house, and if you don’t have an established credit history, banks may be unwilling to lend to you without a co-signer.

The younger you start building your credit score, the better. Even if it means simply charging a few meals on your card every month and paying it back, credit issuers like to see an established history of full payments on time. As long as you’re wise with your money, you’ll be well on your way towards responsible financial independence!

The meaning of college has changed much through out the years, from the days of our grandparents and great grandparents, when few attended college, and where college was reserved for the children of the privileged and very rich, to the days of our parents (60’s-70’s) when many were able to attend college, and many more chose to attend college in order to avoid going to Vietnam… In addition the G.I. Bill helped many to afford college. These increases in education throughout the 20th century allowed for a great increase in prosperity and lead to much innovation and benefited the world as a whole. But college today is different, not only is it far more costly than it ever was, but the value of education (even an Ivy League education) is not up to par, and it is up to individual students to take control of their own education!

The issues I bring up here could never be fully tackled in a single article and I do not claim to have the ultimate solution to these issues, my goal here is simply to state my opinion on these issues and to underline some of the facts so that students can make more informed decisions about their future.

We are all aware that college today is ridiculously expensive and that most of us must take student loans in order to pay for the privilege of attending an institution of higher learning. The sad reality is that most of us who choose to major in a liberal arts field, or who choose to work in a non profit following graduation will never be able to pay off these loans (a good friend of mine graduated college with a N.A. in theology and close to $100k in student loan debt! The earning potential of this degree is at most $30k-$40k per year that is if she is lucky enough to find a job in her field!) To give another example, I graduated with a B.A. degree in philosophy (one of the least employable degrees in the world! But my plan was always to attend grad school, and by majoring in philosophy I was able to follow other interests, such as starting cheaper college textbooks; additionally I was able to get a number of scholarships and I lived at home, so I finished my undergrad with $0 in debt). Oh, and in case you are wondering I did go to graduate school and I got 2 Master’s Degrees, but those degrees did not increase my ability to get a well paying job, and most of my friends who graduated with me are currently making under $50k, although a few who had previous experience or were able to get a job in the government are doing a bit better. The point I am trying to make here is that each student must think long and hard about what to major in, and for those of you who wish to one day pay off your student loans I recommend majoring in a science degree.

In terms of the value of an Ivy League education I once asked myself the following question, “What is the difference between an MBA degree from The Wharton School (top business school in the country) and Seton Hall University (my alma mater, a 2nd tier university)?” And being the curious type I decided to compare the two programs, there was of course the difference of cost, and of exclusivity, but the fact was that many of the textbooks used in both programs were the same, and both groups had the same case studies. The quality of professors differed, mainly in that the Wharton School paid their professors many times what professors at my school earned; and of course the earning capacity of the students was different, at the time the average starting salary of a Wharton grad was around $125k! (That is close to double what a full time PhD professor in Seton Hall was earning!). In examining the reasons for these disparities I found the answer to be pretty simple, for one thing, the students who were able to afford the tuition of a school like Wharton had parents with high power, high paying jobs and had friends in similar jobs who they could always call up and ask to hire their “kid”; secondly, schools such as Wharton encourage students to network with Alumni and thus many students are able to form connections that lead to future employment (I have been out of college for a few years, and although both of the colleges I attended have invited me to alumni events, neither school has made an effort to court me to attend such an event. And when I made the effort to be a guest speaker in my alma mater, I was shunned, being told that “you do not have anything to offer current students” [I paraphrase, but this was the jist of what I was told])

The main point that I wish to make to students is to not drink the Kool-aid that is being preached by teachers, admissions counselors… Think long and hard about what you want to major in and about the type of job you want to have one day and follow the most cost effective route to get to your goals! Take AP courses in high school; spend a year at a community college… Once you graduate college and get your first job no one will care that you went to a community college.

A guest post by Jeff Manors

Jeff Manors recently graduated from college with a lot of debt. He is happy to help others reduce how much debt they leave college with because he knows how hard it can be to have a lot of it. He is currently writing for online scholarship Info

Most people already know one key difference between scholarships, grants, and loans: of the three, only loans have to be paid back. Both scholarships and grants will never have to be paid back, so they could be called free money.

The catch is that you often have to either do some work or meet specific requirements (sometimes both) in order to get a scholarship or a grant, so it’s not completely free since it will take time and effort to get. Furthermore, if those scholarships or grants come from the government, they are being funded, at least in part, by the taxes you are paying. But, since you have to pay those taxes anyway, you might as well try to get some benefit out of it.

Before we completely dive into the difference, let’s point out one interesting similarity. All three require applications of some sort in order to obtain them. To go along with this, that means that all three have certain requirements that must be met. Not everybody can get a loan, though the requirements for a loan are often considerably lower than the requirements for a scholarship or grant.

So, here are the differences:

Schola
rships – scholarships are always for the purpose of sending someone to school. They are usually given based on one of two things: achievements and need. Having higher grades can earn you a scholarship, but so can having less money than most people. In rare cases, both are necessary in order to get a particular scholarship. Scholarships never have to be paid back, and usually the government is the one funding the scholarship, though sometimes other non-profit organizations will. This is also the easiest to get online through certain online scholarship programs.

Grants – grants are given in order for the grantee to complete a specific venture. Sometimes that venture is opening a small business, sometimes it is getting a college education. Grants often require proposals in order to obtain them, and they are usually based on what you want to do and your qualifications for completing that venture. In rare cases, grants can be need-based, like many scholarships. The Pell Grant, for example, is paid by the government to students who have low-income backgrounds. Grants can be from the government or other non-profit organizations, though government grants are more common. Again, these never have to be paid back.

Loans – loans can be for a variety of different things. Personal loans for buying a car or computer are fairly common, as are house loans and student loans. In most cases, you must meet certain minimum income requirements and credit score requirements that vary based on the amount you wish to borrow in order to qualify. If you do not qualify, someone who does must co-sign your loan, which means they promise to pay it if you fail to. Most loans come from private lenders, but the government does offer special student loans that might not need a co-signer. Student loans are almost always deferred until graduation, which means you won’t have to start paying them back until a set amount of time after you graduate. However, for most student loans, interest will continue to build even while you’re still attending school, so you should be careful about how much you borrow.

Scholarships and grants are very similar for most students, but loans are quite different. Try to avoid loans if you can, but it’s better to borrow and get a college degree than to not get a college degree at all.

The cost of college textbooks can easily add several hundred dollars to your semester’s bill when purchased from the school’s bookstore. In addition, today’s textbooks are more complex affairs with digital CDs and DVDs stuffed in the jackets to give them a multimedia flavor. Along with these additional perks, the cost of the book has to increase. cost of living raises for 2009 might not affect students as much as people with mortgages, cars, and families, but the changes in the economy still make a difference. Students still have to manage to come up with the difference to fund their textbook purchases. What’s a struggling student to do? Here are a few strategies to help you save some money on textbooks.

Check Out Online Retailers

Online retailers like Amazon.com and Abebooks.com allow individual sellers to post any book they want to sell. Often, you can search their library and compare costs to see if you can get a better deal online than you can at the college bookstore. Just be sure to read the fine print and get the same edition and features required by the course before you buy. They have both used and new books that are available for purchase. Factor in the cost of shipping too, as this will affect the final cost.

Should You Have To Buy New

If you find that you can’t get a better deal online, go and buy it at the bookstore and upon immediately finishing the course either sell it back or post it on Amazon.com as a seller. Odds are, if you take this route, you won’t have spent much more than buying it used when you factor in the money you make for reselling your book. Don’t wait too long, however, as college textbooks, in particular, are frequently updated into new editions. Even if your book comes with a CD or DVD, you can resell that or sell only the textbook version. Either way, you will be recouping some of the money you spent last semester to spend on this semesters new listing of required textbooks.