Welcome to college! At the risk of sounding like one of your orientation coordinators, I’m going to tell you that the next four (or so) years of your life may well be the best years of your life. But you generally don’t get a crash course in finances during orientation (I sure didn’t), so I’m here to help.

There might be some instruction about money in your “First Year Enrichment” class (or whatever they call it at your school), but by the time they cover that topic, most of your classmates will have already made the three big freshman money mistakes. Ouch. Be cooler than your peers: avoid these mistakes!

Mistake #1: Buying textbooks from the school bookstore.
I’ve yet to meet a college freshman that shopped around for their textbooks. They all (including me, at that time) shuffle into the school bookstore like lemmings, and pay the premium that the school bookstore charges. Get your textbooks from Amazon, Chegg, or used from another student on campus, and you can easy save $150 (or more!) each term. You can find my super-secret, ultra-refined formula for saving money on textbooks in the College Freshman Checklist.

Mistake #2: Getting bank accounts and credit cards for free t-shirts.
Free stuff is awesome! But you’ve got to know, in the back of your mind, that there’s a reason that these guys are giving you a free t-shirt (or candy bar, or Frisbee). The reason they do it is because they will make way more money off of you over the years than the cost of that freebie. In most cases the money they make off of you is in the form of awful fees, which you could have avoided if you got a proper bank account.

So don’t be like your friends, who’ll line the pockets of banks and credit card companies in exchange for a cheep Frisbee with the bank’s logo on it! Get a checking account that is a truly fee-free student account, with ATMs on or near campus. This might be the type of account the guys with the free t-shirts are offering, or it might not be. Trust me, the money you save in fees will buy you much cooler shirts!

As for the credit card, I’m all for college students establishing a credit history by getting a credit card. However, the one being pitched on campus with a freebie probably isn’t the best one you could get. Get a proper credit card with no annual fee and spending rewards. (See College Money Tip #9: Establish Credit.)

Mistake #3: Ignoring student loans.

Chances are, you’ve taken out some student loans to help pay for school. You might be tempted to take this lightly, since it seems like everyone has student loans, and you’ve got a long time before you’ve got to start paying them back. But your best bet is to pay some attention to those bad boys, before they get out of hand.

You’d be amazed at how easy it is to take out more money than you should. Student loan companies are not likely to tell you if you’ve taken out more than you can reasonably pay back, and that includes the Federal government! I took out way more in loans than I could handle, and all of my loans are Federal student loans, so don’t think you’re safe just by avoiding private loans.

Keep track of your student loans starting now and you can save yourself a whole lot of hurt come graduation. And it will be ten times easier to track them if you do it from the beginning than if you try to start keeping records halfway through. Just put all of your loan paperwork in one file folder, and put a piece of paper in it where you add up all the money you’ve borrowed and keep a running total. And use this loan calculator to make sure you’re not going to borrow more than you can handle. That’s it!

Upperclassmen: could you chime in with some sage wisdom for the incoming class in the comments?

This post is a part of the weekly series College Money Tips. Previous College Money Tip: Get Savings.

This is a guest post from the blogger behind Studenomics a personal finance blog that offers common sense advice for college students and recent graduates. Studenomics is the ultimate resource for young people looking for advice on how to survive this current recession, grow their careers, manage their finances, and still be able to enjoy the weekends.

I know the last thing anyone wants to do in the summer is to go back for more school, but hear me out please. I used to look forward to the day I wrote my last exam and summer began. The first few weeks you will relax and enjoy the freedom, but then you will eventually find yourself completely bored. As time went on I realized the benefits of taking college courses in the summer:

1. Finish college early. Even just by taking a few courses every summer you could graduate college earlier than all of your friends. Even if you enroll in one or two courses all summer that last a couple of hours in the morning during the week, you will still have the ability to earn some money and have enough time to enjoy the summer. The earlier you graduate the earlier you can start making money or better yet go on that trip to Europe.

2. Avoid school in the winter. I don’t know about you guys but I absolutely hate traveling to school when there is 10 inches of snow on the ground or when there is snow blowing in my face all of the time. By attending summer school in 2007 I was able to work the following winter semester and not have to travel to school through the treacherous weather.

3. Less time for going out/going drinking. I personally think that all college students should keep themselves busy because if you don’t then you may find yourself spending money foolishly. We as college students need to create barriers that prevent us from spending money. People thought I was insane when I took a full course load at college a couple of years ago. I ended up saving more money than anyone else and I still had fun on the weekends. The only negative was that my schedule was packed Monday to Friday. Unless you have the ability to practice strict discipline, odds are that school is needed to help you focus this summer.

We all want to have a productive summer but we just don’t know where to start. Here’s a little secret: you can start by reading The Summer of George- The Most Productive Summer a College Student Will Ever Have:

Summer of George Introduction @ Studenomics.com
Work Abroad This Summer @ CashMoneyLife.com
Enjoy Cheap Summer Activities @ MoneySmartLife.com
Learn a New Language @ TotalCandor.com
Take Up a Sport and Become Good At It @ FreeFromBroke.com
Help Your Local Church @ GatherLittleByLittle.com
Take Some College Courses This Summer @ PoorerThanYou.com
Summer Jobs With Little Startup Funding Required- Part 1 @ MoneyNing.com
Summer Jobs With Little Startup Funding Required- Part 2 @ PTMoney.com
Take Control Of Your Financial Situation @ Bargaineering.com

The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the big, bad form that most colleges in the US use as a basis for financial aid. One of the key points of a the FAFSA is that if you are under 24 years old, you’re pretty much required to include the financial information of one (or both) parents. This is a feature of the FAFSA that really bothers me.

There are a lot of reasons and situations that make this feature of the FAFSA unbearable for some students. In the past, if you could not get the financial information of your custodial parent (for whatever reason), you were out of luck with the FAFSA – you couldn’t even submit it. For many colleges, this meant no chance of aid at all. If you couldn’t pay out of pocket, you couldn’t go at all.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) changed that, starting with the 2009-2010 school year. However, this change comes with a lot of caveats and addendums (also known as “bobby traps and catches”) that you should know about before you file a FAFSA without filling out the “parent” section.

Filing Without Parental Information Barely Helps

According to the 2009-2010 Federal Student Aid Handbook:

Although students whose parents refuse support are not eligible
for a dependency override, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) granted that such students may receive unsubsidized Stafford loans only.

(page 32 of the handbook)

What this means is that students in this situation go from receiving no aid at all to only being eligible for unsubsidized Stafford loans. You can’t get the Pell grant, Perkins loans, or subsidized Stafford loans – all of which are better options than unsubsidized Stafford loans. Unsubsidized Stafford loans are also limited by grade level, and you will not be eligible for the “extra” unsubsidized Stafford loans that students can get when their parents are denied a PLUS loan.

However, this only covers what aid the government will give you. The pure fact that you can now submit a FAFSA means you may be eligible for the aid that your school might provide you. Which brings me to my next point about this new provision:

You’ll Need the Help of Your College’s Financial Aid Officer

Even though you can now submit the FAFSA without parental information, you can’t do it alone. Most of things needed to make this work have to be done by, or with the help of, a college financial aid officer. Additionally, these things must be done by the financial aid officer of the college you’re going to attend.

This means that if you are a potential freshman, you pretty much have to pick the college you want to go to, before you even fill out your financial aid paperwork. That’s a big decision, and normally one you shouldn’t make without seeing the results of your financial aid application. Your best bet is a pick a college that really wants you, and do everything you can to befriend the financial aid officer. You’re going to need them if your parents refuse to fill out the FAFSA or support you.

If you go ahead with filing out the FAFSA by yourself, you’ll need to provide documentation that your parents refuse to both provide information for the FAFSA and refuse to provide any financial support to you. If your parents won’t sign this statement, you’ll need the signature of a third party, such as a teacher, counselor, cleric, or the court.

After you’ve done this, the financial aid officer at your college can then look at your situation and then decide whether to award you unsubsidized Stafford loans, or not. As you can see, it’s not exactly cut-and-dried, or easy, and it certainly requires the assistance of the financial aid officer.

Before You Do This, Make Sure You Really Need To

The absolute best option is to get your parents to provide their information for the FAFSA. You will still be eligible for those unsubsidized Stafford loans, no matter how much your parents make or how much money they have. So it can only help you to have their information.

If you’re having trouble getting their information for the FAFSA, remind them that providing it does not put them under any legal obligation to support you, or to pay a single dime toward your education. In some situations, this may help to coax the information out to them. Still, there are a lot of situations where the parents just can’t be convinced. Or you may not be on speaking terms with them at all.

One last thing to consider is whether you truly are still considered a dependent. If you aren’t, you can fill out the FAFSA as an independent student, and you won’t need their information at all to get the full aid you qualify for. The FAFSA website provides a form to determine whether you are dependent or not.

It may seem unconventional, but for some people, there are ways to become independent. The first is quite simply to join the military. Active duty personnel and veterans are automatically considered independent. The other option is to get married. No, you shouldn’t get married just to get financial aid, but if you are already engaged, you might consider applying for your marriage license early. Just being married on paper is enough to grant you the status of “independent” on the FAFSA – you can have a proper wedding ceremony whenever you want.

If you can’t get the information you need from your parents, and you can’t qualify to file as “independent,” then it’s time to talk to the financial aid officer at the college about filing as a dependent without parental information. I’m sorry that there aren’t more options for you, but hopefully this will help you make things work.

Many thanks to Suddenly Human and NotAnyoneYouKnow from the Financial Aid category at Yahoo! Answers. They brought this financial aid development to my attention and helped me find the source I needed to write this article.

Isn’t it annoying how money doesn’t seem to last as long as it should? Payday is such a happy day – money comes in, but somehow doesn’t quite last as long as you want. I mean, you’re doing all you can to become financial savvy in college (including all 14 of the previous College Money Tips!), so why isn’t there any money left over?

Let me tell you two personal finance secrets, one you may have heard, and one you probably haven’t. You may have heard:

Pay Yourself First

“People” (personal finance “gurus”) say “pay yourself first!” as much as they can. What they mean is: when you think of “savings” (as in, moving your money into a savings account), you should think of it as a bill. And not just any bill – your most important and pressing bill. When you get a paycheck, your savings should be the very first bill that you pay.

This elevates you, your life, and your goals to Priority #1, above everything else that pulls at your cash. Good news, right? Well, yes, in theory. But here’s the other secret, the one most people don’t mention:

“Pay Yourself First” Doesn’t Work for Everyone

Yeah, it’s a great idea. But many people have dug themselves into such deep financial holes that “pay yourself first” is just a pipe dream. “Pay the rent/electricity/water bill first!” is a better mantra for many people.

But… here’s a bonus third secret for you: You, as a college student, are not one of those people.

“Pay Yourself First” Might Actually Work for You

You’ve got fewer bills, and your biggest bills are likely to come only once per term: tuition, room and board. Right now, before you have bills tugging at your money from all directions, you have a better shot of putting away a little money from every paycheck.

So give it a try. Pay yourself first. Pick a percentage – 10% is good, but so is 20% or 5%. Whenever you get money – from a paycheck, birthday, or whatever – take that percentage and put it away in a savings account. You’ll be surprised at how quickly it adds up. (Remember: savings work best when you have a plan for your savings.)

If you start now, you might just be able to make “pay yourself first” work, and be able to keep it up, even as you get older and those “real bills” start to come after you.

This is a guest post from MLR @ MyLifeROI. This is a 3 post series and each post is going live this morning on three different blogs: Bargaineering, Green Panda Treehouse, & Poorer Than You. I will be posting a wrap-up post to tie it all together and summarize each article.

You are 22 years old. You have just spent the past four years paying tuition, room and board, books, food, utilities, transportation, etc. The worst part is that it is all getting more and more expensive beyond peoples’ expectations. Where does that leave you? In a mountain of debt upon graduation. For some of us that means letting our debt dictate a less than optimal career.

However, what are some ways that we could better prepare for our college education? And if it is too late for you, how can we better plan for our children’s education?

I will outline three ways: Savings Vehicles, Financial Aid, and Reducing Costs. Each section contains a sub-list of “to-do’s” that I advise you to look into!

Post #1: Savings Vehicles, Bargaineering
Post #2: Financial Aid, Green Panda Treehouse
Post #3: Reducing Costs, Poorer Than You
Post #4: Wrap up, My Life ROI

So far we have already discussed how to save money in the most effective way for a child, or beneficiary, that will be going to college. That post is more geared towards parents saving for their children’s education as it requires a sufficient time horizon. Then I discussed what different need-based options exist through financial aid. This is something that does not require planning (as long as you have considered the first article and did not create custodial accounts!) and can be done with the parent and the child right before they head off to college. The child should definitely take an active role in filling out the form months before in order to get a feel for it. This will allow them to fill it out for the next three years.

However, what is one area that the prospective student directly controls? Reducing the costs. Here are a bunch of ways which are tried and true methods to slash the price tag of a college education.

Military Service

There are two Montgomery GI Bills. The one for active duty military offers a recruit the option of participating. If the recruit chooses to participate then their pay is reduced by $100 per month for the first year. What do you get for this $1,200? If you are a 4 year enlistee you are entitled to education benefits of $37,224. If you are a 2 year enlistee that number drops down to $30,240. Where else could you turn $1,200 into over $30,000? The Montgomery GI Bill for reservists and guards does not reduce your pay. However, you do forfeit a lot of the monetary benefits… you are only entitled to a total of $10,692. You also must be enlisted for a total of 6 years in order to qualify.

Another way to use the military to reduce your college costs is by going to a Military academy. They are tuition-free four-year colleges that offer a commission in the military as an office after graduation.  What do I mean by Military academy? West Point, the Air Force Academy, etc. The ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) also provides scholarships for participation. These are merit based. If you look at the site you will see they also offer additional living expenses on top of tuition. A great deal if service to your country is something you want to do. If you have any questions you should contact your local military recruiter.

Part-time Work

This is the option I chose to reduce my costs throughout college. I worked every semester except for one. My typical work load per week was about 20-30 hours. Then on top of that I usually did 15-18 credits per semester and was an officer in an academic society. The first issue most people raise is that they do not want to affect their grades. However, the only semester in which I did not work was the semester in which I got the worst grades! Why? Because I was not utilizing proper time management practices that I needed in order to weigh work, school, academic clubs, and a social life. Once I was forced to budget my time I found that all aspects in my life improved. And this is a life skill. Postponing learning this skill just makes it harder for yourself down the road.

What kind of jobs did I hold? I worked for College Works Painting, which is an entrepreneurial job. It requires you to run your own branch and sell paint jobs. You do marketing, sales, and production. It was great and I made a lot of money! After 2.5 years of doing that I decided to move on from sales so that I could get more experience for my resume with different companies. I worked for a small 3rd Party Logistics Company doing operational sales work. After that I decided to get more involved in the logistics/shipping aspect and went to FedEx Ground. Shortly thereafter I went to UPS in order to get a Part-Time Supervisor position. These positions are very frequently given to college students. You get $1,600/month (25 hours/week), full medical and dental benefits, and tuition reimbursement! Not only do you make money to help pay for school, but they will also give you money to help! If you are a union employee they give you $3,000/year. If you are a PT Supervisor they will give you $4,000/year.  The benefits are really hard to come by. What did I get by doing all of this? When I graduated, on top of my scholarships, grants, and income from working… I was debt free. Worth it?

Co-op

Co-ops are offered by some college programs. Drexel is a well-known business school that has a 5 year program in order to incorporate between six and eighteen months of co-ops. What is a co-op and why do some schools incorporate them? A co-op allows a student to work within a major corporation. The corporations typically are very willing to entrust vital projects to the students. If you want responsibility, a co-op is right for you. There are usually a lot of options so that you can choose a co-op that suits your interests and your expected field.

The benefit is that a co-op allows students to apply their knowledge in the field. Upon graduation practical experience may set you apart from your peers. A lot of companies offer the students who have co-op’d with them a higher starting salary. At Drexel University, the average six month co-op salary is $13,760. Other co-op programs offer similar compensation. If you were to do my UPS suggestion you would earn $9,600 over the six months plus $4,000 in tuition reimbursement. So the amounts are right in line but the co-op offers the advantage of a better resume boost and a potential job offer!

Volunteer Programs

Have you heard of AmericCorps? AmeriCorps is an organization that links people with non-profit groups in order to make a difference in someone’s life. What kind of work would you find yourself doing?

• Tutor and mentor disadvantaged youth
• Fight illiteracy
• Improve health services
• Build affordable housing
• Teach computer skills
• Clean parks and streams
• Manage or operate after-school programs
• Help communities respond to disasters
• Build organizational capacity
• Benefits of Service

What reward do you get? Helping people! Oh… and a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award which totals $4,725. You can use it to pay for college, graduate school, or just to pay back qualified student loans. If you only serve the AmeriCorps part-time you will still receive a partial award! Another way that the AmeriCorps helps to reimburse college loans is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and a new Income-Based Repayment plan (IBR) which stemmed from  The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007. The IBR allows you to pay less money on your loans since you will be a low-income AmeriCorps member. Service is also viewed as an equivalent to a public service job which qualifies you for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program! Oh, and while you are working for the AmeriCops to get these education benefits, you are also receiving a living allowance and health benefits.

Scholarships

Scholarships are a great way to save money. My academic society had a pretty large endowment to draw from to give out scholarships. We had so few applicants that every applicant would receive something, with the minimum scholarship being $500. And it was just a 1 page form that took five minutes to fill out! That is $100 per minute… or $6,000 per hour! You would be surprised how many scholarships get left on the table. There are a bunch of websites dedicated to helping you find scholarships, such as FastWeb and Scholarships.com. You should try to take advantage of every possible scholarship. On top of asking academic societies if they offer scholarships and searching those sites, you should ask your high school guidance counselor or college advisor if they know of any scholarships that are available.

Community College

This is one option that I did not take advantage of, and I wish I would have at least considered it. Community colleges are cheaper by an extraordinary amount. You may wind up paying $5,000 for the year rather than what would be $20,000 at your state school or a private institution. You can take your first two years of classes which normally consist of basic requirements, or core classes, anyway. By doing this you may wind up saving a fortune. If I had done this when I was in college, I could have saved an extra $30,000 over the first two years of school – when accounting for tuition and room and board, since I would have lived home. I still would have graduated on time… just with a huge chunk of cash in my pocket! I certainly have a few things on my mind that I could have used that for!

Lifetime Learning Credit

When it comes time to do your taxes, The Lifetime Learning Credit provides an annual tax credit of up to $2,000 for qualified tuition and fees. This limit is on a per family basis. If you are a single filer the credit starts getting phased out at an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $50,000. For a married filing jointly filer the credit gets phased out starting at an AGI of $100,000.

Summary

There should be no reason you graduate in mountains of debt if you have the foresight to make a plan and stick to it. There are plenty of ways to chip away at the costs of college as I have outlined above. There are more but I thought these were some of the most sizable and substantial ways. Feel free to offer any suggestions that have a large impact, too!