Leaving Home Leads to a Reality Check

By Lara Turner

When kids get to college it is an entirely new world with abundant freedoms but, one consequence that comes with these freedoms is that most kids loose track of how much they are spending. College students yield an average spending power of approximately $182 billion a year and their credit card debt is around $2,000 a year. That is a huge amount of money that could be saved to do a lot of other more important things. College kids just have to realize that all the little purchases add up in the end and that just because swiping a credit card is fine for the moment, at the end of the month a huge bill has to be paid. Here are some helpful hints that college students, especially freshman, may find helpful. One, cut back on eating out, two be smart when buying textbooks and only buy them if you really need them, three apply for scholarships after you get to college, four do not over decorate your room, five you do not have too buy too nice of a computer, six try not to over eat on your meal plan, seven buying a whole new wardrobe before the start of the year is not necessary, and eight carpool home on breaks so you do not have to pay money for gas. These are just some ideas on how to save money, but as long as kids keep track of how much they are spending they should be fine. 

http://media.www.theclariononline.com/media/storage/paper353/news/2008/04/02/StudentSpending/When-Students.Spend.Too.Much-3298894.shtml

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http://www.helium.com/items/248020-spending-tips-for-college-students