College is a completely different world from high school. You’re not just surrounded by people your age or kids you grew up with. You’re now amongst adults, free to make their own decisions, a wealth of information and resources, even people your grandparents’ age trying to pursue the same degree as you. You hear from a lot of people that your college years are the best years of your life. That doesn’t mean you should spend it sleeping in until noon, partying Thursday through Sunday. There’s so much to be done while you’re in college:

1. Join a club: Clubs in college are a little different than clubs in high school. Now they’re known as organizations. You can find a lot of like minded individuals by joining a student organization. It can be a sport, whether NCAA or intramural. It can be related to your identity, whether ethnicity, home town, or personal interest. It can be something you have absolutely no idea about! Getting involved can attribute to your college experience.
2. Connect with a professor: Admittedly, it’s a lot harder to get to know your professor on a personal level than it was in high school. Your instructors have a lot more students, and remember names and faces could be very difficult. Make a point to visit their office hours, express your needs in the classroom, and don’t hesitate to ask them questions. Keep in touch with them after the term. You’ll need their good words if you’re applying for grad school.
3. Support your sports teams: College sports is an atmosphere in its own right. The athletes are awesome, and the fans are even better! If you’re lucky enough to go to a Division 1 school, you probably hear about your peers all the time on ESPN. Even if you don’t go to a televised sports school, you should still support your fellow students. Who knows, you may find yourself interested in the sport or become a recognized fan!
4. Date: Another way college and high school are different is the number of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes increases dramatically! There are many stories of people finding their soul mate in college, and you can too! Find a nice young man or young woman to spend some time with, and see where things go. You could be hanging out with your future husband or wife!
5. Travel: A great perk to being a college student is the opportunity to travel all over the globe through studying abroad. You can choose where you want to go and how long you want to stay. Maybe you want to spend a semester in Brazil, a year in London, or winter break in China. You get a great rate and an experience of a lifetime!
6. Work or intern: Your school’s career development office will have a variety of career opportunities for you to engage in while in school. These can be positions that will open doors for you in a full time career, not just fast food and retail positions. Some internships may be unpaid but offer a full time position after you graduate. Your part time job can assist with your educational costs. If you’re not taking a ridiculously full load of classes, look into this.
7. Learn: Obviously you’re supposed to be in college to get an education, but it doesn’t have to be the traditional maths and sciences. College offers such a variety of classes, with subjects you probably have never heard of! Explore different literatures in the eyes of other cultures. See how pop culture relates to history. Stay current on events and learn how to report them. Take this time to take a class that will truly keep your interest, and not just because it’s a required course for your major, or because you’re sure you can get an A.

There’s so much to do in college, and 4 years can go by faster than you think. Use this time to truly get a well rounded experience. Meet great, new people, have a good time, and be serious about your life after you graduate.

It’s August already, which means summer is soon ending, and school is resuming. Every school year you have the best intentions to party less and study more, but somehow find yourself back in the same pattern. That’s because you don’t have the tools to keep you focused! There’s plenty of distractions out there as it is. What you need is some help tuning out the temptation and getting back to work. Here are 7 apps and software that should help you accomplish your educational goals this coming school year:

1. OpenOffice: As if it’s not hard enough to write a 10 page paper about something you know nothing about, you don’t have a proper text editor that doesn’t set you back as much as your books do! You don’t need to buy Microsoft Office or iWork. OpenOffice is an open source software that provides you with a free alternative to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You can save your work in the Microsoft format, and won’t have to worry about finding product keys or spending $100 on software you need for school.
2. Evernote: This is personally my favorite app probably on the planet right now, and it can become yours too. Evernote is note taking to a higher power. You can write text notes, record audio, save screenshots, and upload pictures. You then save your notes into notebooks, which keeps things organized. You can have a notebook for each class, a notebook for recipes from mom, and a notebook for whatever inspires you. You can access your notes on the web, on your computer using the Evernote app, or even on your iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone.
3. Dropbox: Don’t you get tired of the 50 flash drives that you have and can’t find when you need to save, share, or print something from a different computer? The cloud is making that a lot easier. Dropbox allows you to save your files in one central location, and you can access it wherever you have computer access. So you can save your project on Dropbox, just like you would any folder, and open it on your professor’s computer.
4. Kindle: Nobody likes buying $300 textbooks anymore. It’s even worse when you try to sale them back and you learn the class is using the newer edition, meaning no one needs yours anymore. Renting textbooks has made things a lot easier, but you still have a huge brick of 500 pages taking up space. Amazon has recently announced that their offering digital textbook rentals via the Kindle. You don’t even need a Kindle to read your books; they have apps for your computer and your phone so you can read wherever you like!
5. Remember the Milk: There’s no feeling quite like crossing something off your to-do list. If you’re like me, you may have more than one to-do list depending on different aspects of your life. One for school, one for work, one for your personal life. Remember the Milk makes things a lot less hectic. You can organize your to-do lists how you want, including prioritizing what should be done first, when it’s due, if it reoccurs, and any additional notes you need. This will help you keep track of what needs to be done and what has been completed.
6. OmmWriter: This is a recent find for me. If you have something to write but you’re having a hard time focusing, OmmWriter is for you. It’s a simple text editor, that takes over full screen, taking away the allure of distractions like Facebook and Twitter. It provides a peaceful background and soft, relaxing music so that you can write in peace. It’s a great app to making writing a zen activity.
7. Spotify: I know I need music to study or do my work, and maybe you do too. Chances are, you have iTunes, and your library may be equipped with just about every song you’ve ever heard, but Spotify takes things to another level. Similar to Pandora, in the sense that you can listen to streaming music online, Spotify allows you to become your own DJ, selecting the songs you want to play, as opposed to the Russian roulette of your favorite artist’s Pandora station. They just debuted their beta for the US, so find a way to get your hands on an invite!

Hopefully these tools will help you focus on school a bit more, and will allow you to get your work done quicker. Good luck on your new school term, and here’s to hoping you get the grades you want!

Ah the joy of drinking lots of booze and being care free. Then there’s disaster of trying to cure a hangover the next day while that term assignment lingers in the back of your mind. The life of a college student. As summer break/ the thought of no more schooling approaches the topic of getting drunk becomes increasingly popular.

I could be a hypocrite and tell you not to drink. But that’s not what Studenomics is about. I’m not here to lecture or judge anyone. Too many personal finance blogs give simple advice like– “don’t drink alcohol” or “alcohol is a waste.” I’m sure we all have enough authority figures in our lives and one more is certainly not needed.

Let’s have some fun and talk about ways you can save money when drinking lots of alcohol:

Don’t bring a lot of money with you.

This may sound simple but it’s very effective. My trick is to bring an estimate of money I need for the night in my wallet, along with my ID. I always keep an extra $20 or so in my back pocket for the cab ride home.

No matter how good your intentions are before you drink, once you start drinking, your money will have much less value to you. Whether it’s the mood or the good vibes that catch up to you, something will trigger you to become care free with your spending. So remember, if you only bring $40 with you, then you’ll only spend $40. If you bring $100 “just in case” you might end up spending all of it. It’s better to be realistic ahead of time than to regret all the money you spent the next morning.

Split the bill always.

Just because you guys get drunk it’s no excuse for someone to “forget” to pay. Make sure the bill gets paid equally so that you’re not always stuck picking up the tab (unless you’re really rich- then we should hang out some time). Plus don’t let something as minor as splitting a bill affect the mood of the group.

Avoid drinks in certain environments.

It’s cool if you have drinks at a buddies place or the local pub, but you may want to think twice at dinner. It’s no secret that drinks are much more expensive with dinner than they are at home or in a pub. Six beers at a restaurant for dinner will cost you much more than six beers in your living room.

Pick your location ahead of time.

Sometimes when you go out, you plan to just go with the flow. That’s cool and all but when you realize how much money you spent on taking cabs around town, you’ll wish that you did some planning before the night started.

How do all of you 20-somethings out there save money when going out for a few (or many) drinks?

Alright so we all know that common sense isn’t all that common. For my Friday College Life 101 post I wanted to put together a post of things that all college students should know regarding school life. I will address different topics and kind of rant/state what’s been bothering me lately.

Coming late to class

It happens. We all come late to class (or work) at some point.I can’t even try to remember how many times I have been late for a class (especially those 8 AM classes). Why is it that there’s always some clown that feels the need to enter a huge lecture hall 30 minutes late in the middle of a sentence? Imagine you were discussing something and someone abruptly opens the door and creates a major distraction. You wouldn’t like it.

I highly recommend waiting outside the room for a break. Most 3 hour lectures have a 15 minutes break at the midway point. I know it sucks missing half of the class but suck it up. You are the late one.

If you must enter then take a peek into the room to make sure there is space. Whatever you do, never be the clown that comes late and makes a huge scene while trying to find space. Seriously do you realize how annoying you are? Just because you come late you shouldn’t piss off the other people in the class that came on time.

Missing deadlines

Nobody cares about your excuses. Unless a family member passed away or has fallen ill then shut up. People have it a lot worse than you do. Save your sorry excuse for someone that will listen.

If you absolutely have to hand an assignment in late then don’t email the professor on the due date. This basically shows that you decided to work on the assignment at the very last minute and you ran out of time.

Email the professor a few days before the due date. Tell them you require more time because you want to add more value to your work. Tell the professor you want to make sure you hand in an A paper. They may not buy it but it’s better than blatantly lying about not feeling well.

What does today’s post have to do with personal finance? Everything. The horrible habits you develop in college will follow you into the real world. These are the habits that will hold you back from that promotion or big wage increase. Who in the right mind would promote the guy that walks into a meeting late? Who would give the girl a raise that hands the report in past the deadline?

I’m in my final year of college and I think I have a decent grasp of where my money is spent around my campus. I have slowly improved my ability to save money when spending my whole day on campus. With that being said it doesn’t mean that I don’t spend money foolishly around my college campus. Over the last month I have taken note on wallet busters around the college campus and have listed them below as a light Friday read for you guys:

The college bookstore. You have got to be kidding me? A book that was on sale for $175 at my college bookstore, I found online at textbooksw.com for $70 (not specifically endorsing this site or any other textbook broker, just a suggestion). The currency brought it up an extra few dollars and the shipping was free. Let’s assume I saved $95. That’s $95 going towards my next vacation. That $95 could also equal a few  fun nights out in the city. Our that $95 can be reinvested into your education and can be put towards an evening course or continuing education course.

The fast food joints. Well as much as they bust your wallet I’m sure they aren’t helping your gut either. Obviously it’s unrealistic to bring food from home everyday because that’s just now how life works. We wake up late sometimes, our alarm clock doesn’t go off, were up all night finishing an assignment, and were often in a rush in general.

The college pub. Of course you can save money by drinking at the college pub as opposed to a fancy night club, BUT, the college pub becomes a wallet buster when you find yourself drinking 5 days a week there.

Credit card reps. Despite giving you such a great free t-shirt or backpack the credit card reps will bust your wallet in the long term. I am not against credit cards but I do not support giving people with a very low income and bad spending habits access to “plastic money.” Government legislation has helped change what credit card reps can and can not do, but they still can be a serious wallet buster for young uninformed college students.

Random vendors. You ever wonder what’s up with all of these random people selling stuff on campus? I don’t know about you guys but around my college campus there will be vendors sometimes. They sell the biggest junk. They would be better fit to work on a resort down south because they do a great job of selling random relics.

What are some other wallet busters around the college campus?

Are you as productive as you would like to be? Do you put things off way longer than you should? Unless you are the rare “getting things done” expert then chances are you struggle with productivity in college. I have slowly been improving my productivity, but am willing to admit that I’m nowhere close to perfect.

Instead of giving you guys a list of productivity tips on a Friday afternoon that you would forget by the time Sunday rolls around, I wanted to try something different. Today I will be looking at common productivity issues that college students face:

When you say to yourself- “I will go for a few beers and do my stuff when I get home.” Yes I have done this many times and so have you. Whether you tell yourself you will go for a quick lunch, quick beer, quick coffee, or quick walk, I’m sure that you have at one point done this to yourself. You should NEVER plan to do your school work or any other important tasks after you go out first. Stepping out should be either used as a break or as a reward for getting things done. Once you’re out the last thing on your mind will be your school work.

Thinking you’re a loser for staying in. Staying in at home to get your stuff done will not make you a loser. I can promise you this. What will you miss by not going out once in a while? I’m a big advocate of enjoying yourself while in college WHILE striking the perfect balance between work and play. If you play too much and don’t work enough then you will fall behind on your school work which will in turn costs you lots of money down the road.

Using college as an excuse to be unproductive. I know college consumes a high amount of your time but don’t make it seem like it fills up every second because it doesn’t. I know it and you know it. Instead of watching the whole season 5 of The Office on dvd that time can be used to complete one of the 25,000 tasks on your to-do list.

Having too many “relax” days. We all need one day to relax but anything more is a bit excessive. A break is good for you but after a few days your brain might start to forget some of the important notes from your last class. This happens to me all of the time. I take a few days off from school work or from Studenomics and then have a hell of a time trying to get back into the groove of things. The take home point here is that a little rest is needed but do not overdo it because you will get lazy.

Have a great weekend and try to squeeze some productivity into it!

photo: louis79

Picking up girls with money- no I am NOT talking about prostitution or paying for sex. Well technically you always pay for sex, but that’s a different story. By talking about picking up girls with money I wanted to discuss those guys that always spend their paychecks on the nicest clothes, fanciest shoes, and hefty cover charges at high scale clubs, all to pick up women. Granted we all love the attention of the opposite sex but some of us spend way more money than is needed. You can learn how to get a girls number without spending everything in your wallet.

Today for College Life 101 I just wanted to mention a very popular piece of dating advice for men that many college students may not be aware of- uniforms do not win games when it comes to attracting women.

I will never write a guide for picking up girls because I have a great girlfriend and she will be the first to declare that I have lots to learn about the subject. With that being said allow me to make some comments on picking up girls in your twenties by spending lots of money:

You ever notice how some guys go to the bar dressed like scrubs and still manage to leave with a few numbers in hand? They are the guys that have learned that out of the million ways to attract women, your wallet isn’t the best method in your twenties.

Sure a college girl may notice that you have a Dolce & Gabana dress shirt on but it doesn’t mean that she will flock to you or go home with you.

You will not double your dating by buying the most expensive pair of Guess Jeans or a Hugo Boss dress shirt.

As a college student or even a recent college graduate you probably don’t have enough of a disposable income to be spending money so foolishly. If you’re a broke college student or college graduate then don’t let that discourage you or kill your confidence when you go out.

It’s all about having a great sense of humor and having some fun. Dating tips shouldn’t be about what dress shirt to wear, about what cologne to wear, or about attracting women with your heavy wallet.

Next time when you go out I want you guys to try a different approach. Instead of spending all of your money on the new Lacoste cologne just go out to have a good time. Bring only a few dollars with you. Enjoy meeting people that will not care whether you buy them a drink right off the bat or if you have the trendiest jeans on.

Don’t worry guys Studenomics is not turning into a blog all about dating tips. As many of you may be aware by now once in a while Studenomics features an article that falls under the category College Life 101. This section pretty much has no boundaries and I’m willing to discuss any topic that relates to college life. So feel free to contact me with any suggestions.

Despite being very busy with work and summer school I have still managed to squeeze in some fun summer activities into my schedule. As a college student it’s often a difficult decision to make in regards to taking summer courses. After going on my college website in early May I found an intensive course that would go on for 2 days a week for 5 weeks and I would end up with a full credit.

Since most of the readers of Studenomics have summer jobs I found it important to find fun summer activities that didn’t require a lot of time.

Mini golf

Price= $20 for 3 people

There’s a mini golf course about 5 minutes from my home and since I’m horrible at real golf I’m going to have to stick to mini golf for the time being. Mini golf can be really relaxing and used to get your mind off the fact that it’s almost back to school time.

You could save money by purchasing a summer mini golf package or by getting a little creative and setting up a little mini golfing green in your own backyard. It’s usually less than $10 a person so as a weekly summer activity it’s fairly cheap. Just don’t get mad if you lose to your younger brother like I always do.

Attending a movie theater

Price= $35 for 2 people

This one will probably receive lots of criticism because of the rise of Netflix and all of the various movie rental companies out there. The bottom line for me is if there’s a group of us looking for something to do and we really want to see a new release then we’re willing to pay the money to see it at the local cineplex. Sure you could watch new movies online but what’s the use of having a few people huddled by the laptop to watch a movie in bad quality?

It’s fairly simple for us, one person checks the movie times online while another person uses their credit card to purchase the movie tickets online.

If you want to save money there are discount movie theater’s available in most cities. There’s actually one right beside my college which is where me and some friends used to go during our 4 hour spares (yes I know I should’ve been studying).

Backyard party

Price= About $100 split between 6 people

Planning a backyard party is fairly simple, you just need to find out how many people are showing up so that you can purchase plenty of food and beverages.

You could potentially save money on a backyard barbecue party by not serving alcohol but then I doubt anyone would show up. You could also save money by only cooking hot dogs and hamburgers but then you really shouldn’t expect to see me.

I find that it is worth the money to have a great backyard party by having everyone pitch in an equal amount of money for food and beverages of decent quality.

A great party will leave you with memories that will become synonymous with that summer. For example, when you think of summer 2008 there has to be that one memory that instantly comes to mind.

The best money saving tip for this fun summer activity is to ensure that everybody pitches in an equal amount of money for everything. This way $15-20 will lead to a very enjoyable evening for you surrounded by great company.

photo: brainware300, ercwttmn

As a college student or new graduate you don’t exactly have the salary to buy the nicest pair of jeans or a Hugo Boss dress shirt for when you go out on the weekends. However, after communicating with a few readers I wanted to write about how to build confidence when you’re short on funds.

College Life 101 was originally intended for the first Friday of every month but since it’s summer time I’ve been receiving many emails from the college students that read Studenomics about “college life” issues. I believe in giving the people what they want, so I have put together an article with some valuable tips with how you can build confidence before a big weekend or big date when you have no money:

Get some sun during the day. If you wear a little bit of sun screen to ensure you don’t get burned then after a few hours in the sun you could end up with a decent looking tan.

Get in some physical exercise. You feel much better after a 30-45 minute workout because your body releases endorphins. A quick jog followed by 100 push ups will definitely get you feeling good before a big date or night out.

Get a hair cut. I can’t put my finger on it but I feel really good sometimes after a hair cut. I use my student status at a local barber shop where I get my hair cut for $10. If you’re a young guy paying more than $15 for a hair cut then it’s time you found a new barber

Have a light snack. Don’t stuff your face because then you’ll be bloated all night walking around feeling like a slob. If you get some food in your system before you head out you will have energy to last you the whole night.

Think positive & avoid thoughts about failure. Who cares if the date doesn’t go exactly as planned? As long as you have a fun time and have no regrets then don’t dwell over how the conversation went or how the food tasted.

Never view yourself as inferior to others. You may not have the most expensive wardrobe but that doesn’t mean that you’re not an amazing person. If people try to put you down they’re only doing it to feel better about themselves.

Fake it until you make it. You have definitely heard this saying before. If you’re lacking self confidence then simply lie to yourself and convince yourself that you are confident. This is easier said than done so I will leave it at this- practice, practice, and then practice some more.

Have a few drinks. Liquid confidence my friends. If you’re driving then obviously don’t drink and drive. Also try not to overdo the booze because you want to build a little bit of confidence- you don’t want to go out and make a fool out of yourself because you drank too much before you got to the bar.

photo: ChrisGambat

Every college student knows the deal this summer- there’s a recession and jobs are hard to come by, let alone a job that will pay you a decent wage. However, now that the warm weather is here we all want to get out of the house and enjoy our time off from school. Can you party this summer on a tight budget? 100% YES.

Don’t worry Studenomics is not here to tell you to save your money by not partying at all this summer or by playing board games because that is completely unrealistic & you guys wouldn’t listen anyway. Studenomics is here to show you how to optimize your spending so that you get the most out of life today while saving for tomorrow.

The following are ways you can party with your friends on a tight budget this summer while you enjoy your time off from college:

Park party. Get together with some friends in a public park at night time or during the evening. Most parks require you pay a small permit fee so don’t be cheap and pay it or else you might get a nice fine from the police. If the park doesn’t require a permit fee then your evening becomes even cheaper.

Backyard barbecue. So simple yet so fun. One person brings the beer, one brings the food, another brings soft drinks and you got yourself a party. Remember not to make too much noise after dark because you may get a fine causing this to be an extremely unfrugal party.

Camping. Cottage prices can be very steep in the summer so why not pay the camping ground fee and pitch a tent (I hope you dirty minds are not thinking about something else). Once again one person pays for gas, the other brings the tent, another person brings the beer, someone brings up the food, and you guys got yourself an inexpensive weekend away from home.

Few more tips to save money on partying this summer:

Student discount. College may be out for the summer but you can still use your student discount card when purchasing food or other items for your summer party.

Summer specials. My beer of choice is a Corona with a lime in it and it so happens that there is a summer special on Corona’s this year. The point here is to look around and you will be able to find some great deals on alcohol, food, and possibly even camping accessories.

Pool your money ahead of time. Do NOT leave home with your bank card. Before you guys go out get together and calculate roughly how much money you will need and pull out the cash. If you are going camping then pay for everything in advance (unless you plan on driving 6 hours).

Make sure everyone spends the same amount. Don’t be the guy that’s nervous because you’re stuck paying for the camping ground fee while your buddy buys a little bit of beer and spends the least amount of money.

If the total amount of all expenses comes out to be $400 then make sure 4 people all chip in $100 each. The whole point of splitting up the tasks is to ensure that you guys don’t forget anything and that everyone is responsible for one thing.

Some common summer activities to avoid:

Night clubs in the downtown core. These get pretty pricey in the summer because some night club owners use the influx of college students as an excuse to raise cover price and the cost of drinks. Plus as sexy as it may seem to be surrounded by a bunch of sweaty people it really isn’t. The clubs get stuffy and the whole time your going to want to leave but won’t because you paid your $10 cover fee.

Cottage rental. This can be really fun but from my past experiences and from what I’ve been able to gather from others- it can get really expensive. Most cottage rental places only have a 2 month window where they can earn decent money so they jack up the prices.

photo: shekay