Money College Tips

Indiana's 21st Century Scholars program has become a victim of its own success. It promises full college tuition for low-income middle school students who pledge to stay out of trouble, maintain a cumulative 2.0 GPA and graduate from high school.

And it works, academically: Participants are more likely to both graduate high school and attend college. But, economically, it's presenting a problem for cash-strapped Indiana, just as similar programs are testing budgets in other states.

Watching the Oscars without having seen the nominated movies is a bit like watching a sequel without seeing the original. You don't know who's who or what it's about, and you don't know who to root for.

But you're a college student, not a card-carrying member of the academy, so if you want to see this year's crop of Oscar films, you're going to have to pay up. Fortunately five of the 10 Best Picture nominees (Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The Social Network, Toy Story 3 and Winter's Bone), and seven other films nominated in the biggest categories, are available to watch instantly on your computer, iPhone, iPad, even your TV (provided you have a video game system, TiVo or Apple TV). It's cheaper, easier and all around more convenient than going out to the movies.

It started Jan. 1 as one of the first challenges facing college-bound students: Filling out the form for FAFSA -- the Free Application for Federal Student Aid -- which can make that first college class seem like a breeze.

Less than two months after the start of the student financial aid program's filing period, FAFSA deadlines loom. There are various federal and state deadlines, and colleges may have earlier deadlines, so students are advised to check with the colleges that they're applying to for the 2011-12 school year.

My philosophy once was: If it isn't in the bank I can't spend it. So I would let two or three paychecks accumulate on my dresser (probably to the dismay of my employer) to keep those funds from burning a hole in my checking account.

Then I figured it was time to come up with better tricks for building up savings (and one demonstrating a little more self control), to avoid turning into my grandmother -- stashing wads of cash in a mattress for the next Dust Bowl.

This semester I'm an unpaid intern with no steady income, which makes it all the more tempting to treat myself to a new sweater and a nice dinner when I pick up an odd job and get some cash. My new goal, however, is to save a portion of any income, no matter how small.

If you're like me and have to trick yourself into saving, here are ways to help your inner penny-pincher wrestle your spendthrift-self to the ground.

There are ways to win scholarships, even if you speak Klingon or have so-so grades. The secret is to find scholarships that are right for you, then prepare and apply.

With more than 50 million people using his Fastweb scholarship-matching site over the past 15 years, creator Mark Kantrowitz seems to have the knack for helping students and their families reach scholarship sponsors.

There are scholarships available to everyone, at all ages, he says, and his first piece of advice: Start now. Begin researching the sponsors and the scholarships that you match, and complete an online profile with Fastweb.

At the dawn of automobile mass-production, Henry Ford famously said of his Model T: "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black." Until recently, the iPhone was in its Model T era. You could customize it with different apps and cases, but any customer could get any iPhone so long as the data provider was AT&T.

No more. Now everyone has a choice -- AT&T, and as of last Thursday, Verizon. But which is the best? To find out, Compare and Contrast studied the phone companies' data plans, assessed their prices and looked at their customer service rankings. All information is current as of Feb. 9. Prices are subject to change.

Soldiers who do it get better housing and pay, some immigrants try it (illegally) to gain citizenship, and even some college students who aren't in love reportedly are doing it: Getting married. For the students, it's for financial benefit.

The economic advantages can include: saving on out-of-state tuition by becoming a resident through marriage; a chance to qualify for financial aid through a low combined income; and a way to avoid the average student loan debt at graduation of $24,000.

Rick Conley runs the website Whypaytuition.com and says marriage is a smart way to save money while going to college. His site offers free information on how to get free tuition through marriage, and charges $600 per person as a matchmaking service for college students looking for a short-term marriage partner.

When it comes to the big questions that students ask themselves before college, many are about practical concerns: "Which school is best? What should I major in? How do I get the most financial aid?"

One simple -- very fundamental -- question often gets pushed to the background: "How much am I going to learn in college?"

Two college professors recently asked it about university undergrads, and their new book gives an alarming answer: "Not much."

Whether your dream is to study philosophy or medicine, there are several liberal arts colleges where students have gone from Aristotle or lab research to some of the highest salaries in the U.S.

The top 10 liberal arts colleges with the best-paid graduates are Harvey Mudd College, Colgate University, Bucknell University, Lafayette College, Washington and Lee University, Swarthmore College, Williams College, College of the Holy Cross, Carleton College and Claremont McKenna College.

The information is based on survey data for graduates with bachelor's degrees and collected by Payscale, a salary database website.

Bucknell graduates start their careers with an average wage of $55,800 a year. By the time alumni reach mid-career, they might earn a median annual salary of $115,000.