DEAR STRAIGHT TALK: I’m leaving for college this week and am nervous about finances. I have taken out loans, a grant helps with my dorm and tuition, but there’s not enough to cover everything. Through high school I had to pay my own bills, so I don’t have savings. I am leaving with $100, a laptop and my bicycle, hoping to find part-time work once I get there. Do any of the panelists have tips on how to stretch a dollar in college? My dorm meal-ticket only covers 14 meals a week. And how do you make friends when you have no money? — Tim
Editor’s Note: I’m happy to share that credit card reform law was passed in 2009 and was phased in this year. It is designed to protect young consumers (under age 21) from being wooed into a vicious debt cycle. The college student was formerly a hot target for card companies who signed up students at school events, often with promotions of free pizza and T-shirts. According to 2008 data, students were graduating from college with an average credit card debt of $4100, up from $2900 only four years earlier. In 2008, only 15 percent of freshmen did not carry a balance on a credit card. Now, if you are under 21, you need an adult co-signer to get a card. Hooray for reform! I maintain that making good friends (by being a good friend yourself) is and always will be, the best credit in the world. College is a time when many lifetime friendships are forged, and there’s something about stretching a dollar that makes those connections that much more meaningful — while turning boys and girls into resourceful men and women. —Lauren
