Students are increasingly worried about credit and credit scores – and for good reason. Student debts are rising and the numbers of students who leave school with ruined credit scores is rising as well. Many experts blame larger credit card debts and rising tuition costs (that lead to larger student loans). Despite the pressures, it is possible to leave school financially sound and in fact, to develop good financial habits that can lead to a lifetime of financial success. Here are a few tips that can make the college years a credit-booster instead of a credit disaster:

If you are a student, you have a great secret weapon for credit repair and free credit repair advice – your school’s financial aid office. If you are a college student, your school’s financial aid office should be one of your first stops at the campus. Few students visit this office regularly while they are in school, and this is a mistake. The financial aid office at most universities and colleges can offer students free credit repair advice to help you keep your credit score in tip-top shape.

Additionally, the financial aid office offers one-on-one financial counseling, information about scholarships, tips on budgeting, books on money, and many more resources. The officers at your university or college financial aid office can offer you help on almost any aspect of financial help – including helping you figure out a financial plan that can keep you out of debt.

Plus, many financial aid offices have workshops that can teach you about dealing with money and credit, and even offer free tax filing services – services that are extremely useful. In fact, the financial aid offices at most colleges and universities are so useful that you may want to call the school you attended in the past to ask whether alumni are eligible for any services at the financial aid office. The free credit repair advice and other resources that you a get from these offices, are simply too good to miss.

Another thing that students can do to protect their credit is to try to pay for education through means other than loans. Student loans are becoming a problem for more and more students. Many parents and students are now waking up to the fact that huge student loans can be a terrible financial burden after graduation. While it is true that most college and student loans do not have to be repaid until after graduation, the time after graduation usually carries some large financial responsibilities.

Many college graduates want or need a car, a good job, and possibly their own home or apartment. Each of these things requires a good credit standing, but too large student loans not only require larger monthly repayments but also may affect credit scores by overextending credit. As tuition fees rise, larger student loans are becoming the norm, leading to financial hardship – and in many cases disaster. To avoid this, you should try to live within your means and rely on such resources as jobs, savings, scholarships, bursaries, and other forms of financial aid to pay for your tuition and living expenses.

Another thing that students can do is save money by taking advantage of student discounts on student life. One of the advantages of student life is that it is inexpensive. Student housing or rooms rented with roommates create inexpensive living, on-campus facilities offer great services at discount rates, and many businesses offer student-only deals.Try to take advantage of these offers to make your student money stretch further.

Look around to find the best student-deal offers, ranging from travel deals to free tax filing services, available from your campus and from surrounding businesses. Make use of the free services on campus – such as renting movies for free from the film department or working out in the school gym – rather than paying for these same services outside the campus.

Many students fall in love with their credit cards. Credit card companies know this, too, and routinely heavily advertise on college campuses, even offering students free food or gifts to fill out a credit application. While the convenience of credit cards is tempting, it is a good idea to stay away from credit cards altogether. This is because studies have repeatedly shown that those who pay cash for items routinely spend less than those charging or using credit cards to pay.

An alternative to using a credit card is a prepaid debit card. Prepaid debit cards are a great asset to students because it can teach students great financial management skills. Using a prepaid debit card for entertainment and other small needs ensures you won’t spend more than you have to and also ensures that you won’t end up paying for months for something that is long gone.

Following the free credit repair advice give in this article can help you with credit repair before it becomes a necessity. More importantly, this information can help you to establish good credit habits early and will help ensure that you have a long (and good) credit history by the time you graduate from college.

Sandra Clair
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/student-credit-repair-free-credit-repair-advice-for-students-to-help-avert-financial-disaster-119595.html

Planning to go away or to start college is a fun and exciting time for those students who are planning on attending. The stressful part usually comes from finding the resources to pay for your college education. It is important that you and your parents plan out together how much money you are going to need for college and where the money will come from to cover your college expenses. You will need to sit down with a pad of paper and a pen in order to write everything out. The earlier you start planning, the better. This way if you or your parents need to make adjustments, you can do so before it is time for you to head off your freshmen year.

Figure out your costs:

1.Tuition & Books: Contact the colleges and/or universities that you are interested in attending. Ask specifically about the estimated costs for tuition and books. Usually the estimate of these costs is provided in the college brochure.

2. Housing: If you are planning on living on-campus, you will also need to obtain housing information. Housing information should include the cost and what the cost includes. Some colleges and universities offer meal plans to students who live on-campus, which provides you with a certain amount of money to eat at the campus restaurants, cafeteria and cafes. If you are planning on living off-campus, you will need to do a little research on the average cost of rent for the area. Also be sure to include extra costs such as electric, phone, water, etc.

3. Food: You have to eat, so be sure to include spending money for food in your calculations.

4. Spending money: College is more than just academics. There are student activities that you are going to want to participate in throughout the semester. Be sure to allocate a certain amount of money to spend on going out with friends, going to the movies, participating in a sorority or fraternity, etc.

5. Tally up your costs on an annual basis and then be sure to multiply the annual cost by how many years it is going to take you to complete your particular major. Usually, 4 years is the number you will need to multiply by, unless you already know that you will be going to on to graduate school, law school, medical school, etc. If that is the case, you will need to go through the same 5 steps for the costs involved with these types of schools (adding it to your undergraduate college costs).

Tapping Into Your Resources:

Once you have an idea of what the cost of your college education is going to be now it is time to list out all of the possible resources that you can tap into to pay for everything. You will need to sit down with your parents and go over all of these costs that you have tallied. Find out from them what source of funds they have and are willing to contribute. You may also have some resources of your own that you can contribute.

Here is a list of possible resources to consider:

1. Savings or Investment Accounts

2. Pre-paid College Tuition Program

3. Education IRA, ROTH IRA, or Retirement IRA

4. Savings Bonds

5. Contributions from Grandparents or other family members

6. Scholarships*

7. Grants*

8. Student Loans*

*You may not know the contribution amount of these resources yet.

After you have a list of your possible fund sources and the total amount that each resource can provide, total everything up. Where does this leave you? Do you have enough to cover your college education or are in the hole? If you are in the hole, then you should come up with a plan on how you and your parents can make up for the difference. Research scholarship and grant opportunities that you may be able to qualify for or pick-up a part-time job after school to help contribute to your college savings. Your guidance counselor at school and the Internet should be able to help you find scholarships and grants that you may be eligible for. Especially, if it is your senior year of high school, contact the financial aid department of the college you will be attending. Find out when they deadline is and what forms you have to complete to apply for financial aid.

There are resources available to you for paying for your college education. Just be organized and diligent about finding out what the costs are, what resources you have available to you, and whether or not you to find additional resources to cover your college expense.

Kristie Lorette
http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/plan-for-college-use-your-resources-87952.html

Entering into a college means students will have to bear up a little more of their existing expenses. If they are ill-prepared for the costs, applying for a loan remains only the option they have. In this prospect, Cheap College Loans do a good business. With the fund raiser, you can cover the cost of education expenses such as tuition, accommodation, food, books, stationery, computer etc. The financial aid is something that most of the students look it for.

The college loans for students come in different forms as per the convenience. Students pay their education costs while attending classes. Scholarships can be one type of a finance aid award. However, students can find the cheap college loans in two type merit-based and need-based money provisions. Merit-based loan can include scholarships awarded by the learning institution. Scholarships are usually awarded for outstanding academic achievements, though a great number of potential students remain devoid of the finance benefits. On the other hand, need-based student loan is awarded on the basis of need of the student. There are several different programs such as grants, scholarships and other government grants which are offered in both subsidised and unsubsidised.

Precisely, cheap college loans are available from most of the large lending institutions. Usually, college loans obtained through the government grants have a rate of interest than private education loans. However, there are several other commercial institutions, building societies which offer these money provisions also. But availing college loans from a high street lender is considered good. Reason behind is that you can get the provisions on competitive rates. It is because of a great competition amongst lenders in the money market. In prospect of selling their finance products, lenders lower down the term and conditions of their offers in order to expand their lending businesses.

For all this, repayment is usually pretty straightforward when it comes to cheap college loans. Once you complete you college, your grace period begins. This is a period of six to nine months before which college loans must begin being repaid.

For all of this, a bevy of lenders is available online and offline, though processing online is preferred. With the process, you can save a good amount of your money and energy. Money is granted and you start investing the raised fund to avail quality education to make your future prosperous.

Julia Russell
http://www.articlesbase.com/loans-articles/cheap-college-loans-make-quality-education-affordable-420029.html