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The 10 Best Money Tips For College Freshmen

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With college starting for freshmen across the country, now is also the time to be thinking about money. Why? Because for many freshmen, this will really be their first time handling money on their own. They will have to pay bills, handle budgets, find a bank, and be faced with choices around credit cards and insurance.

It's important that parents prepare their college freshmen for these money choices, just like they would prepare them for other life decisions.

Here are ten of the most important choices, and some amazing tips to go with them.

1. Find A Bank That Works With Your College Situation

Going off to college presents a great opportunity to evaluate your banking options and determine what’s best for your new circumstance. The account and financial institution that made sense for your high school self might no longer provide you the greatest value – especially if you’re moving far away.

Incoming college students should spend time doing research to ensure that they find the banking products and services that meet their new needs and will ultimately help them save money. For example, some banks offer accounts with reimbursement for out-of-network ATM fees and a low minimum daily balance requirement, which could especially benefit college students. Other banking features that could be particularly convenient for students include mobile remote deposit capture, online bill pay, and person to person payments.

- Lindsay Sacknoff, Senior Vice President of Retail Deposit Products and Pricing at TD Bank

2. Keep Your Personal Finances Mobile

It's important for millennials to be smart with their money and know how to properly invest, save up, and pay off their debts. In our modern times, millennials have no excuse for not setting up a savings account. Using your phone makes saving and budgeting very easy. I personally recommend the following apps:

1. Level - Gives you a real time image of your money and spendings.

2. Saved Plus - Savings slider, helps you automatically transfers into savings account, put change into savings account

3. Mint - Organizes your spendings into categories.

- Neil Grossman is a financial expert and chief investment officer at TKNG Capital. He is also the author of Generation W.T.F.

3. Credit Is Important, So Use It Responsibly

My best financial advice for college students is to be smart with you first credit card. During your first few weeks on campus, you will likely be bombarded with credit card booths and seemingly friendly salespeople. Don't be tempted to open a credit card just because they give you a free t-shirt, stuffed animal, or large pizza. Building credit is important, and so is opening your first credit card. Ask them to explain the fine print to you and look for a card with no annual fee, good rewards, and of course-a reasonable interest rate. If they tell you that the offer is only good for that day, just do yourself a favor and walk away.

- Grant A. Webster, CFP(r), MSBA, WealthAdvisors.com

4. Be Smart About Recurring Expenses Like Books

The campus's bookstore is the most expensive place to purchase books. Instead try borrowing your books for free from the library, or buying books using Amazon.com, Ebay.com, Half.com, and selling them back at the end of the semester. This will leave you with a lot more money in your pocket now and later.

- Shanice Miller, DebtFreeCollegeGrad.com

San Diego City College Learing Recource City retrieve a book (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

5. Ditch The Car And Use Public Transportation Or Ride Sharing

Other than buying cheap beer or stealing toilet paper from the school library, college freshman should ditch the car. Besides saving on gas and insurance, it can really change your freshman experience. Getting to know new people and sharing experiences with them is very important as a freshman. Who knows, maybe the people you meet with share their money saving hacks.

- Michael Solari, CFP®, Solari Financial Planning

6. Don't Take Out More Student Loans Than You Need

College students should educate themselves about all the possible loans and scholarships out there, and be proactive in taking control of their financial lives before they even get to school. Subsidized federal student loans with relatively low interest rates are one thing, but high-interest private loans are a very different story. There's free money out there in the form of grants and scholarships, too, and it can be yours for the taking. Soon-to-be freshmen should do some research and see if they're eligible for any of these awards. You'd be surprised how much money goes unclaimed every year!

- Elle Kaplan, CEO and Founding Partner of LexION Capital Management

7. Learn To Start Saving A Little Each Month

My best money tip is to start now saving small and incrementally increase. The easiest way to start, as a cash strapped college student, is to save all your coins and deposit every week into a savings account with no ATM card (to avoid temptation to withdraw for frivolous things). This seemingly insignificant amount adds up over time and starts the habit of saving. Incrementally increase by adding $5 each week and upping by at least $5 each month (or quarterly if money is seriously tight). This is a no brainer way to save that is easy, manageable, and sets a great habit into place for a life of savings well into the future.

- Jacqueline Shaulis, Author of Embrace Your Awesome

8. Get A Job, But A Flexible One

Getting a job in college is important because you can earn “spending money” and even save some to put toward books, supplies, and your student loans. But your job can have an even bigger impact if it’s one that allows you to do your homework. There are many on-campus jobs out there that allow you to sit down and have limited interactions/responsibilities. Some of these include checking student IDs at a gym or cafeteria, managing a resource center (at the library, for example), and jobs that allow you to be “on call,” such as a Resident Assistant.

These types of work arrangements allow you to make money while also being productive. The end result is a much more efficient use of your time, and it keeps your job from becoming a burden to your schoolwork, which could potentially force you to quit the job and then not have the money you need. Be sure to budget responsibly with your earnings, and try to get in as many hours as you can. I was able to pay off a few student loans before I graduated, because I worked an on-campus job for twenty hours a week.

- Thomas Bright, ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions

9. Take The Maximum Classes Possible To Minimize Time In College

My best money tip for college students - especially for freshmen - is to get serious about classes ASAP. It's hard work, but taking a full course load each semester will get you to graduation faster. And the fewer semesters you take to graduate, the less expensive your college education will be. That's because your tuition might depend on the total number classes you take, but additional costs like room and board and all those fees you have to pay are charged by semester.

- Kali Hawlk, Writer, Common Sense Millennial

10. Remember Why You're In College - Networking For Your Future Career

The number one money tip I could share with college freshman is to work on getting 1,000 connections on LinkedIn. No money item could be more important than getting a lot of LinkedIn connections because the quickest way to secure a job is all about who you know, and not totally dependent on your GPA. This could make them a lot more money than opening up a credit card or a bank account.

- Ted Jenkin, CFP(r), Co-CEO and Founder of OXYGen Financial and YourSmartMoneyMoves.com