In today’s economy, it’s going to be tough to either scrap some money together or find a lender that’s going to lend your some money.  A lot of college students start to get discouraged when that can find any money for their schooling.  What they don’t realize is that there are actually government grants that can help them when it comes to assistance.

So many choices

When college students think of free money, they probably think the selection is going to be quite limited.  Well, when it comes down to government grants, there’s actually going to be a pretty big selection.  No matter what field of study you’re going to go into, I’m sure there’s going to be a grant for you.

Ease the costs

With a governmetn grant, you can get as little as a few dollars to as much as covering your whole education bill.  When it comes to college, it’s important that you look at every angle when it comes to saving money.  From scholarships to jobs, there are so many opportunities to cut costs when it comes to your education bill.

Open to everyone

Another common perception that college students have is that these type of grants are only toward minorties or people that are disabled.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact, if you’re alive and breathing today, you’re good for a grant.

How do I apply for a government grant?

Well, the concept is actually fairly simple.  You’ll want to head to Grants.gov and from there, you’ll want to register and apply for grants.  Make sure that you read the descriptions closely when you’re looking to apply.  You’ll want to make sure that you meet every requirement so that you’re not wasting anyone else’s time.

Just like scholarships, I would look into grants, even if you don’t think you’re going to get one.  Instead, take a few hours out of one day and look at either Grants.gov or other sites.  You may not find one but if you do, it’s even more money that you have saved!

College is filled with nothing but tests and since your number one goal (hopefully) is to pass the test, there are some tips that you can follow and use to your advantage so that you ace that next college test.

Get 8 hours of sleep.  I know many of you college students want to party until 2 am but when it comes to a test, make sure you refresh your brain.  Get as much sleep as possible the night before.  As long as you get at least 8 hours, you should be fine.

Eat breakfast before.  Eating will always energize your brain when you wake up.  Make sure you wake up a few hours before your test so that you can get your body going.  Eat something for breakfast as well as a drink.  The more you get in you, the better it is.

Think positive.  Before you hit the classroom, you’re going to want to have a positive attitude.  Think about how much you have studied and how easy the test is going to be.  Never go into a classroom thinking negative because this is going to reflect on your test taking.

Don’t waste time.  When you hit the test, start the test immediately and don’t waste anytime.  You’ll want to answer as many questions as you can.  If you’re taking a test that varies in points, make sure you can attack the ones that are worth the most first.  Don’t waste a ton of time on the questions that aren’t worth that much.

Read your questions.  A lot of students will get an answer wrong simply by not reading the question.  Make sure you answer the question.  If you give the wrong answer, you’re not going to get credit.  If you have to, make sure you re-read the question twice or even three times.

Be short and sweet.  When you’re taking your test, think of all the exams your teacher is going to be grading.  Do you think he/she will want to read 10 sentences in just to get your answers?  Make it easier for your teacher.  If you can do this, you may get some brownie points.  As long as you reach the minimum wording, you should be fine.

Some questions are hard. Not everyone is smart.  When you come across a question that seems very hard, it’s on there for a reason.  The teacher wants to separate the A students from the average students.  Try your best on every question, even if you don’t know it.

Don’t rush.  If you find yourself being the first one done, go over your test.  It’s not a race!  Who knows?  You may find something that you can change and one point can make a huge difference.

Acing a test is easy if you study but as long as you go into the classroom with an upbeat attitude and you know what you’re doing, you’re going to do fine on your test.  The purpose of going to college is for your education.  You don’t want to spend all the money and have nothing to show for.

As a college student, you’re probably asking yourself, “Why should I save money?  I’m only 18″  I’ll put it in plain terms for you right now.  The earlier you save, the quicker you can retire and get out of the workforce.  I know, we all want to party and spend our paychecks on PS3s and beer but it’s also time to buckle down and start acting like an adult.  Here’s why you should start saving money today.

You need backup

When you get out of college or let’s say you’re renting an apartment right now.  What happens if you lose your source of income and you can’t pay your bills anymore?  What are you going to do?  This is why you need to have an emergency fund.  Look at how much you spend each month.  Let’s say you spend $1,000.  Your emergency fund should have at least $6,000.  This is also a great habit to get into when you get out of college and start your life in an apartment or home.

Save up for a new house

Do you want to buy a new house?  Well, with today’s economic conditions, you’re not going to be able to walk into a mortgage company and tell them you have no money.  They are just going to laugh at you.  Today, you’re going to need at least 20% down.  If you don’t have it, you’re either stuck in an apartment or at home with Mom and Dad.  The math is simple.  If you want a $100,000 home, you better have $20,000 to put down.

Retire early!

You don’t want to work until you’re 65, no one does but if you don’t start saving now, you’re going to hit 60 and see that you have no savings.  What are you going to do?  Wait and work while your body is crumbling until social security kicks in?  Let’s face it, social security is nothing!  You can’t make a decent living just living off the government.  You better start saving at least 10% of your funds to have a healthy retirement outlook.

Save up for a car

Just like the house, you’re going to want a nice car to drive around in.  It’s always nice to pay in full but it’s nice to also have a big down payment.  If you’re in the market for a $15,000 car, your monthly payments are going to be reasonably high but if you put down $5,000, your payments will be a lot lower.

Saving for other things

You don’t want to get into the habit of putting everything on a credit card.  Let’s say you want that brand new 42″ LCD TV.  Are you going to throw a couple thousand on a credit card?  I highly doubt it.  You’ll want to save your money so you won’t have to pay those pesky interest rates.

There are so many reasons on why you should save your money.  Students really have to wake up and look at the benefits of saving.  If you can accomplish this, you can really have a very healthy and successful financial life.

When it comes to saving money, it’s never too early to start saving.  In fact, if you had disciplined parents, they could have potentially made you start saving at the age of 10.  If they didn’t, that’s okay but when it comes to saving, there’s so much to learn but for now, we can learn the basics on how you can save money as a college student.

Open up another savings account

When I say open up another savings account, we are going to open up an account with a bank that gives a higher return online.  Check out banks online such as ING Direct.  The reason we are going to choose online banks is because not only are you going to get a better rate, you’re going to be less tempted to spend the money since it’s harder to get the money in your hand right away.

Put away at least 10% of your earnings

Experts will tell you that if you put at least 10% of your earnings away, you’ll have enough for a nice padding for a retirement fund.  If you can make it a habit to set aside 10% and put it into either your savings account, a mutual fund, etc, you’ll have no problem retiring down the road.  I know people want to live for the now but think of the future.  Do you really want to rely on the government?

Look at your budget

When we think of saving money, we instantly think of putting into in a bank account.  What most people don’t realize is that their budget may be the blame.  If you have a $200 cell phone bill and you only need a $40 plan, we need to cut things out right there.  Take a look at your own budget and see if you can cut some unnecessary bills.  Just by doing this, we can save a few dollars a month.  Take that savings and set it aside in your savings account.

Learn about investing

If you don’t know much about CDs, Money Markets, Mutual Funds or Stocks, I highly recommend you start looking online to gather more information about them.  There are so many investing opportunities that can make you a lot of money in the long run.  Investing is a great way to earn a big return on your money but also remember, you can lose a lot if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Saving money as a college student isn’t hard.  Just make sure you try and put aside at least 10% of your income each month.  It take discipline and action.  You don’t want to keep setting this aside because sooner or later you’ll be 60 and you’ll be regretting it.

Sometimes you may find yourself getting sick of doing all the research online when it comes to finding the perfect career for the future.  Did you know that the local library or even your bookstore is packed with over 10,000 books focused on career planning alone?

Career planning guides are a great way to learn a little bit more about how you can find the right career for yourself, so that you’re not bored with your career 6 months into it.  I did some research on some popular books that you should check out.

Now What?  The Young Person’s Guide to Choosing the Perfect Career

The Now What? book is geared toward those either starting college in the fall or even for those that are in college right now.  The book focuses on great methods you can use in order to find out what would work best for your life.  The book also states that only 30 percent of college graduates are happy with their careers.  Do you want to be in that 70%?  If not, I highly recommend checking out this book that can be bought for less than $15.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Discovering the Perfect Career

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Idiot’s Guide series before and if you haven’t, it really is a great series to look into.  This particular series focuses on how you can discover the perfect career.  Your perfect career is under your fingertips and you don’t know about it!  The book states that it isn’t easy to find the right career but if you use these tools presented to you by Rene Carew, Ed.D., you will have no problem finding your own.

Career Guide for Creative and Unconvetional People

The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional people is a little different than the books mentioned above.  This book focuses more on how you can pursue your dream job without having to work for the “man”.  This inspiring guide provides great guidance, real life stories, and self-evaluation tools.  This book can be bought for less than $15!

The Pathfinder:  How to Choose Your Career…

The pathfinder is one of the most popular career guides on the market.  Why is this book so popular you may ask?  This book in general uses techniques to act as if the book is a job counselor.  It will show you how to create goals, make lists and show you other great techniques on how you can land that dream gig.

I can’t stress enough how important career planning is.  As the one book mentioned above, you don’t want to be in the 70% category of college graduates that aren’t happy with their job.  College is expensive and you better make it worth your money or you’ll be sorry!