As a college student, it’s tough to save up money to buy anything, let alone software.  Thankfully for the Internet, there are thousands of programs out there that will cost next to nothing for you.  Even though programs can be purchased at a student discount, you can’t beat the free pricetag.  I picked out a few programs that you should check out.  It never hurts to download them and try them out as it will cost nothing to you. 

OpenOffice.org – OpenOffice.org is an amazing open source free package of software.  OpenOffice is identical to word but in it’s own format.  From word processing to spreadsheets, this is a great piece of software to use if you’re looking to write documents, create databases, and so much more.

GIMP – Are you a user of Adobe Photoshop but you don’t want to drop a few hundred dollars on it?  Instead, you should try out GIMP.  A very similar program interface but the only difference is it’s free.  If you don’t like how it works, you can always buy Photoshop.

Google Pack – I’ve always been a fan of Google and if you haven’t done so already, you should check out the Google Pack.  With this pack, you’re going to get programs like Google Earth, RealPlayer, Picasa, Firefox, Norton Security Scan, and so much more.

Skype – Instead of using your cellphone, why not download Skype and get your friends to download it as well.  Skype is a free program where you can chat for no cost at all.  You can even purchase phones, so it almost acts as if it’s a phone.

AVG Anti-Virus – Anti-Virus software is extremely expensive but AVG is 100% free and does just as good of a job as the big guys at Norton.  With over 130 million downloads, you can’t go wrong with this software.  Why pay over $100 when you can get the same exact thing for free?

This is just a small portion of the software packages online that you can get for free.  Depending on what you want, make sure that you do some research before you purchase a package.  Most of the times, you can find a piece of software thats comparable for no cost at all.  Saving money is great as a college student and if you can get it for free, it’s even better!