college students

4 Tips to Beat the Back-to-School Shopping Blues

Ready or not, it's time for back-to-school season. Like the Christmas shopping season, it seems to begin earlier every year, and you have to play the game if you want to catch the sales. Or do you? Personal finance guru Jean Chatzky has some surprising advice for parents.

Help Your Kids Save While They're Still in School

So your resident college student is knee-deep in student loans, tuition, fees and rent payments. But infusing her bank account will sap the funds you have earmarked for your retirement. What's a concerned parent to do? Help her start building up some savings of her own. Here's how:

College Admission Numbers Game Is All About the Money

You thought it was your kid's SAT score that prevented him from getting admitted to the college of his dreams, but it may have been your credit score. More and more colleges are looking for students who can pay full tuition, and setting the admissions bar higher for those who need financial aid.

Learn How to Avoid a College Credit Card Catastrophe

As college students head to campus, many of them will discover the perils of credit cards. Here's the story of one student who learned about credit the hard way -- and some tips for managing plastic like a pro.

10 Colleges with the Best Financial Aid

Worried about how to pay for college? The Princeton Review this week released its financial-aid ratings for more than 600 U.S. colleges. Find out which ones came out on top.

Mexico's Drug War Spurs a P.R. Battle Over Spring Break

Escalating violence related to the cross-border drug trade has caused Texas authorities to advise spring break revelers to avoid Mexico. The Mexico Tourism Board countered that traveling south of the border remains safe. At stake is a big chunk of the $12 billion that tourists spend in Mexico each year.

Study: Students Have Time to Work During College

A new book, written by a pair of sociology professors, says most students aren't learning much of anything in college -- and they're not studying nearly as much as they once did. If fact, those students might even do better, academically, if they work during college.

College Finance: Why Student Loans Should Be Pay as You Go

President Obama's national deficit panel sparked an uproar from student advocates with its proposal to end the in-school interest subsidy on school loans. I'd go even further, and end the deferral of repayment until after graduation. Here's why.

Of Four Loko and Student Loans: An Accountability Crisis

Under the threat of an FDA ban, the makers of alcoholic energy drink Four Loko are changing its recipe to remove caffeine, guarana and taurine. But the only problem a ban of Four Loko would solve is to save young people from thinking they have personal responsibility for their choices -- again.

Should States Ban Alcohol-and-Caffeine Drinks?

Four Loko is popular new drink facing a growing backlash. One 24-ounce can provides the alcoholic kick of four beers and the caffeine buzz of a cup of coffee, a combination college students seem drawn to, which is why some states have banned it. But that's taking America's already flawed alcohol policies too far.

If You Can't Afford Your Student Loans, Don't Borrow More

On a recent Today Show Money 911 segment, a caller said she'd filed for bankruptcy -- but that didn't free her from her student loans. She then asked how bankruptcy would affect her ability to get more student loans. Clearly, she isn't learning the right lesson from Chapter 11.

Alcohol and College: How Much Money Are Students Really Drinking?

The average college student spends $500 per year on alcohol, says Rachel Barrington of the University of Wisconsin. With the average student taking five years to graduate and borrowing about $23,000, that means that more than 10% of all college loans go to finance alcohol consumption.