It was the best of times; it was the worst of times; but even during the best of times college is extremely expensive. The typical student has to pay for tuition, for example 15+ course credits a semester, often at $ 600 a credit, room, board, plus having a life, other expenses, textbooks, etc. Most of these expenses are paid for by loans, which are not only ever increasingly difficult to obtain, but which accrue interest, and will one day have to be repaid.

Unfortunately, as much as I wish to provide brilliant advice on surviving college during a down economy there is no magic to this. I can only give a few tips:

Pay attention to what you spend, and try to buy things on sale when possible (again, there is no shame in bargain hunting).
Do not buy things you do not really need. Do you really need that new pair of jeans? Do you really need that flashy new cellphone? Go with your actual needs, not your desires.
Compare prices on everything even a little pricey. There are many price comparison engines on the Web and they can help you find the best price on almost everything that is available.
Cut back some spending where you can. I agree, it sucks. I agree, you are young and you want to live the life while you can, but the truth is, if you contract too many debts now, the rest of your life will be spent repaying them with nothing for yourself.

The place where it may be easiest to save is on books. Typically in a recession economy the number of used books on the market increases, people look around their homes for old books, and try to sell them for extra cash.  This is great for buyers. Additionally this is a time when many publishers start to cut prices. Since fewer students are now able to afford that $ 250 chemistry book, for example, the publishers get stuck with a larger inventory, which means a good incentive to lower prices. All of this means lower prices for those out there willing to do the legwork. Of course those among you who still buy all of your books at your local bookstore without searching will pay outrageous prices, but those willing to look around will get some great deals.