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Dollar Signs: Spending For College Wisely

Aired August 21, 2004 - 16:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it's time for DOLLAR SIGNS, where we help you make the most of your money. College costs are skyrocketing. Beyond tuition and books, there are a number of extra costs that can really add up. Joining me today to talk about saving money on college costs are Todd Mark of Consumer Credit Counseling Service and Janet Bodnar with Kiplinger's Personal Finance, in Washington. Good to see both of you.
TODD MARK, CONSUMER CREDIT COUNSELING SERVICE: Thank you.

JANET BODNAR, KIPLINGER'S PERSONAL FINANCE: Good to see you too.

WHITFIELD: All right, so everybody figures college costs -- tuition, that's a given; books, that's a given. But you guys say there are some other expenses that people need to take into consideration and they usually don't. Todd...

MARK: Oh, are you kidding? You know, who used to pay for toothpaste and deodorant? I guess the tooth fairy must have, because you get to college and you suddenly have to buy those things. There are so many things -- the cost of living, the food. Sure, you might be getting room and board, you get a 20-meal plan each week. Who's going to eat 20 meals at the dorm res, you know? You go out. You buy pizza at two in the morning. Why? Because you can.

WHITFIELD: And sometimes, some students opt not to get on the meal plan, because they think of that -- they call it the freshman 10, the freshman 20...

MARK: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: ... the pounds they may put on. And so, a lot say, "You know what? I'm going to buy my own food." But that may become a much greater expense than getting on the meal plan, right?

MARK: It might be, Fredricka. But at that point, the real question is, are you going to be living on-campus or off-campus? Because if you're living off-campus, you're taking care of all of your food, you're taking care of your rent, your utilities, electric, cable TV, Internet, all that stuff.

WHITIFIELD: So Janet, about how much do parents or students need to anticipate all the extra expenses that they perhaps were not calculating with their tuition in books? Is there like a $10,000 or $6,000 figure that everyone should expect?

BODNAR: Well, Fredricka, the College Board estimates that about $3,000 a year, roughly, is what parents should anticipate for those extra expenses. Now, that can be more or less depending on travel costs -- how far is your student living away from home, are you going to be paying for airfare versus just, you know, being able to get a ride; are you living in a city, are you living in a small town?

So it could be more than that or it could be less. A good thing for parents and students to do is to get in touch with the student life office at the college or university where the kid is a student so you have some idea of how much they estimate extra expenditures are going to be.

WHITFIELD: All right, it seems like there's no getting around the expenses of books. It's a pretty vital tool in going to college. And Karen in New York is on the line with us, and she has a question about books. Karen...

ON THE PHONE, KAREN, NEW YORK: Yes, the books seem to be like packaged now, where you have to buy the CD that goes along with the book and it's all shrink wrapped together, or a lab book that's totally useless. Is there anything that we can do to get around that, or what can we do to have a voice that will protest the way they're doing it, and also the editions?

They'll change the editions slightly, which makes your resale books worth next to nothing, and if they really have to get that updated edition.

WHITFIELD: Janet...

BODNAR: Well, Karen, one thing, I don't know what you can do. This is endemic, I think, to education in general, this whole book deal. One edition only lasts for a couple years, and then it's outdated, which is kind of a whole other issue for you to take on at least. So I think what you can do in the meantime is -- Kiplinger's, this month, we actually recommend a Web site called BestBookBuys.Com.

And what that Web site does is at least compare the cost of books on various Web sites that sell books so that you can get the best price. You can include the ISBN number to make sure that your student is actually getting the correct edition of the book and then compare prices on various Web sites, and at least get a discount of perhaps as much as 30 percent or more on the book. So I think that's a good thing to do.

It also is worth it to just wait until your child gets to class, perhaps, if he or she can, to make sure what he really needs for class. And maybe if the teacher isn't going to use a particular lab book or a particular, you know, addendum to the edition, you won't have to buy it.

WHITFIELD: Boy, and you know what, Todd? I remember that -- buying the lab book because the teacher recommended it, and we never even used the lab book, and so it just goes to waste.

MARK: I've got plenty of textbooks from many, many years ago that I saved, never opened. It would have been so much easier just to ask the professor, as Janet just said, "Do I need the software..."

BODNAR: Honestly, which one are we using...

MARK: Yeah. And you know, the funny thing when it comes to books is you're accumulating these books, especially the ones in your major -- you want to hold onto them. Golly gee, I wish I'd sold them back, even for the pennies that they give you back. You know what? I've got some TV and radio books from 1989 talking about a new cable station called CNN that might revolutionize news. You know, that's really up to date now.

(CROSSTALK)

BODNAR: It's probably worth money now.

MARK: It might be.

BODNAR: It's a collectible.

WHITFIELD: Well, there are a lot of other expenses. I mean, it seems like kind of new expenses that go along with going to college now. You've got cell phones, you've got laptop computers. Are these real necessities, because you hear a college student, or a soon to be college student, pleading with their parents, saying, "I cannot live without a cell phone, Janet, and I cannot live without a laptop?" So is there a way of getting around that expense?

BODNAR: Well, let me tell you, I have three children. Two of them are in college, and when they went off to college, each of them went off without a cell phone, and they did have a landline in their room. And what we did for long distance charges was we got them prepaid cards, you know, that you can buy at Sam's Club or something for a penny a minute or some very cheap price.

We also used a very low cost Web site, Web service called OneSuite, o-n-e-s-u-i-t-e.com, which also has very inexpensive long distance minutes. So that's what we did for the first couple of years. Now, my son just got a cell phone. He was a junior last year, and he moved off campus, so he didn't have access to the campus landline. So we did get him a cell phone, but we got him a prepaid plan, which he pays himself.

So again, we're not subject to a lot of vagaries of just how much is he going to talk this month, and how much is he going to be on the hook for. He's on the hook for his costs, and he knows exactly how much he has paid each month, and believe me, he keeps track of his minutes.

WHITFIELD: All right, and Todd, I know you want to add to that point. We're going to take a short break, though, and we'll talk a little bit more about the obligations a parent feels like they have just before sending off their kids to college. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Well, welcome back to DOLLAR SIGNS. We're talking about the expenses that come with going off to college. Janet Bodnar with Kiplinger's Personal Finance is joining us from Washington, as well as Todd Mark with Consumer Credit Counseling Service. And just before the break, we were talking about the pressure that a lot of parents feel that they've got to get their kids a laptop or a cell phone, because the kids say, "I can't live without it." And Todd, you say there's another way around it.

MARK: Well, when we were talking about telephone and cell phone service just before the break, I remember my first semester, every month I was doing about $300 in long distance charges. I had my girlfriend back home that I couldn't do without, and apparently, two hours a night or so. I don't know when I had time for classes.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, somehow I think the parents will say, "That is an argument I'm not willing to get into..."

MARK: Right.

WHITFIELD: That's not a necessity.

MARK: But whether you're doing prepaid minutes or you're doing one of the family plans on cell phones, that's great. But what would have been better had my folks done with me before I went down there and get hit on the side with $300 a month just in telephone charges, it would have been nice to go over the budget, everything that you might envision spending, and then everything that you can't envision spending. And remember, a budget has two sides.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

MARK: The income -- where's the money coming from? Is it scholarships, grants, loans; is this money that you've earned from summer jobs; is this mom and dad? How are you going to pay for this? And then, what actually are you paying for?

WHITFIELD: Which is what a lot of these students need to be asking themselves when they get all these offers. As soon as they turn 18, they get all these offers about credit cards, and they are tempted to get these student credit cards, even if it does have a maximum balance of $2,000. Why is this not a good idea, Janet or Todd, for a student to, you know, get a credit card while in school?

BODNAR: Fredricka, I think it's a terrible idea. I think I'm probably whistling in the wind, because I keep seeing these statistics about how 60 percent of all college students have credit cards. But believe me, they do not need credit cards. They don't even need them for emergencies, and they are really just asking for trouble.

There are so many kids I've talked to, 20-something kids, who've said, "Worst thing I ever did was get a credit card in college, and I ended up with $2,500, $3,000 worth of debt going out of college." You don't really need it. For kids, you know, to cover their expenses, if they have a debit card that's attached to a checking account that has their own money in it, I really think that that's all they need as far as convenience, as far as safety, and also as far as not getting into trouble regarding debt.

WHITFIELD: And you think that applies to someone who's living on-campus as well as living off-campus.

BODNAR: Oh, sure, yeah. You just don't need -- there's no way you need a credit card. And young people tell me -- you know, it's not a given. It is true that if a kid is 18, he or she can get a credit card without a parent's knowledge, without a parent's signature. But a lot of kids don't do it if they know their parents don't want them to do it. Parents really do have a lot of influence with their young kids, even with college age kids.

And, you know, I've asked 20-somethings who didn't get credit cards, well, why did you not do it, how did you avoid the temptation? And they said, "My parents would have killed me if I had done it."

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy.

BODNAR: So it really works.

WHITFIELD: Well, Gabriel in Florida is on the telephone line. She's got a question about some of the expenses incurred when you are living off-campus. Gabriel...

ON THE PHONE, GABRIEL, FLORIDA: Yeah, I have a question. We went ahead and we calculated that for our son to live off-campus, it would have been cheaper in the long run for him to get an apartment and work for himself. But we found out that Sallie Mae or Fannie Mae would not take part in these costs, and that's how we're financing the education. Is there anybody else out there who helps, any other organization, if you take out a student loan or a parent loan, that does help in this way?

WHITFIELD: Todd...

MARK: When it comes to financial aid for covering costs off of campus, honestly, I'm not sure of how many stipulate you've got to live on-campus or off-campus. But then, the question is, how much are you saving for yourself in the first place? Are you depending all on financial aid, or are you counting on grants and scholarships, or are you putting money aside, whether it's in a 529 -- that's a relatively new college savings plan -- a coverdale, or just putting money aside.

Or if a kid's working, whether it's during school or during the summers when they're not taking classes, maybe that money doesn't have any strings attached and that can go towards the living off-campus, and then everything else can go toward tuition and books.

WHITFIELD: And you know, a lot of students who are living off- campus, particularly, would love to argue the need for having a car. And William out of Maryland is on the telephone line with us with his question about just that. William...

ON THE PHONE, WILLIAM, MARYLAND: Thanks for taking my call. I bought my son a car when he was in the eleventh and twelfth grade so he could get to school, a private school, because my schedule was really bad and my wife had to work. Now, he's in college. He's a sophomore. He's made honor roll two semesters in a row, but I think he's done it because I'm using the car as a carrot.

He's putting a lot of pressure on me; he wants a car on campus. I'm not sure if it's a good idea, and I'm kind of afraid. The car is parked, nobody uses it, and it's just really driving me nuts. Could you please help me?

MARK: Gee, William, what's the end result you're looking for? Are you looking for dean's list throughout the college, or are you looking to save some money each semester?

WILLIAM: Well, I promised him, you know, that if he made honors up to the junior class I would give him a car on-campus, because the car is here; nobody uses it. I'm just afraid that if I give it to him, now, with the pressure from his friends, he's going to goof around.

WHITFIELD: Well, that sounds like it will happen. Janet...

BODNAR: Well, you know what you want to do. You really don't want to give it to him. You know, I think as a parent, if you really feel strongly about that, it seems like you've been really successful thus far, and he's been really successful as a student, so I think you might want to continue this.

Another thing is you need to consider the cost of having the car on campus. How far away from home does he go to school?

WILLIAM: About 300 miles.

BODNAR: Oh, it is. See, right now, because he's not driving the car and he's going to school over 100 miles away from home, you actually qualify -- you can probably get a discount on your car insurance. You should get in touch with your insurer, because you can probably get a savings, because he's not driving the car.

If he takes it to school with him, then he is no longer an occasional driver of the car. He probably has to have insurance of his own, and it will become much more costly. And then the question is, who's going to pay for the cost of insurance: you or he? So I don't know. It seems like you have a pretty good arrangement right now if you can keep dangling that carrot a little longer.

WHITFIELD: And Janet, there are some other things that I think a lot of parents, and maybe even the students, don't even anticipate; it happened to me when I was in college. I lobbied to have my car that last year of college. Then there's the issue of parking. Where do you park it? You've got to pay for that. And then, getting tickets sometimes, particularly if it's in a big city.

BODNAR: Right, exactly.

WHITFIELD: Who's going to pay for that?

BODNAR: Exactly. And it should be the kid that's going to pay for it. Now, is your kid willing and able to pay for this? I mean, cars are always loaded with expenses that kids don't anticipate beyond just the fact of buying the car.

WHITFIELD: And maintenance as well.

BODNAR: If you're a student in a city, I don't think you need a car. I mean, it is just a hassle to have a car in a big city where you have easy access to public transportation.

WHITFIELD: All right, Janet and Todd, hold on a minute. We're going to take a short break. We're continuing to take your calls, however, and we're accepting your email questions as well. So bring it on. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, welcome back to DOLLAR SIGNS. We're going to help you save on more than just college costs now. Louis Gorchoff, the self-titled "Dr. Coupon," is here to talk about how college students and everyone else can save money with free coupons, starting with some suggestions right here in your book, right?

LOUIS GORCHOFF, WWW.COUPON-DIRECTORY.COM: Tons of suggestions.

WHITFIELD: Tons of suggestions. Well, let's talk about how to segue that into college tuition kind of help. You know, what kind of coupons might a college student be able to find in your book, or some suggestions on how to save money when they go to school?

GORCHOFF: Well, I have like at least 450 toll free numbers direct to manufacturers for coupons and samples, which includes healthcare, hair care, food -- a lot of the things that college students would use. But I specifically have in there two Web sites that I want to mention. One is called BigZoo.com. That's for long distance -- long distance, 2.9 cents a minute.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

GORCHOFF: Which is unbelievable. And then, I also have a Web site called StudentAdvantage.com, for students. It's like approximately $20 a year to join. They get discounts on Greyhound, Amtrak, Pearl Vision, entertainment, and the list goes on. It's amazing.

WHITFIELD: So sometimes, it's an issue of both looking for coupons, just if you know, perhaps, the merchant's name, and you can also look for coupons via the service that you're interested in.

GORCHOFF: Correct. The information that I've researched not only includes grocery coupons, but it includes automotive, it includes healthcare, like I said; it includes fast food, restaurants, travel. And basically, I've done all of the footwork for the people.

WHITFIELD: Wow, so just about everything. When most people think coupons, it means clipping, you know, from the ads in the newspapers or getting a coupon when you buy a product. It's not really that simple anymore. It's been broadened out to something like 500 Web sites.

GORCHOFF: Yeah, I have 500 Web sites in there where people can go and print coupons 24 hours, seven days a week. The information that I've researched is not available anywhere else. And I'd like to say that the most exciting part of the information that I've come up with, I happen to think, is where people can order grocery coupons for the very first time.

Nobody's ever heard about that before. I have six different sources in there. These are companies that are coupon clipping services. They keep an inventory of over 1,000 brand name products. You contact them. Let me give you one of them. One of them is Qpon.com -- that's Q-p-o-n.com. Another one is CentsOff, C-e-n-t-s-O- f-f.com. You go to their Web site; you pick the coupons you want.

Imagine walking into a grocery store, Fredricka, and having a coupon for practically everything you buy, and then going into grocery stores like in different parts of the country, where they double the face value, that's how you're going to cut your grocery bill in half.

If you're talking about just clipping coupons, most people don't want to bother with clipping coupons.

WHITFIELD: Because it really is time consuming. And sometimes, you've got to read that fine print.

GORCHOFF: You're right, but it's...

WHITFIELD: So you're not embarrassed when you get to the store -- oh, this doesn't apply today.

GORCHOFF: But it's a hassle if there's not the coupons in the newspaper and magazines that you're looking for. They're usually for products that you don't want, and the expiration dates go by, a lot of times, before you can use them. So like I said, imagine walking into a grocery store and having a coupon for the items that you use. That's how you're going to cut your grocery bills substantially.

By the way, I do have one source in the directory where, when you order the coupons from them, none of the coupons have an expiration date.

WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting.

GORCHOFF: By the way, let me give you an example of how much money you can save.

WHITFIELD: OK, yeah.

GORCHOFF: As an example, if a family spends $150 a week, on average, for groceries, and they save just 30 percent, that's $2,340 a year. You can use that money for a vacation. You can use it for college tuition. People have no idea of how much money they can save using coupons. WHITFIELD: There's a lot of free money out there. You just have to be smart enough to take advantage of these programs.

GORCHOFF: Well, I put it together for people to make it easy for them. Most people don't have the time to go and look up all of this information.

WHITFIELD: All right, Louis Gorchoff, thanks so much. It's called "The Directory of Money-Saving Coupons." That's your book right here. And you can get some ideas on the services you can get discounts on from the coupons, or even some of the merchants, et cetera. It's a great tool. Thanks so much, Louis.

GORCHOFF: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: And thanks to Todd Mark, Consumer Credit Counseling Service here in Atlanta, for helping us save a little money -- a lot of money, in fact, for those who are going back to college -- and Janet Bodnar with Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Thanks so much to all of you.

And that's all we have time for right now, but stay with CNN. Up next on "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," two of the hottest names in the music industry, Britney Spears and Madonna. Then at 6 PM Eastern on "CNN LIVE SATURDAY," a delayed delivery. After more than 40 years, a package finds its way home. We'll show you what was discovered inside.

And at 7 PM, it's "CAPITAL GANG" with more on President Bush's plans for troop realignment. And I'll be back after a quick break with today's top stories.

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Aired August 21, 2004 - 16:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it's time for DOLLAR SIGNS, where we help you make the most of your money. College costs are skyrocketing. Beyond tuition and books, there are a number of extra costs that can really add up. Joining me today to talk about saving money on college costs are Todd Mark of Consumer Credit Counseling Service and Janet Bodnar with Kiplinger's Personal Finance, in Washington. Good to see both of you.
TODD MARK, CONSUMER CREDIT COUNSELING SERVICE: Thank you.

JANET BODNAR, KIPLINGER'S PERSONAL FINANCE: Good to see you too.

WHITFIELD: All right, so everybody figures college costs -- tuition, that's a given; books, that's a given. But you guys say there are some other expenses that people need to take into consideration and they usually don't. Todd...

MARK: Oh, are you kidding? You know, who used to pay for toothpaste and deodorant? I guess the tooth fairy must have, because you get to college and you suddenly have to buy those things. There are so many things -- the cost of living, the food. Sure, you might be getting room and board, you get a 20-meal plan each week. Who's going to eat 20 meals at the dorm res, you know? You go out. You buy pizza at two in the morning. Why? Because you can.

WHITFIELD: And sometimes, some students opt not to get on the meal plan, because they think of that -- they call it the freshman 10, the freshman 20...

MARK: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: ... the pounds they may put on. And so, a lot say, "You know what? I'm going to buy my own food." But that may become a much greater expense than getting on the meal plan, right?

MARK: It might be, Fredricka. But at that point, the real question is, are you going to be living on-campus or off-campus? Because if you're living off-campus, you're taking care of all of your food, you're taking care of your rent, your utilities, electric, cable TV, Internet, all that stuff.

WHITIFIELD: So Janet, about how much do parents or students need to anticipate all the extra expenses that they perhaps were not calculating with their tuition in books? Is there like a $10,000 or $6,000 figure that everyone should expect?

BODNAR: Well, Fredricka, the College Board estimates that about $3,000 a year, roughly, is what parents should anticipate for those extra expenses. Now, that can be more or less depending on travel costs -- how far is your student living away from home, are you going to be paying for airfare versus just, you know, being able to get a ride; are you living in a city, are you living in a small town?

So it could be more than that or it could be less. A good thing for parents and students to do is to get in touch with the student life office at the college or university where the kid is a student so you have some idea of how much they estimate extra expenditures are going to be.

WHITFIELD: All right, it seems like there's no getting around the expenses of books. It's a pretty vital tool in going to college. And Karen in New York is on the line with us, and she has a question about books. Karen...

ON THE PHONE, KAREN, NEW YORK: Yes, the books seem to be like packaged now, where you have to buy the CD that goes along with the book and it's all shrink wrapped together, or a lab book that's totally useless. Is there anything that we can do to get around that, or what can we do to have a voice that will protest the way they're doing it, and also the editions?

They'll change the editions slightly, which makes your resale books worth next to nothing, and if they really have to get that updated edition.

WHITFIELD: Janet...

BODNAR: Well, Karen, one thing, I don't know what you can do. This is endemic, I think, to education in general, this whole book deal. One edition only lasts for a couple years, and then it's outdated, which is kind of a whole other issue for you to take on at least. So I think what you can do in the meantime is -- Kiplinger's, this month, we actually recommend a Web site called BestBookBuys.Com.

And what that Web site does is at least compare the cost of books on various Web sites that sell books so that you can get the best price. You can include the ISBN number to make sure that your student is actually getting the correct edition of the book and then compare prices on various Web sites, and at least get a discount of perhaps as much as 30 percent or more on the book. So I think that's a good thing to do.

It also is worth it to just wait until your child gets to class, perhaps, if he or she can, to make sure what he really needs for class. And maybe if the teacher isn't going to use a particular lab book or a particular, you know, addendum to the edition, you won't have to buy it.

WHITFIELD: Boy, and you know what, Todd? I remember that -- buying the lab book because the teacher recommended it, and we never even used the lab book, and so it just goes to waste.

MARK: I've got plenty of textbooks from many, many years ago that I saved, never opened. It would have been so much easier just to ask the professor, as Janet just said, "Do I need the software..."

BODNAR: Honestly, which one are we using...

MARK: Yeah. And you know, the funny thing when it comes to books is you're accumulating these books, especially the ones in your major -- you want to hold onto them. Golly gee, I wish I'd sold them back, even for the pennies that they give you back. You know what? I've got some TV and radio books from 1989 talking about a new cable station called CNN that might revolutionize news. You know, that's really up to date now.

(CROSSTALK)

BODNAR: It's probably worth money now.

MARK: It might be.

BODNAR: It's a collectible.

WHITFIELD: Well, there are a lot of other expenses. I mean, it seems like kind of new expenses that go along with going to college now. You've got cell phones, you've got laptop computers. Are these real necessities, because you hear a college student, or a soon to be college student, pleading with their parents, saying, "I cannot live without a cell phone, Janet, and I cannot live without a laptop?" So is there a way of getting around that expense?

BODNAR: Well, let me tell you, I have three children. Two of them are in college, and when they went off to college, each of them went off without a cell phone, and they did have a landline in their room. And what we did for long distance charges was we got them prepaid cards, you know, that you can buy at Sam's Club or something for a penny a minute or some very cheap price.

We also used a very low cost Web site, Web service called OneSuite, o-n-e-s-u-i-t-e.com, which also has very inexpensive long distance minutes. So that's what we did for the first couple of years. Now, my son just got a cell phone. He was a junior last year, and he moved off campus, so he didn't have access to the campus landline. So we did get him a cell phone, but we got him a prepaid plan, which he pays himself.

So again, we're not subject to a lot of vagaries of just how much is he going to talk this month, and how much is he going to be on the hook for. He's on the hook for his costs, and he knows exactly how much he has paid each month, and believe me, he keeps track of his minutes.

WHITFIELD: All right, and Todd, I know you want to add to that point. We're going to take a short break, though, and we'll talk a little bit more about the obligations a parent feels like they have just before sending off their kids to college. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Well, welcome back to DOLLAR SIGNS. We're talking about the expenses that come with going off to college. Janet Bodnar with Kiplinger's Personal Finance is joining us from Washington, as well as Todd Mark with Consumer Credit Counseling Service. And just before the break, we were talking about the pressure that a lot of parents feel that they've got to get their kids a laptop or a cell phone, because the kids say, "I can't live without it." And Todd, you say there's another way around it.

MARK: Well, when we were talking about telephone and cell phone service just before the break, I remember my first semester, every month I was doing about $300 in long distance charges. I had my girlfriend back home that I couldn't do without, and apparently, two hours a night or so. I don't know when I had time for classes.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, somehow I think the parents will say, "That is an argument I'm not willing to get into..."

MARK: Right.

WHITFIELD: That's not a necessity.

MARK: But whether you're doing prepaid minutes or you're doing one of the family plans on cell phones, that's great. But what would have been better had my folks done with me before I went down there and get hit on the side with $300 a month just in telephone charges, it would have been nice to go over the budget, everything that you might envision spending, and then everything that you can't envision spending. And remember, a budget has two sides.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

MARK: The income -- where's the money coming from? Is it scholarships, grants, loans; is this money that you've earned from summer jobs; is this mom and dad? How are you going to pay for this? And then, what actually are you paying for?

WHITFIELD: Which is what a lot of these students need to be asking themselves when they get all these offers. As soon as they turn 18, they get all these offers about credit cards, and they are tempted to get these student credit cards, even if it does have a maximum balance of $2,000. Why is this not a good idea, Janet or Todd, for a student to, you know, get a credit card while in school?

BODNAR: Fredricka, I think it's a terrible idea. I think I'm probably whistling in the wind, because I keep seeing these statistics about how 60 percent of all college students have credit cards. But believe me, they do not need credit cards. They don't even need them for emergencies, and they are really just asking for trouble.

There are so many kids I've talked to, 20-something kids, who've said, "Worst thing I ever did was get a credit card in college, and I ended up with $2,500, $3,000 worth of debt going out of college." You don't really need it. For kids, you know, to cover their expenses, if they have a debit card that's attached to a checking account that has their own money in it, I really think that that's all they need as far as convenience, as far as safety, and also as far as not getting into trouble regarding debt.

WHITFIELD: And you think that applies to someone who's living on-campus as well as living off-campus.

BODNAR: Oh, sure, yeah. You just don't need -- there's no way you need a credit card. And young people tell me -- you know, it's not a given. It is true that if a kid is 18, he or she can get a credit card without a parent's knowledge, without a parent's signature. But a lot of kids don't do it if they know their parents don't want them to do it. Parents really do have a lot of influence with their young kids, even with college age kids.

And, you know, I've asked 20-somethings who didn't get credit cards, well, why did you not do it, how did you avoid the temptation? And they said, "My parents would have killed me if I had done it."

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy.

BODNAR: So it really works.

WHITFIELD: Well, Gabriel in Florida is on the telephone line. She's got a question about some of the expenses incurred when you are living off-campus. Gabriel...

ON THE PHONE, GABRIEL, FLORIDA: Yeah, I have a question. We went ahead and we calculated that for our son to live off-campus, it would have been cheaper in the long run for him to get an apartment and work for himself. But we found out that Sallie Mae or Fannie Mae would not take part in these costs, and that's how we're financing the education. Is there anybody else out there who helps, any other organization, if you take out a student loan or a parent loan, that does help in this way?

WHITFIELD: Todd...

MARK: When it comes to financial aid for covering costs off of campus, honestly, I'm not sure of how many stipulate you've got to live on-campus or off-campus. But then, the question is, how much are you saving for yourself in the first place? Are you depending all on financial aid, or are you counting on grants and scholarships, or are you putting money aside, whether it's in a 529 -- that's a relatively new college savings plan -- a coverdale, or just putting money aside.

Or if a kid's working, whether it's during school or during the summers when they're not taking classes, maybe that money doesn't have any strings attached and that can go towards the living off-campus, and then everything else can go toward tuition and books.

WHITFIELD: And you know, a lot of students who are living off- campus, particularly, would love to argue the need for having a car. And William out of Maryland is on the telephone line with us with his question about just that. William...

ON THE PHONE, WILLIAM, MARYLAND: Thanks for taking my call. I bought my son a car when he was in the eleventh and twelfth grade so he could get to school, a private school, because my schedule was really bad and my wife had to work. Now, he's in college. He's a sophomore. He's made honor roll two semesters in a row, but I think he's done it because I'm using the car as a carrot.

He's putting a lot of pressure on me; he wants a car on campus. I'm not sure if it's a good idea, and I'm kind of afraid. The car is parked, nobody uses it, and it's just really driving me nuts. Could you please help me?

MARK: Gee, William, what's the end result you're looking for? Are you looking for dean's list throughout the college, or are you looking to save some money each semester?

WILLIAM: Well, I promised him, you know, that if he made honors up to the junior class I would give him a car on-campus, because the car is here; nobody uses it. I'm just afraid that if I give it to him, now, with the pressure from his friends, he's going to goof around.

WHITFIELD: Well, that sounds like it will happen. Janet...

BODNAR: Well, you know what you want to do. You really don't want to give it to him. You know, I think as a parent, if you really feel strongly about that, it seems like you've been really successful thus far, and he's been really successful as a student, so I think you might want to continue this.

Another thing is you need to consider the cost of having the car on campus. How far away from home does he go to school?

WILLIAM: About 300 miles.

BODNAR: Oh, it is. See, right now, because he's not driving the car and he's going to school over 100 miles away from home, you actually qualify -- you can probably get a discount on your car insurance. You should get in touch with your insurer, because you can probably get a savings, because he's not driving the car.

If he takes it to school with him, then he is no longer an occasional driver of the car. He probably has to have insurance of his own, and it will become much more costly. And then the question is, who's going to pay for the cost of insurance: you or he? So I don't know. It seems like you have a pretty good arrangement right now if you can keep dangling that carrot a little longer.

WHITFIELD: And Janet, there are some other things that I think a lot of parents, and maybe even the students, don't even anticipate; it happened to me when I was in college. I lobbied to have my car that last year of college. Then there's the issue of parking. Where do you park it? You've got to pay for that. And then, getting tickets sometimes, particularly if it's in a big city.

BODNAR: Right, exactly.

WHITFIELD: Who's going to pay for that?

BODNAR: Exactly. And it should be the kid that's going to pay for it. Now, is your kid willing and able to pay for this? I mean, cars are always loaded with expenses that kids don't anticipate beyond just the fact of buying the car.

WHITFIELD: And maintenance as well.

BODNAR: If you're a student in a city, I don't think you need a car. I mean, it is just a hassle to have a car in a big city where you have easy access to public transportation.

WHITFIELD: All right, Janet and Todd, hold on a minute. We're going to take a short break. We're continuing to take your calls, however, and we're accepting your email questions as well. So bring it on. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, welcome back to DOLLAR SIGNS. We're going to help you save on more than just college costs now. Louis Gorchoff, the self-titled "Dr. Coupon," is here to talk about how college students and everyone else can save money with free coupons, starting with some suggestions right here in your book, right?

LOUIS GORCHOFF, WWW.COUPON-DIRECTORY.COM: Tons of suggestions.

WHITFIELD: Tons of suggestions. Well, let's talk about how to segue that into college tuition kind of help. You know, what kind of coupons might a college student be able to find in your book, or some suggestions on how to save money when they go to school?

GORCHOFF: Well, I have like at least 450 toll free numbers direct to manufacturers for coupons and samples, which includes healthcare, hair care, food -- a lot of the things that college students would use. But I specifically have in there two Web sites that I want to mention. One is called BigZoo.com. That's for long distance -- long distance, 2.9 cents a minute.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

GORCHOFF: Which is unbelievable. And then, I also have a Web site called StudentAdvantage.com, for students. It's like approximately $20 a year to join. They get discounts on Greyhound, Amtrak, Pearl Vision, entertainment, and the list goes on. It's amazing.

WHITFIELD: So sometimes, it's an issue of both looking for coupons, just if you know, perhaps, the merchant's name, and you can also look for coupons via the service that you're interested in.

GORCHOFF: Correct. The information that I've researched not only includes grocery coupons, but it includes automotive, it includes healthcare, like I said; it includes fast food, restaurants, travel. And basically, I've done all of the footwork for the people.

WHITFIELD: Wow, so just about everything. When most people think coupons, it means clipping, you know, from the ads in the newspapers or getting a coupon when you buy a product. It's not really that simple anymore. It's been broadened out to something like 500 Web sites.

GORCHOFF: Yeah, I have 500 Web sites in there where people can go and print coupons 24 hours, seven days a week. The information that I've researched is not available anywhere else. And I'd like to say that the most exciting part of the information that I've come up with, I happen to think, is where people can order grocery coupons for the very first time.

Nobody's ever heard about that before. I have six different sources in there. These are companies that are coupon clipping services. They keep an inventory of over 1,000 brand name products. You contact them. Let me give you one of them. One of them is Qpon.com -- that's Q-p-o-n.com. Another one is CentsOff, C-e-n-t-s-O- f-f.com. You go to their Web site; you pick the coupons you want.

Imagine walking into a grocery store, Fredricka, and having a coupon for practically everything you buy, and then going into grocery stores like in different parts of the country, where they double the face value, that's how you're going to cut your grocery bill in half.

If you're talking about just clipping coupons, most people don't want to bother with clipping coupons.

WHITFIELD: Because it really is time consuming. And sometimes, you've got to read that fine print.

GORCHOFF: You're right, but it's...

WHITFIELD: So you're not embarrassed when you get to the store -- oh, this doesn't apply today.

GORCHOFF: But it's a hassle if there's not the coupons in the newspaper and magazines that you're looking for. They're usually for products that you don't want, and the expiration dates go by, a lot of times, before you can use them. So like I said, imagine walking into a grocery store and having a coupon for the items that you use. That's how you're going to cut your grocery bills substantially.

By the way, I do have one source in the directory where, when you order the coupons from them, none of the coupons have an expiration date.

WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting.

GORCHOFF: By the way, let me give you an example of how much money you can save.

WHITFIELD: OK, yeah.

GORCHOFF: As an example, if a family spends $150 a week, on average, for groceries, and they save just 30 percent, that's $2,340 a year. You can use that money for a vacation. You can use it for college tuition. People have no idea of how much money they can save using coupons. WHITFIELD: There's a lot of free money out there. You just have to be smart enough to take advantage of these programs.

GORCHOFF: Well, I put it together for people to make it easy for them. Most people don't have the time to go and look up all of this information.

WHITFIELD: All right, Louis Gorchoff, thanks so much. It's called "The Directory of Money-Saving Coupons." That's your book right here. And you can get some ideas on the services you can get discounts on from the coupons, or even some of the merchants, et cetera. It's a great tool. Thanks so much, Louis.

GORCHOFF: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: And thanks to Todd Mark, Consumer Credit Counseling Service here in Atlanta, for helping us save a little money -- a lot of money, in fact, for those who are going back to college -- and Janet Bodnar with Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Thanks so much to all of you.

And that's all we have time for right now, but stay with CNN. Up next on "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," two of the hottest names in the music industry, Britney Spears and Madonna. Then at 6 PM Eastern on "CNN LIVE SATURDAY," a delayed delivery. After more than 40 years, a package finds its way home. We'll show you what was discovered inside.

And at 7 PM, it's "CAPITAL GANG" with more on President Bush's plans for troop realignment. And I'll be back after a quick break with today's top stories.

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