Wellcultured - Well Cultured is a men’s online magazine with advice and reviews on fashion, dating, finances, health, music, movies and many other topics, as well as a robust message board and the Well Cultured Guide, a freely editable community wiki.

Preface: So I’ve been in London all summer attending Richmond for some English classes and one of those classes was Reading and Writing of Short Stories.  I’ve written this about a freshman coming to college, trying to find his own niche.  It’s something different for Well Cultured, but I figured I’d display my creative side.

I woke up today to the rude sound of my cell phone’s incessant buzzing at around seven in the morning.   I had a late night last night and I felt a little bit groggy this morning.  At home, the thermostat was always kept at a warm, comfortable temperature during the night.  My dorm room had a heater at the end underneath the window, but that thing was long out of commission. 

            “Dude, turn that alarm off.”  My roommate John Allerding mumbled as he buried his pudgy face into his pillow.  He had a very definite look of someone who clearly spent the whole night drinking.  His hair was damp and I noticed sweat spots on his dark blue shirt.  I fumbled around for the small device and knocked it off the dresser.  The phone fell to the ground amidst my pile of clothes.  I cursed under my breath for a moment and grabbed it from off the ground.  I pushed the off switch on the alarm and the room became peaceful again.  A weak light filtered through the curtains.  It was very cold and my covers slipped off my body during the night.  I was freezing cold.  I set my feet on the hard tile floor and a shiver ran throughout my body.  I put on a pair of socks and decided to sit there for a moment.  I ran my hand over my face as a feeble attempt to awaken me.  My body was unresponsive and I felt like collapsing back into my comfortable bed. 

            “Rough night last night?” I asked.

            “I’d fucking rather not talk about it.  I’m going to be puking my guts out all day.”  John said with his face still buried in the pillow. 

            I finally mustered enough motivation to stand up.  I felt very weak this morning.  I felt as though my brain was going to burst out of my skull.  My throat was dry, with that awful taste that I get when I sleep with my mouth open.  The mixture of alcohol and cigarette smoke was still fresh and it tasted awful.  It lingered around my tongue like a bad piece of food that I couldn’t spit out or swallow it.  I stumbled out of my room and walked awkwardly towards the showers as if I had whole cucumbers taped to the bottom of my feet. 

            “Mornin’ Jeremy.”  Someone said quietly behind me.  I looked at him but I couldn’t quite tell who it was until he got about a foot away from me.   I still wasn’t sure who it was.  I know I had seen him the day before at orientation but I hadn’t met him personally.

            “I’m doing fine.  What’s your name again?”

            “I’m James Christianson.  We talked a bit at the party last night.  You were fuckin’ crazy dude.”

            I paused to reflect back on the night.  I remember dancing on a table with a really cute dark haired girl. 

            “Shit, I hope I didn’t make myself look like too much of an ass last night.”

            “You looked pretty trashed last night.  I saw you dancing on that table with Gina.

            “Man, that’s right.  I remember that.”

            We went to the shower room together and kept talking about the night.  James was a freshman in my class, from Omaha, Nebraska and a business management major.  He seemed like the kind of guy that had a lot of friends in high school.  He was athletically built and had an air of confidence about him.  I couldn’t help but to be impressed with how he carried himself.  He invited me to a party and I told him I would consider it.  Before last night, I had never been invited to any parties.  In high school I was typically into really nerdy things.  While most of my classmates enjoyed talking about sports or movies, I was more inclined to talk about Japanese animation and video games.  I went to a very small school in Nebraska where everyone seemed to have the same interests except for me.  While most people enjoyed hunting or doing things outside, I would rather be at home doing programming on my computer or reading science fiction.

            My morning was very uneventful.  I spent most of it trying to circumvent my hangover with Gatorade and hot pockets.   I finally realized this new freedom I had being away from my parents.  Every morning I would make myself eggs and toast, but now that I was in college I could eat whatever I wanted at whenever I was hungry.  There is something ultimately rewarding about having this freedom.  It feels good to me.

            I decided the best thing I should do is to go and meet some people.  I met a group of guys at orientation that are very much like the kind of people I would hang out with, but even I don’t know who exactly these people would be.  I spent most of my high school life isolated and I didn’t want college to be much of the same lifestyle.  I despise popular people but at the same time, I desire to be one of them.  I desire to be able to hang out with anyone that I choose.  Popular people always seem to have everything going for them.  They could eat babies and people would still love them. 

            It was a very beautiful August morning.  The air was still cool from the night before, but the sun was making its way up a cloudless sky so the weather was bound to be sweltering by noon.   I took a walk by myself around campus for a while.  I always have admired the architecture of this university.  That is one of the reasons why I chose to attend this place.  The campus was kept very nice and clean with a beautiful mixture of old brick buildings and newer concrete buildings.  The main campus was rather tightly packed in, you had Mallard hall, Fisher hall, the student union, Morgan, Alby and Simon dorms all packed into about an acre of land.  It all seemed to fit together nicely, like a giant game of tetris.  There were other buildings that were part of the university, but those were spread out in a mile radius in the city.  I walked around for over an hour to get myself familiar with the land until my cell phone rang.  It was almost shocking at first because my cell phone had hardly ever been used before.  My initial thought was that it was my parents, but when I looked at the screen it read ‘Gina’ on the screen.  I was so surprised by this that I nearly missed the call.  

            “Hello?” I said.

            “Hey Jeremy, where are you at?”

            “I’m out and about.  What about you?  How’d you like the party last night?”

            “Oh my God, that was so fun.”  She said in a really cute, excited voice. “How did you like it? Are you okay?  I was worried that you got hurt.”

            I was puzzled and I tried to remember what happened.

            “What are you talking about, I feel fine.”

            “Well, you took a pretty nasty fall last while we were dancing on that table.”

            I finally remembered what happened.  As she and I were dancing on the table, it started to wobble and it tossed me to the floor.  I didn’t think much of it then, but now I felt really embarrassed about it.

            “Yeah, no, I’m fine.  I guess I should scale it down a little bit next time.”

            “No you’re fine, that was hilarious.  So what are you doing today?”

            “I don’t have anything planned right now.  I just woke up about an hour ago and so I’ve just been walking around outside, enjoying the scenery.”

            “Are you coming to the palace tonight?”

            “What’s the palace?”

            “There’s this house over on 45^th street.  Some juniors live there so they’re throwing a kegger.  You should come.”

            “I’d like to, but I don’t know.  Last night was pretty rough on me.”

            “I understand.  You should still try to make it out though.  I’d really like to see you.”

            “You just want to see me look like an idiot again.”

            “Oh, you need to just chill out.  You had a good time last night, admit it.” She said with a laugh.

            “I suppose so.  I’ll think about it.”

            “Awesome.  I’ll see you there, bye.”

            I hung up the phone and I could feel my face getting red.  I didn’t want to go to that party.  I knew that once I showed my face, I’d be the laughing stock.  People made fun of me enough in high school for weird things I did and I didn’t want to deal with it again in college.  I wanted to go back to my dorm room immediately for fear of being seen out in public, and all I wanted to do was be alone for the rest of the day.  The last thing I needed was to see someone point at me and let everyone know that I was the guy that made himself look like an ass the night before.  I darted from one end of the campus back to my dorm room in Morgan Hall.  I moved as quickly as I could through the building, ignoring people, trying not to make any eye contact at all.  I got back to my room on the 5^th floor and my roommate already had three other guys in our room.  They were watching Sports Center on the television and looked at me as I walked in.  I was horrified to discover so many people in my room.  I wanted to just be alone, but this would not work for me.  I paused for a second as I watched them watching me and eventually they lost interest and started watching the television again.  I walked back out of the room and I started heading towards the kitchen.  I figured there would be no one in that room but I was wrong.  As I opened the door, James was talking to another freshman on the couch.  James sat with his legs up on the couch as the other one sat with his back against the backrest.  James looked up and seemed happy to see me.

            “Hey buddy, what’s up?  You should take a seat at the other couch.”

            There was another couch in the room that connected at the corner of the couch that the two students sat on.  I hesitantly walked towards it and flopped down on it like a sack of potatoes.

            “You still coming to that party tonight?” he said.

            “No, I don’t think so.” I said and he looked at me like I just confessed that I was a serial killer.

            “I’m calling bullshit on that.”

            “Why would you do that?  I really don’t want to go tonight.”

            “Why not?”

            “Because I made myself look like an ass last night by dancing on that table and then falling off.”

            “Dude, that was hilarious.  You were fine and you had a great time the rest of the night.”

            “I know that, but now that I know what happened, everyone’s going to see me and laugh at me.”

            “I can guarantee you that no one there is going to give a shit about you falling down last night.  That’s what drunk people do, they fall down a lot.  You’ve got nothing to worry about.  Sure some people are going to give you shit, but that’s nothing to freak out about.”  He looked at his friend on the couch.  “What do you think Eric?  Do you think he should come out tonight?”

            “Hell yeah man, should be a good time.”  Eric said with disinterest.

            James introduced me to Eric.  Eric was a tall, lanky guy, but he was definitely athletic.  He was a wide receiver for the football team and almost instantly I felt a negative disposition towards him.  I didn’t show it outright because I didn’t want to get on his bad side.  He was actually quite the opposite of what I envisioned him to be and I was quite surprised by this.  He was incredibly soft spoken and didn’t show much emotion other than moments where he would laugh at one of James’ jokes.  He didn’t seem unintelligent and I found myself getting used to being around these guys. 

            “So what do you like to do for fun?” James asked me.

            “I like to do whatever, I don’t know, go to movies I guess.”

            “That’s cool.” 

            “I’m not a real big drinker.”

            “That’s fine, you should still go to the party tonight.  Even if you don’t want to drink, it’s still good to go out and meet people.”

            “Where’s the party at?” I asked.

            “I think on 45^th street.  There’s a bunch going on tonight, but that one is a kegger.  They’re going to have like four or five kegs of beer and it’s going to be five dollars for a cup.”

            “Oh, that sounds good.”

            “What time are you going?”

            “We’re probably heading out around nine o’clock.”

            Hours passed from that conversation and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go or not. I deliberated all day.  I didn’t want to go, but the prospect of seeing Gina at the party was too good to pass up.  Nine o’clock came around and I left with James and Eric to go to the party.  It was about a ten-minute drive from campus with a stop at a gas station so that James could pick up some rum and coke with his fake I.D.  I sat in the back as he and Eric talked about the girls that they saw the night before and who they were planning on getting some action from.  Eric mentioned Gina and I felt a pit deep within my stomach.  I could feel my face getting red again knowing that she would immediately fall for Eric and probably never talk to me the whole night.  I felt my throat starting to choke up and I suddenly felt as if I was trapped inside a box that was so tightly sealed that I couldn’t move. 

            We got to the party and I immediately felt like walking back to campus by myself.  I walked in with James and Eric, who were showered with people welcoming them.  Everyone greeted those two and ignored me.  James introduced me to several guys and girls that were there.  The guys gave me unenthusiastic responses and the girls seemed condescending.  I walked around the house like a lab rat that was lost within the maze, trying to find the cheese at the end.  I looked around and everyone seemed to be occupied.  I couldn’t merely walk up to anyone and introduce myself unless they weren’t already talking to someone.  I could feel myself getting red in the face again, so I found a couch in the darkest corner of the house.  The lights were dim while people were dancing to the rap music playing on the stereo.  I was thankful that it was so dark so that no one could recognize me or see how embarrassed I was.  Just as I sat down I heard someone say my name and grab my arm. 

            “Jeremy, I’m so glad you made it.  Get off that couch and come meet some of my friends.”

            Gina took grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to a group of people.  They were all in a circle talking to each other.  She introduced me to them, but I couldn’t say anything.  I turned around and started for the door.  As I exited the house I heard Gina following me.

            “What’s wrong, Jeremy?”

            “You wouldn’t understand.  I’m not trying to sound mean or anything, but you don’t know what I’ve been through.”

            “What makes you think that?”

            “Well, you seem really popular and that’s not who I am.  I don’t really have any experience with this.”

            “What about last night, you were at that party.”

            “That one was smaller, and everything was fine before I made myself look like an idiot by falling off that table.”

            “Jeremy don’t worry, you were a little drunk, that’s probably the least harmful thing anyone has ever done drunk.”

            “People are still going to laugh at me.  I can’t take that.” I said and she put her hand on my arm.

            “You might not believe me, but you have nothing to worry about.  I know you’re insecure right now, but no one is.  No one at this party is going to make fun of you for falling off a table.  You’re in college anyways and it’s so big that not everyone knows about it.  It’s not a big deal.”

            “It is to me.”

            “I know it is, but you have to trust me.”

            “I don’t know if I can go back in there.”

            “Well let’s go for a walk.  It’ll calm you down.”

Let’s face it, a lot of us are poor. Well, not eat-off-the-floor poor, but the vast majority of us aren’t rolling in cash, and many of us find ourselves in a position where we have to find money- and manage that money well lest we starve. And, as our forums show, many of us are college students with one big issue: Money.

So, in the interest of answering some questions and collecting some ideas, here’s a quick list of habits that will help you survive college life without major debt. Unfortunately, no answer will make your tuition debts completely go away, but… we can imagine.

Basic College Life

• Stay in a school that has what you want: remember, it’s not much different than hiring a service. Don’t get caught up in the concept of sticking at a school because of arbitrary means (such as “I like the name” or something like that). Remember: You are (probably) paying an exorbitant amount of money to attend- work hard for what you want, and if it’s not what you want, go somewhere else.
• Be wary of clubs and organizations. Don’t hide from them by any means, but some groups and organizations on campus (ESPECIALLY Fraternities and Sororities) expect dues to the tune of $1,000 USD or more. Either prepare for it or stay far away.
• Avoid going out to bars. Trust me, even if you like that scene, plenty of parties will have free beer in one form or another, and you don’t need the alcohol THAT badly. Modern bartenders take your credit card hostage and charge like there’s no tomorrow- they do so for their own safety, which is fine, but it also keeps you from realizing how much expensive crap you’ve guzzled down.
• Get good grades and keep out of trouble. You will be eligible for school-sponsored scholarships if you do- stuff that can knock the price off significantly.
• Become a “Scholarship Whore”. Apply to everything you hear about. While it’s taxing, you can do it in your free time. Who knows, you might get something.
• Take the PLSAT/PGMAT/Whatever as much as possible. You may be pleasantly surprised to find out your scores, and it’s a good way to figure out where you stand for both graduate school and some of your college strengths. Expect it to be rough- the PLSAT is roughly the equivelant of mental molestation, and the PGMAT even more so- but you need to take it. Most colleges let you take it for free.
• Stay off of JuicyCampus and other gossip rags. Some colleges have been known to severely punish students for doing such things.
• Avoid excessive spending. You do not need a 50″ plasma screen in a 10′x10′ room. Similarly, you do not need to walk around in the latest fashions driving a Porsche. Most people in college are too busy to care.
• Take advantage of free stuff on campus. Often, colleges will hold various free seminars and functions for students. This can range from being able to hear a famous speaker to getting a 100% free Flu shot. Keep your eyes peeled.
• Network like crazy. Your first job may come from someone you met in college- so don’t dismiss the idea of talking to everyone you can and networking with as many professionals as you can handle. Even taking business cards is a good start.

Class Tricks

• Figure out your Library policy and abuse it. Taking an English class with 20 books and you have no money? The Library will probably have copies- and some older texts can be found online. Similarly, services like JSTOR and LexisNexis are usually free on student networks- abuse them if you can.
• Mass Print in “Fast Draft” mode. If you have it, use this mode for any/all required readings you have to print out. Your printer will thank you when it doesn’t have to chug out 300DPI scans of some stupid report (I know this, I killed a new printer in under 6 months doing this).
• Even if you feel academically confident, still use free tutoring services. If you have the free time, why not? It’s free lessons. Double up the time someone’s instructing you on a subject you are poor at and you have a hell of a lot better chance of passing. On many campuses, it’s free.
• Re-use notebooks or use loose leaf, if you can. Don’t waste the money to buy a huge notebook just to constantly scrabble “This Professor Is An Idiot” all over the first three pages to never use the notebook again.

Food/Drink Tips

• Hungry? Find a party or a gathering and feign interest. The moral nature of doing such a thing is questionable, but crazy political interest nutcases can make a good burger.
• Cut back on the Soda, Red Bull, and Vitamin Water. It’ll make you fat- even Vitamin Water (check the label if you don’t believe me). The worst thing is, that kinda stuff tends to make you jumpy and retarded. From personal experience, studying and drinking nothing but Red Bull (and eating Gummi Worms) for two days straight gives you Kafka-esque hallucinations.
• You can go cheaper than the cafeteria. Most upperclassmen learn this quick: get the minimum meal plan and buy stuff on your own. Cafeteria food gets old, and it obviously is kinda pricy for what you get. Cans of soup, sandwiches, and similar items are equally as tasty and are much cheaper. Hell, if you live off campus, brown-bag it.
• Don’t smoke or drink alcohol if you can avoid it. Yes, it sounds prudish, but that stuff is insanely expensive.

Living

• Living off campus may be cheaper in the long run. Do some searching when such an option is available- as crazy as it sounds, it may be cheaper to share an apartment with some friends (or even go on your own) rather than staying in a dorm.
• Fight for a dorm room you want. Many colleges charge roughly the same for a triple, double, and single dorm room, so fight for the one you want. Raising hell, within reason, can result in nice extras.
• Mooch. If you have roommates, more than likely they will have various other things you may need- such as televisions, new video games, etc.- if you split up the costs in the long run, everyone will have the same enjoyment without the high costs.
• Use the Library for movies and games. Check your library- they may have more interesting things than you think. Many Professors seem to have a love of modern movies (mainly for “teaching”, in the loosest term), so many libraries stock up with the newest films. It’s a lot cheaper than renting.
• Keep the place clean. Damage bills can be ridiculous.
• Make friends with the IT guys, if you can. Please an IT guy sufficiently and you will magically find yourself with more bandwidth and more blind eyes to your browsing habits.
• Carpool. Don’t go off on solo trips if you can. If you live in a dorm, no doubt some friends will need food too- everyone can pitch in for gas and collectively save money.
• Be frugal about laundry. Many articles of clothing can admittedly be worn multiple days- and when you do laundry, avoid using tons of detergent.

General Finance

• Lock your credit cards away. If you play your cards right, there will be few times you will genuinely need a credit card, especially on campus.
• STAY AWAY FROM ON-CAMPUS LENDING GROUPS. If you do decide to utilize them, be CAREFUL. Many of these groups are rather predatory, meaning if you are too loose with your funds they will tear your credit history to shreds before you even graduate.
• Read the terms of the “Campus Cash” (or equivalent) deals. Many colleges allow you to place money on your ID card for miscellaneous purchases, such as for drinks and the like. Some do not allow this money to “roll over” to the next semester/year. If that is the case, either put as little as you can on there, or buy everything in sight right before the year ends.
• Shop around for financing options for your tuition loan. Various states offer different things- even the federal government gets involved on occasion. Shop around.

Getting Extra Cash

• Sign up to be a tech adviser/repairman on campus. Trust me, they don’t need A+ Certified pseudo-geniuses- most campuses hire general “Dorm Techs” to do the basic work (like plugging in Ethernet cables). You can be paid for this.
• Find a job in your major department. This is the ideal- not only do you get money, but you get offhand learning experience AND the opportunity to bond with your Professors.
• Find a job ANYWHERE on campus. Most colleges will hire you and then work around your class schedule, which is amazingly great.
• Do miscellaneous things for students on campus. One of the brightest ideas I’ve heard in a while is that the makeup group Mary Kay is hiring girls on campus to sell to girls on campus. That’s a money machine. While I doubt you can go around hawking makeup, there are many similar things you can do.

Another question from the readers:

Hello, I’m starting to get out on my own, and I’m heading off to college next semester.  One of my co-workers has suggested that I get put on the books so that I can start to establish my own credit history.  Honestly, I don’t know anything about credit, credit scores, or credit history, so I turn to you guys to hopefully steer me in the right direction to manage the meager amount of money I’m going to have as a college student.

Your coworker is actually pretty sharp. Credit histories take some time to build up (properly, at least), so it’s good to have a general game plan when you enter College.

When you enter College, you will probably get an insane amount of credit card applications- even from your college. While it’s something of an ethically questionable practice, many colleges (especially private ones) connect with local banking institutions to provide their students access to credit cards and banking resources. That being said, now is the time to start building up a credit history, it just has to be done carefully.

Here’s what I recommend: Get a credit card and use it only once a month for a meal or something. Credit cards are massive pains (and many argue against their existance as a whole), but you generally need them for various purchases, so it’s important to play the game early and build up a reputation (which is manifest in your credit history). However, as I’m sure you’ll notice in college, you can easily way overcharge crap on your credit card and get into massive debt- and it can ruin your future job opportunities. Too many people graduate from College with huge amounts of debt- debt from credit cards AND tuition.

Long story short, get a credit card to “officially” be using their services, but never use it except once a month (so it stays active) and pay it off immediately. If you need to carry a card with you, carry a debit card- and only when you absolutely must. While you will build up your credit history, you will stay out of debt, and essentially begin earning free services from the credit card company. Naturally, the company will be making SOME money off you (off of the people you buy from, rather), but in the long run, they’ll be giving you a free ride to a solid credit history.

So far as general money management, it isn’t that hard so long as you learn to budget and watch yourself:

1. Drinking in college is expensive and stupid. Nowadays, bartenders will actually expect you to hand them your credit card and let them charge away as you drink away. If you want to drink, go to parties or whatever and grab what’s free. This also applies with food and “major/minor parties”, though professors will get angry at you for that (I know this from experience).
2. Some campuses will be more expensive than others. On some, living on-campus is cheap, others will charge you an arm and a leg to do so. Figure out what’s cheap- if you live off campus close enough to bike, then you can save lots of money- always check prices.
3. Avoid nasty fees. Private universities love to tack on “bad” parking charges and/or food charges to make up what they spend on the football team, so avoid bad practices.
4. Build a budget and stick by it. Let’s face it, all you really need is food, water, clothing, a roof, and, in college, an internet connection. I’m not supposed to really say this, but you can download so much stuff now, it’s useless to buy most entertainment-related things.

So there you have it. I kept it fairly simple, but hopefully it should be straightforward enough to help. Good luck!