Thursday, August 09, 2012

By Barbara Pronin, RISMedia Columnist If you are among the thousands of families who are sending a child off to an out-of-area college this year, you are probably shopping for study lamps, mini-microwaves and fridges, and a variety of extra-long dorm linens.

But before you break the bank with a lot of extra expenses, including a wide array of wish-list electronics, the frugal editors at Kiplinger Magazine suggest five things your student probably does NOT need to take to campus:
• A high-end computer - An inexpensive laptop or desktop should suffice. Netbooks are cheap, but their small keyboards and slow processing speed may not make the grade for a student's first year in college. One powerful, portable and affordable option is the Dell Inspiron 15R Intel Core i3 laptop. It has a 15.6-inch screen, weighs 5.9 pounds, has 4 gigs of memory and a 500GB hard drive. Its cost? About $530.
• A printer – It’s handy in your room, but most students can use a flash drive or send their stuff to print in a dorm or campus computer lab – avoiding costs for the printer, paper and ink. Many college or dorm fees include a technology fee anyway, so it makes sense to make use of what you are paying for.
• A pricey Smartphone plan - Contracts with data plans can run as high as $200 a month. But there are cheaper, no-contract alternatives, like Virgin Mobile’s Beyond Talk Plan, which uses Sprint's Nationwide Network. Plans start at $35 a month, for unlimited Web, data, messaging and e-mail and 300 Anytime minutes.
• A credit card – The average student who has a credit card carries about $700 in debt, according to a recent Sallie Mae study. Using a debit card is a great way to help your student stay in the black and avoid interest expenses. You may not want to consider a credit card until/unless he or she has a track record of fiscal responsibility.
• A big meal plan – Don’t load up your student’s meal plan account with more money than is needed. Start low and see how much your student is eating. Many kids opt to fend for themselves at the local grocery or pizza joint. You can generally replenish the meal plan account at will – and you can always supplement it with gift cards to local grocery chains or restaurants.

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