A wise man once told me that girlfriends are expensive. I asked him whether he'd ever met my textbook.

"This 300-page beaut," I said, "costs 200 dollars."

Suddenly a date to the local movie theatre or ice cream shop didn't carry the same weight. I felt like I'd shattered a world view.

Textbooks stare inflation in the face and never blink. And unlike with most college "expenses," students often feel they don't have a say in the matter.

But a movement is starting – albeit very slowly – to lighten the load on students' wallets every fall and winter.

On a congressional level, there is the The College Opportunity and Affordability Act, passed in February, which among other things forces publishers to sell "bundled" items separately and fully disclose prices to professors before inking a deal.

And on a less-bureaucratic level, there are alternative textbook purchasing options sprouting up all over the place. Check out the following three options, including our recommendations for each:

Now if you plan to keep your textbook after you finish the class, renting probably isn't for you. But let's face it: Almost all of us have visited our school's "Book Buyback" tent only to find out that our 185-dollar textbook is now worth 5 bucks. Renting can get you out of this situation.

2. Cheap Textbook Buying

Yes, "cheap" and "textbook" can go together in the same phrase. Check out Campusbooks.com if you are looking for used textbooks at reasonable prices. Old standbys Amazon.com and Half.com can also deliver the goods.

The key when using this option is to plan in advance, and plan well. As a rule of thumb, you don't want to buy expensive books before attending the first class (unless your professor has explicitly told you that you'll need a certain book or two). When ordering online, you'll have to account for shipping time; so make sure you aren't stuck without a book two weeks into class and facing a quiz the next day. Be prepared to order right after your first class.

3. Textbook Borrowing

If you're looking for the most economical option, you've found it. If you can, find a friend or peer who has taken your class before and ask to borrow the book. Offer to buy them dinner or get them football tickets in return. And if you don't know of anyone offhand, use Cramster's Facebook app Courses 2.0 to facilitate the process (you can enter the textbooks for each class you list).

Really though, some enterprising student should start a business on his/her campus that pays fellow students a flat rate to be a "lender" and then charges "borrower" students a certain amount per book to rent for the semester. Seriously. Do it and let me know how it goes. Maybe we can be partners.

What strategies to you follow to save money on textbooks? Have a favorite Web site you go to? Do you think government can really rule against big business and noticeably lower prices? Post a comment below!

Recently it seems like everywhere you turn there is some reminder telling you to go green. But have you changed your ways? Has your school?

These are green times. The radio informs you about the cash-saving, environment-saving wonders of the Prius or Civic. The TV lets you watch those squiggly light bulbs tell you that switching to environmentally friendly light bulbs is like taking thousands of cars off the road. Man, if only change were always this easy.

I don't know about you, but I've seen the "quick green fix" thousands of times—and no offense, but personally I'd rather get back to Grey's.

I mean, don't get me wrong, going green is something everyone should do, even if it's just a small conservation gesture here and there. But this hubbub makes me wonder—with all these reminders about going green, do you and the people you know actually do anything to help the cause?

Advocates of green living sure make you think that your friends all just hopped off a Greenpeace boat. You don't live green? You must still use VHS, too.

I have a few friends that are recycling enthusiasts (never use plastic bags, separate bottles from trash, refuse to get into an SUV), but the rest? Well, let's just say they love their big Suburbans and definitely couldn't tell you what the three Rs stand for (reduce, reuse, recycle, baby!).

But all shtick and sarcasm aside, there are little things we can do to live a greener life. With the new school year right around the corner, several sites are helping us out:

At TheGreenGuide.com you can greenify yourself for the new year with EcoWriter pencils and "Simple Shoes."

At RedApplesSupply.com you can buy… green apple school supplies. Looks like the green craze has even caused some identity crises.

So, go on – walk to your friend's apartment instead. Pick up some empty plastic bottles on the way and toss them into the recycling bin. And if you're really ambitious, buy school supplies made from recycled materials. A small amount of effort is worth staving off Al Gore for a little while longer.

Does your school take any measures to be green? Would you pay extra for green school supplies? What are some simple tips you have for the rest of us to do our part?

Recent students who took the GMAT are fearful about their academic future due to illegal prep help from Topscore.com.

For those of us who haven't yet given much thought to grad school, the GMAT is another standardized test for students planning to get their MBA. Think of it as the business SAT, the gatekeeper to many graduate business programs.

Topscore.com, a popular test prep site, was recently sued and shut down by GMAC (the guys who own GMAT) due to the site's "live GMAT questions." As the story goes, Topscore hired recent GMAT takers to rack their brains and recall questions from the test. The site then offered this information to members who paid a subscription fee.

With the questions being "live," Topscore subscribers were more likely to come across a familiar sight when they took the actual test. Talk about getting some real help.

But did these students know they were walking a fine line of legality? Most of those interviewed claimed they didn't, that they just wanted to prepare best they could.

Putting myself in their shoes, I wouldn't care if questions came from GMATs taken 5 minutes ago or from a Power Rangers cereal box coupon code as long as it would help me get into the business school I sought most.

So, what gives?

GMAC has already laid the hammer down on Topscore – no surprise there. But the real question is what will happen to the students who accessed, and benefitted from, the hot-off-the-presses questions?

As it stands, GMAC scourged Topscore's databases to find information on all the "guilty" subscribers and is currently weighing its options. But hold the phone… how can GMAC discern which students knowingly accessed illegal information and which just wanted more help?

The punishment for those found guilty can range from canceled scores (and thus, the need to retake the test) to being blacklisted. The latter would, in effect, prevent these students from attending business school.

Tough lessons, but ultimately, for the rest of us, lesson learned.

There are tons of prep schools, books, and Web sites out there to guide you toward a better score on standardized tests. But before you jump in, be sure to check sources, disclaimers and terms of use. At Cramster.com, even though we don't deal with standardized test prep, we do help you prepare for other exams, and we let you know that we take learning seriously. Any skepticism about our intentions can be wiped away by reading our anti-cheating policy.

We frown upon what Topscore did, but the jury's out on whether the students were guilty. Here's to the true story coming out.

So what do you think? How should the GMAT "cheaters" be punished, if at all? How would you resolve this situation?

According to "MSNBC," one-sixth of the 3.2 million students who are enrolled at a higher education institution took least one online class last fall. With gas prices hurting students' wallets, and schools saving money by virtue of needing less space and professors, it's no wonder that more and more students are learning electronically. I'm trying out the new online kick one class at a time this summer and this fall.

Of course, there are plenty of students who probably choose to sign up in order to have a flexible school schedule so they can work or be more involved in other activities. But then again, they may just have wanted to be able to rescue Princess Peach on their Nintendo while pausing to glance at a droning professor on their computer screen.

With so many distractions, what's the trick to learning effectively online? How can you prevent watching the entire "semester" of lectures during the same two-night marathon?

To start, it's impossible to schedule your online learning obligations at the exact same time each week. You've got things that randomly come up, friends who randomly want to hang out, and moments where you randomly just want to watch old Pokémon episodes on YouTube.

So rather than constraining yourself to marking your schedule up with classes and sad smiley faces each week, give yourself limited versatility. This means that you will still tend to your coursework each week, but during different chunks of time.

Each Tuesday (because I personally hate the dreadful association of Mondays with school) you can mark your schedule for what times you will dedicate that week to your online course. Give yourself different chunks of time so you can relax in between. And give yourself more chunks of time than you need, so if randomly your friends decide to reenact the finale of WrestleMania, you can join 'em.

I would also suggest studying on Wednesday or Thursday because those are the times when random things, friends and moments are least likely to happen. And, of course, it's nice to not have to work on the weekends.

If you think you've got it together, what suggestions do you have to keep online students from watching 10 lectures on the night before the final?

1. Learn to be a personal chef. I know groceries have increased in price, but they're still cheaper than going out to eat at your local restaurants, which have increased prices even more. Yeah, you want to go out with your friends, but why not show off your hidden Iron Chef skills and impress those friends a bit? And if you can't cook, you can always show off your mom's Iron Chef skills instead.

2. Take advantage of free summer activities. Rather than spending $8 on a movie, go on a hike in your nearest park, at a beach or on a mountain trail instead. You should have no excuse to do activities that cost a lot just because they're convenient (bowling, clubbing, etc.) An active summer is not only inexpensive and simple, but can also keep you looking good as well.

3. Give Starbucks and Coffee Bean a break. Recent stats show that the average American drinks 2-3 cups of coffee per day. Given that, you probably spend $5-15 a day on coffee. With that money, you can buy yourself more than 3 gallons of gas – enough to drive past 40 Starbucks locations. As an alternative to caffeine, drink more water – sure, it helps hydration, but it also helps you stay awake. Besides, it's summertime. You don't have the "I-need-to-stay-up-late-to-study" excuse anymore.

4. Make gifts rather than buy them. Yes, true love is free and beautiful, but reaching that point is not. Instead of spending $80 on a jacket for your girlfriend, make her something simple that looks cute or write her a letter. These are essentially free and a whole lot more sincere as well. You'd be amazed at what money doesn't buy.

5. Upgrade to a premium membership on Cramster.com. Set yourself up for next year with our lowest offer - $39.95 for 12 months of premium access. Hey, we're only trying to help you out. Or better yet, you can earn more karma points and make us pay for your membership instead. Now that's a beautiful thing.

Go ahead - post your own ways of saving a few extra bucks during the summer. I mean, come on, we're looking for tips, too.

I'm sure the majority of you out there use Facebook. Perhaps you don't use it as fiendishly as USC football coach Pete Carroll (I'm not kidding, he has a legitimate Facebook profile), but most of you sign on now and then, or will sign on in the future.

Back when students owned Facebook and it wasn't cluttered with applications, advertisements and 80-year-old thrill seekers, there was an official "courses" feature operated by Facebook. We could find our classes and add them to a schedule that would be displayed on our profile, we could see which classes friends were taking and we could easily form study groups by looking through our class rosters.

The best part about it was everyone used it – so the class rosters were actually complete and the feature was useful.

So what happened to it? Well, in short, Facebook got rid of it, saying developers could make something better in the form of an application. In my opinion, Facebook just got lazy and wanted to focus on making money rather than on students' experience. But hey, I can't really blame them.

Lucky for us, Cramster has developed its own application – Courses 2.0 – that does everything Facebook's old courses did plus a whole lot more. One exciting feature coming soon is the ability to form an online study group without leaving Facebook.

But as you know, the app can't be at its best unless a ton of students hop on board. That's where you come in.

We've created a group called Courses 2.0 – Facebook courses the way it should be in hopes that it can spread the word and make Courses 2.0 the universal courses application just like we used to have.

C'mon – you know having a universal courses app once again would be pretty awesome.

For most high school seniors, it's that time of year – the time when funny hats are thrown into the air to signal the end of sheltered bubbles and parental control, and the beginning of the path to expanded horizons.

But if you were like me, the standard graduation song that everyone hears takes a back seat to your soon-to-be fight song that makes you distinct.

Before you can step foot onto the college campus of your choice, however, you must spend three months in educational limbo. Sure, you'll be working, possibly taking a summer class or two and enjoying your weekends (be careful, kids), but through it all, college will always be on your mind.

Courses, professors, new cities, roommates, classmates, parties, freedom and unlimited cafeteria buffets – no one can blame you for drowning in possibilities.

So how can you strike a healthy balance? Here are five tips to help you get pumped and prepared but keep you away from classic pre-freshman mistakes.

1. Read up on some school history – Let me paint the scene: You're at the first home football game and the band strikes a chord that sends most people around you into song, but you have no idea what's going on. Naturally, you clap and bounce around a little, hoping your awkward smile doesn't catch on and that the song will be over before your giddy friend sticks a fake microphone in your face. Don't let this happen to you. Know the songs, know the recent sports history, know about the traditions – orientation will help, but most of the time you'll be bogged down with registrations and info sessions. Doing some history legwork during the summer will make you a natural fit.

2. Make Facebook your friend, not your lifeline – Back in the day when I was a college freshman (2005… c'mon guys), Facebook was just a baby. Still, there were people who made fools of themselves before they ever spoke with one of their classmates in person; and Facebook was the culprit. Friending a few future classmates, joining a few groups and sending a few messages or wall posts back in forth is a great idea – it will help you out socially in the early going. On the other hand, having 1,000 friends, owning all 10 recent wall posts on a cute boy or girl's wall and being a proud member of 132 groups – some of which are inside jokes among the senior class – is a terrible idea. After being told, "Oh, you're the dude I saw on Facebook!" for the 20th time, you'll understand why.

3. Scope out the area surrounding campus – I'm sure your college will have a multitude of events for the incoming freshmen during the first few weeks of school that will keep you on campus. But once the on-campus buzz dies down, you'll serve yourself well by finding the cool spots to eat or catch a movie off campus. Telling a group of your new buddies, "Hey, I heard about this great Italian place down the road," right before you were all about to hit the cafeteria for the 14th day in a row will make you a demigod in their eyes.

4. Put some money in your pockets – About those great off-campus locales… you probably can't go there unless you have a few bucks to spend. If you don't have a job locked down yet, even if it only pays minimum wage, find one! Gas prices aren't getting any lower and pizza by the slice can only be so cheap. Remember when movies were six bucks? Scouts honor, it wasn't that long ago.  

5. Set yourself up to succeed with Courses 2.0 and Cramster – All right, I'll admit this step might be a few months away, but I promise it's just as worthwhile. College courses are more difficult than high school courses – you knew that already – but there are also more educational tools at your disposal. Signing up for a free membership to Cramster.com is a natural step for math, science and engineering majors, but for those who don't know, Cramster will be testing our new subjects like economics and business in the near future. And going back to Facebook, Courses 2.0 is the perfect application to connect with new classmates. Let friends know which classes you are taking and check out who will be joining you in those classes – it's like the day your elementary school released teachers and class listings, but way more fun. And when the time comes to actually start studying, Courses 2.0 can help you find the right study partners.

Did I leave anything out? What are you doing to prepare for "the best four years of your life?" 

Wrong.

For a select group of people, there is the dreaded summer school. What? School? During summer? Oh, yes.

Some people go to summer school to get more units (be ahead of the curve when it's time to register and all that). Other people go because, well, let's be honest, those few classes they missed ended up hurting their grade more than they thought.

So how do you save your summer from summer school? Lucky for you, we're here to help. Here are 5 fail-safe ways to enjoy your summer even if you are in school:

1. Give yourself a break. In other words, take some time off between spring and summer semester.  I repeat: Do. Nothing. Why prepare for summer school? It is still SUMMERtime after all. Sleep in. Watch TV the entire day. Sit on the couch and eat junk food. Believe me, you'll value the time you took off to relax once class starts and you're back to memorizing stuff you'll forget the next week.

2. Go on weekend trips. So you can't spend an entire month in Europe like some of your friends. Oh, well. That's the price you pay for being the good student. But you can still have some envy-inspiring times by going away on the weekends. Go to Palm Springs or San Diego. New York City, Boston or DC. If you're really ambitious, drive across the border and have a fiesta in Mexico. So your friends are being bums. Who cares? You can salsa, baby.  No matter where you live, take some time to get away from school. Remember, you'll have to spend the next nine months there, too.

3. Do not take an 8:00 a.m. summer school class. Cut yourself some slack, it is summer after all. Maybe start at 10 a.m. instead. I don't know about you, but I can barely get up for 8:30 classes during the school year (in fact, 10 is still pushing it).  How can you feel like it's summer if you are getting up at 7:30 to sit in a lecture hall? Take at least a little time to rest up for the school year to come.

4. Use Cramster to help you with your studying. It's hard to stay motivated when the sun is still out at 7 p.m. and your friends are off to the movies, but you'll be happy that you did. And when your friends can't help you with that nasty calc problem because they're off to the pool, maybe some of your Cramster buddies will help you out.

5. Make friends in your classes. That way, you have people with whom you can complain about having class on a hot summer day and people to help you study for your tests. Maybe you can even do a study day at the beach together (because we all actually study when we do that…).

What are some ideas you have on how to maximize your summer experience while still benefiting from summer school?

I took my last final Tuesday.

That sentence should be an added definition under the word "freedom," don't you think?

So with summer facing me (and I hope most of you) in the face, I've been learning more about my friend's plans for the next few months.

For the most part, you can divide those plans into two categories: Internships and trips. As a business major, I wish I could consider the latter category, but typically that is saved for those pre-med folk and other students who have many more years of school ahead of them.

As for the internships, I've heard many-a-cool destination: New York Knicks front office, NBC Nightly News, Bain consulting, Barclay's in London.

As for the trips, well, they are all cool. You can Euro trip, road trip or ego trip.

Yeah, the last one isn't so cool. Snoop Dogg's PR firm made me do it.

I've had some great summer experiences throughout the years – I highly recommend Malta in June, beach soccer in Sicily and a gig at Cramster.com, of course.

But I'm sure all of you can come up with better stuff than I can about summer plans you've made or other plans you've heard about through your friends and family.

Let the good times roll.

What are the coolest plans you've heard about for this summer? Are they yours or someone else's?