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!

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?

Some students go to great – and often curious – lengths to maximize their studying time before finals.

As I approach the end of my third year in college and thus my sixth round of finals, I'm confident I've seen it all when it comes to crazy, odd or just plain absurd study methods.

Well, almost all.

I'm sure some of you fellow Cramster members out there have some interesting stories.

There was the kid across the hall freshman year who Aderol'ed himself into a 36-hour sleepless stupor. Don't take Aderol… just don't.

Then there's the classic (and much more popular) I'm-going-to-go-to-sleep-at-4-and-wake-up-at-5 method that is meant to secure some semblance of sanity.

There are the library residents, the library frequenters, the casual library users and the kids who enjoy studying outside right next to the library.

And of course you can't forget the kids who never venture near the library in favor of blasting rock music and pacing around the room as some hypnotic memorization strategy.

I told you I'd seen a lot of weird things.

But this post is about what you've seen – I'm sure there are some crazy stories out there, so please share them with us so we can get a good laugh in while taking a break from our studies.

What off-the-wall study methods have you seen or taken part in? Have you ever tried any crazy methods with surprising results?

The length that some students go to make up for lost class time is befuddling.

It's often said that when creating a business plan, if you understand the people you'll be catering to and are really in tune with their tendencies and preferences, marketing your service or product will be a piece of cake.

In my opinion, there's no better example of this than "Review Session Gurus," as I like to call them. There are guys that previously attended my university who make an inordinate amount of money by helping under-prepared college students cram for exams.

Their service isn't anything special; in essence, they teach the testable material in a condensed form, provide their own notes and practice test and shoo students out the door to prepare for their next session. These "reviews" last anywhere from two to four hours, cost $60 a pop and are attended by up to 100 students.

$6,000 in one night for what? Using your old lecture notes to teach notorious class-skippers what happened over the past month? Man… I should really consider a career refocusing.

The point of this entry is to tell you to avoid these sessions. You'll constantly hear rave reviews about how a said review session "saved someone's life." Keep in mind that, without a crash course in everything that was covered in class, these people would have likely failed the test. So if they walk away with a C that has to be considered an accomplishment.

Secondly, last time I checked, studying for tests is a way to get a leg up on classmates. Most math-based courses are graded on a curve and thus the goal is to be more prepared than girl A and guy B. Sure, the students who attend these review sessions might be learning material and gaining insight on test-taking strategies, but they are learning the same material and same strategies as everyone else in the room. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to pay $60 to be placed on the same level as 99 other students taking the same test.

Lastly, skip out on these sessions as a testament to your rationality and pride. Going to class really isn't a formidable task. You win out on all fronts by attending class in lieu of going to these paid review sessions as a last ditch attempt to make the cut.

Besides, $60 is a lot of money! Take it and go see a game, or use it to treat your significant other to a nice dinner. Heck, utilize the aerodynamic force of U.S. currency and enter a paper airplane throwing contest.

Now THAT is money well-spent.

Thought and/or comments about these types of review sessions? Sound off!

Can listening to music while studying make you more productive?

I think one of the most underappreciated joys of college living is the exposure to your neighbors' music tastes. Never having met the two guys living below you, there's a good chance you could still create a fairly accurate profile of them after listening to their… diverse collection of Styx, Ace of Base, Lou Bega and Chingy.

I've lived with people who study to Broadway show tunes, Disney classics and Kelly Clarkson ballads. I'm not kidding. I've also lived with people who study in complete silence with nothing but a dim desk lamp to remind them of civilization.

There are myriad studies out there on the benefits of listening to music at different times. It calms nerves. It helps you to pump iron. It helps you to study effectively. But it's nearly impossible to "prove" these theories as it always comes down to individual preference.

Me? I listen to music while studying only if I need a break in my routine. Sometimes I'm just struggling through my coursework and feel as if boredom is consuming me – a near impossible state to be in if you hope to get any solid work done. At that point I'll put on some low-volume music to provide slight diversion and get my mind back on track.

How do you use music as a study aid? Does music really help you to study more effectively?