Perhaps you have just been accepted to your "dream" university. If so, congratulations! Or, perhaps you are a seasoned veteran of college living with years of experience tucked tightly under your belt. If so, very impressive. Whatever your case may be, living on a college budget isn't the easiest task in the world, especially when you have to adjust to a completely new environment and actually have to accomplish the things for which you are there in the first place- studying hard, overcoming challenges and setbacks, getting good grades, graduating, and then turning all of that into a job offer. Throw in a host of distractions and a mountain of student loan debt, and you might be rethinking your college decision altogether. But don't worry: if you follow some (or possibly even all?) of these simple habits, you will see yourself on the making extraordinary progress on your path towards financial stability and security.
Let's get started.

Rule #1: No purchases that aren't necessary!

I'm partially joking, but if you could follow this rule (I do most of the time), then you would be completely avoiding almost all of the frivolous costs that trap other college students into spending money needlessly, which oftentimes happens without them even knowing it. The key here is to define all of the things that are "necessary" to you, and then evaluating if you have the income to purchase said items.

Here's a list of things that one might deem as "necessary":

Shelter
It is hard to get around this one. Most colleges require first-year students to live on campus and are happy to charge quite a lot of money ($5,000-8,000 in addition to various housing/residence hall related fees) for a shared jail-cell of room located on prime real estate. But, this isn't to say that it is impossible to save on housing costs. If off-campus housing is an option, specifically living with your parents, it should be something to seriously consider. If paying for college as overall cost of attendance prices rise 7% each year is a pressing issue regarding your undergraduate education, it might be time to put a large dent in avoidable housing costs.

This may mean spending a chunk of time commuting via car, public transport, or the human-powered (greener!), time-tested technologies of bicycles, scooters, skateboards, roller blades... or your feet. But it doesn't have to mean losing the extremely important sense of freedom many college students gain by being miles away from parental supervision. If you and your parents decide that commuting to school is the most cost-effective route to pursue, remind them that as a legal adult you must begin to live an increasingly independent life or risk being tethered to the safety nets of parental support and income. But, don't let that discourage you from accepting a home cooked meal every once in a while instead of going for drinks with friends.

Which brings me to my next point!

Food
Affectionately known to college financial aid agencies as "board", food is the single-most overpriced thing to find be consumed on campus, rivaled only by alcohol and cigarettes.

Seriously, it is a never-ending battle.

Drop your meal plan. If the dining service won't let you drop your meal plan, stockpile everything you can from there and bring it right back to your dorm fridge (don't worry, you've all paid for this somewhere). Bring as many friends as you can into the dining hall with you, as this will give you the reputation of an all-around nice person. I promise you that it will take unparalleled effort to eat all of the meals on even the smallest meal plan, and the food most likely isn't worth it.

Thus, it follows that you should invest in a rice-cooker, all-purpose pot and pan (which might be available to rent via your residence hall if you are living on campus), blender, and fridge. If you don't know how to cook or even boil water and throw rice and vegetables into it, now is the time to learn, not when you are 28.

Take every chance you can to eat for free or reduced prices. Even if the food is very unhealthy (who decided to make every [see also: hyperbole] unhealthy food irresistible?) like pizza or fast-food, it is at least rich in calories that you can spend all day shredding on the treadmill or exercise bike. Most of the time you will find that the food is very tasty, healthy, and made by expert cooks trying to further their restaurant. The offer is often tied to supporting local businesses that employ members of the community and simply wouldn't exist without loyalty from college kids. Even if you would never eat there again, you can meet new people at these events and clear your mind from studying for exams.

Lastly, try not to smoke or drink alcohol. It is generally as bad for you as research warns, and can become detrimental to your studies and relationships if you let it start to dictate your life. Plus, a few hundred dollars in your bank account doesn't hurt. Save it and earn interest on it, or spend it on something you will truly use.

Tuition, Fees, and Books
Once again, it is hard to imagine saving money on these seemingly immovable aspects of your estimated cost of attendance. But once again, many things are possible.

Firstly, consider a state school over a private school of equivalent caliber. Even out-of-state tuition is likely to be cheaper at state-funded institutions than it would be at a private college. Don't let cost keep you from attending a higher-tier university as you will have the opportunity to qualify yourself for jobs that will pay you more than you invested (some might say speculated) into your education. But, it is crucial to remember that an expensive private education doesn't necessarily qualify you any more for a job if you have done nothing(!) but receive average grades and throw a mean discus for the Ultimate Frisbee club team.

Fees are essentially locked in stone by the campus government and are used to do just about everything: clean the campus, enhance your quality of living while on campus through the Student Union and other extracurricular activities, fund student groups, etc. Without fees, college would be books and teachers. But this doesn't mean that you should rest idly by as your hard-earned loan money goes towards exercise bikes and movie nights you'll never even see. Get involved!

The college textbook industry is a quintessential example of unfair business practices that are mostly out of your control. Rather than print just one edition of a book, allowing students to reuse and resell books as they need them, textbook publishers release new editions of books every year with a new introduction or slightly different content and immediately discontinue the older edition. The result is your most likely going to get stuck paying an inflated price for a book you might not even be required to read- and then you won't even be able to pass that cost onto someone else! There are some solutions, however: search for classes that don't require multiple, expensive textbooks (or even textbooks at all) by using your campus' student stores database, talk to friends who took a class you are interested in with the same professor and might be looking to make some money back on the book, or search the book's ISBN on Amazon.