How to Plan for Spring Break and Save Money

January 30, 2008 by The Digital Student / 0 Comments

Are you going on a trip for spring break? You may be overwhelmed with school, but you should start looking forward to spring break now (which will hopefully make your classes a lot less stressful too!) Here’s how you should prepare:

Book now. It’s better to book early than later, because fares will go up for trips as you get closer. Also, if you’re traveling in a group, you likely won’t have seats next to your friends because the seats will sell out. The sooner you book, the better off you’ll be.

Look at all-inclusive packages. One winter break, my friends and I went on an all-inclusive hotel+airfare trip to Vegas. It was totally awesome and very cheap compared to buying airfare and hotel separately. It helps a lot to limit your expenses by doing trips like this where the prices are spelled out for you beforehand and not after you arrive.

Overcrowd your hotel room. If you want to make the most of your money, have a long slumber party in your hotel room. Get cots for your friends and split the cost 4 or 5 ways.

Bring your food. Eating out is costly. Bring snacks and other food to nosh on so that you don’t have to pay the high costs for eating. Don’t forget that hotels have bars and buying it is not cheap at all.

Take public transit. Think about it this way: public transit is often cheaper than a cab. If you must do cab, pack in as many people as is allowed legally and split the bill.

Can’t travel? Make the most of your spring break anyway. Take advantage of the local hotspots or just hang out and enjoy the spring with our without your friends. Either way, you’re in for a great time.

How to Buy Cheap Textbooks

January 28, 2008 by The Digital Student / 6 Comments

If you’re just back in the school groove and looking to buy the cheapest textbooks around, fret no further. Here’s where you should look to get some hot deals on textbooks.

• Half.com. eBay’s “brother” site, half.com, offers books for a pretty good discount. You can also use half.com to get good deals on other items, such as electronics. While half.com is a great place for deals, since you’re working directly with a seller, you may not actually get your book on time, so if that’s the case, borrow in the meantime. By the way, while half.com is a great site in itself, don’t forget to check eBay out because you might find the book there even cheaper!
• Amazon.com. If Half fails, Amazon succeeds — usually. Check the site for new and used books. You can also pay the seller for expedited shipping if you need the book immediately, but media mail is typically a good (and still fast) choice.
• The library. Some college libraries may let you take out the book for an extended period of time if the book is not on reserve. This is a good option, but do it quickly. There’s probably a lot of competition for the same book!
• Share. Share with your classmate. Obviously, this isn’t the best idea (though it might be if you have the same class at different times and therefore don’t have the same homework due at the same time. The other option would be to photocopy only the necessary pages when you’re in a time crunch.
• Ask your professor. Sometimes you don’t have money to the book. It happens. Don’t be afraid to approach your professor because chances are he has one or two in his office. If not, he can point you in the direction of someone who does. And that person might even be a Teaching Assistant, which is another option if the professor path doesn’t pan out.

Other resources:

• Bigwords.com
• Dogears.net
• Facebook Marketplace
• TheNaturalSapphirecompany.com
• BookRenter.com
• SocialBib.com
• Chegg.com
• CheapestTextbooks.com
• AbeBooks.com
• CampusI.com
• Ecampus.com
• DirectTextBook.com

We Don’t Condone this Activity…

January 22, 2008 by The Digital Student / 21 Comments

…but if you ever wanted to surf the web anonymously and bypass filters, use a proxy service!

Here are some services that may work for you.

AvoidFilter.net is a web proxy that allows users to browse the web anonymously. Our proxy service will allow you to unblock websites, unblock sites, bypass work filters, school filters and much more like Avoiding Filters.

wwwfilter claims: “we allow you to bypass restricted sites at work, school or college, including unblocking sites like MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and plenty more! The best thing is that we are free and simple to use, so check it out and tell your friends!”

Proxydoo: An anonymous free web proxy allows you to bypass local proxies and security restrictions and browse blocked sites or simply browse privately and securely without the need to install any software on your computer. If you browse the web through a public web proxy, the websites can not find your real IP address, and you also need not configure or update anything locally, everything is prepared and working. Access sites like MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and plenty more!

Unblock Anything is a free proxy that will unblock websites for your viewing pleasure. Our free service will allow you to unblock sites that may be restricted due to your network at school or work. Feel safe while you can anonymously browse the internet freely and securely. No compromising data will be given out such as your IP address or location. Access Myspace, Youtube, Facebook and others popular sites anywhere.

Surfing7 is a free anonymous proxy. The web proxies offers free anonymous surfing to protect your privacy. The server also can be used to easily bypass internet web filter, unblock websites Myspace Bebo Facebook from schools, help you share photos video and music.

Zero Anonymous Web: Never let your teachers, boss, or principal control your web browsing again! To bypass web filters, all you have to is type the URL of the website you want to unblock and hit ENTER! Protect your anonymity and remain safe with this site. Why wait any longer? Start unblocking sites now! Remember to bookmark us and to tell your friends.

What are your favorite proxies? Are they on this list? Have you had any bad experiences?

College Graduation Isn’t as Far Away as it Seems

January 14, 2008 by The Digital Student / 2 Comments

If you’re a college senior, don’t forget that this is your last semester and graduation is only a few short months away. The future is now.

While “senioritis” and doing nothing might be your proposed direction, it’s not the best one for now. You’re almost fully into “real” adulthood, and your responsibilities are going to get bigger than ever. Don’t assume you’re getting off easy for the remaining three months. You still probably have requirements to take care of academically, like taking classes that can maintain your grade point average. Additionally, your goals for the upcoming years are still to be finalized, whether they are for fellowships, graduate studies, or professional pursuits. It’s right now that you should be working to solidify your plans for the years ahead.

Be advised that some schools have varying requirements regarding graduation. Some require you to actually apply to graduate, whereas others will assume that you’re in the graduating class of 2008. Whatever the case may be, make sure that all paperwork is filed so that you get to proceed with receiving your honors of academic completion.

As far as other requirements, you’ll likely be responsible to maintain a certain GPA, to finish any incomplete courses, to ensure that your major requirements are met, and any additional requirements are also addressed. If you have a major advisor at this time and you’re still in doubt about your requirements, it’s best to coordinate with him/her as soon as possible to work out any logistics in your schedule. Some major requirements classes, for example, are only taught during certain semesters. What do you do when it’s not offered at your last possible semester? Work with your advisor to see if there are any suitable alternative courses that still will get you out the door.

Research graduation requirements as soon as you can on your school’s website to make sure that all issues, financial and academic, are resolved.

It’s never too early to start preparing for the commencement weekend (or days). Start working out lodging details for out-of-town guests. Some schools offer this on-campus. Others partner with local hotels for good deals. Jump at opportunities for affordable discounts and rates, because these places will sell out quickly. If you can make a trip out of graduation for your family, they’ll probably appreciate it. Plan out a week with the family when they come up — or just have them attend the festivities. In any case, you want to prepare early and not later. Big tip: If you have a big family (and there are only a few tickets handed out for your commencement exercises), become friends with your classmates quickly and have them give you those extra tickets. They will go away fast.

It’s a busy time of year for the second-semester college senior, but if you make the best of it and work hard to do so, you’ll get ahead of your classmates and be all ready for the big day. And after that, the future is looking at you.

College Life Lessons from Benjamin Franklin

January 2, 2008 by The Digital Student / One Comment

Do you want to be like one of the fathers of the United States? Take Ben Franklin, for instance. Flamebright talks about how, at age 20, Ben Franklin devised a list of thirteen principles upon which to dictate his future conduct. Interestingly, they can apply to college life as well. Here they are, and here’s how you can make this system your own.

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation. Enjoy the college years, but don’t go overboard with partying, drinking, or even studying. Do everything in moderation. Don’t obsess over classes and enjoy your friends. But don’t do too much of anything.
2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation. Learn, but don’t teach unless you are ready. College is an incredibly diverse atmosphere, so take advantage of that. Chances are you will be learning a lot from your newfound friends about religion, foreign countries, and the like. Listen to them, but don’t force any beliefs onto them.
3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time. Organization is important. Have your class notes, clothing, and personal belongs organized. Ensure that you don’t double-schedule classes or meetings.
4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve. Now it’s time for your New Years Resolutions and goals to be realized. If you’re aiming for top scores, go for it. Don’t get discouraged. Aim for succeed, and don’t give up.
5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing. Chance are that you don’t have unlimited funds or you’re on a budget. Keep true to that budget. Save money whenever possible. Help your friends and they will return the favor when you don’t expect it. Give of yourself.
6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions. Make the most of your college years, for they are short and sweet. When you’re done with school, you’ll miss your college years dearly. Take advantage of every opportunity that knocks if you can: participate in extracurricular activities, study (in moderation, as per #1), and enjoy the forged friendships.
7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly. Your debate class needs your voice, so don’t shy away. Are you a member of the College Democrats on campus? Let your voice be heard. College is a time when you are able to make a difference in the world more so than ever before; activist groups abound and you be true to your beliefs and advocate them where possible (but not in conflict with #2).
8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty. Be the good person you can be. Be a good classmate. Be a good roommate. Whatever you do, in the end, it’s about being virtuous to yourself, so be nice to everyone around you and it will come back to you.
9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. Don’t overdo anything in school. Your courses are only a few hours a week for a reason. You can live, eat, drink, and sleep your lessons, but you’d be missing out on some excellent opportunities for friendship, internships, networking opportunities, and extra-curricular activities.
10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation. Keep your belongings clean. Keep clean notes so that you’ll want to refer to them again. Clean your clothes (do your laundry) so that your friends will want to hang out with you. Keep your dorm room clean so that you can have visitors over. Your habits are a reflection of who you are, and laziness is not one of Ben Franklin’s rules of living.
11. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation. Why are you going to school? For a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or for your education? Remember first and foremost the reasons for going to school. Let everything else linger behind.
12. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. Okay, so your roommate forgot to buy toilet paper again. I know it sucks. Is it worth it, though, to blow up over it? Let the small things slide and be a stronger person about it. Don’t let these things bother you. If they do, just calmly bring it up in conversation, but don’t let it go further than that.
13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates. Be humble. Be modest. Live your college life to be a memorable one but don’t do anything notorious or bad. Remember, Ben Franklin lived a life of humility and yet still is famous in our time. Emulate his virtues, look to succeed in school, and you’ll be respected and revered by your classmates and professors.