Lenovo and Intel are once again launching their wildly popular Tech Trip competition along with new partner Vuguru, the groundbreaking independent studio founded by Michael Eisner.

College students will compete for a chance to visit these cutting-edge companies where they will work closely with industry professionals, collaborate on challenging assignments and receive rewards for their hard work, including a new IdeaPad 300s Ultrabook™ with 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7 ULV processor. How cool is that!

College students are used to tight deadlines and Tech Trip 2 is no different. All entries for the contest must be submitted by Friday, May 4, 2012. After all, opportunity doesn’t knock forever.

So how do you enter? Describe in a short video what makes you a DOer. Talk about what inspires you. What challenges do you face besides making it to your 8 am class on time? How do you use technology to achieve your goals? What is the future of technology? Good questions? Give us some great answers and you could be headed for the tech adventure of a lifetime.

Author Bio:
Michael Tanenbaum is the Social Media Strategist for The WOO Agency, a full-service advertising agency in Culver City, CA. To learn more about Tech Trip 2 and submit your video, visit Lenovo for Students.

Don’t Buy Expensive Food
Food is one of the most important necessities you will need in college, but it can get pretty expensive if you do not buy the right items. That is why you must make a weekly budget and stick to it. For example, if you can afford $30 a week for groceries, do not spend more than that amount. A good way to save money on groceries is to buy the generic items instead of the name brand items. Foods like cereal, peanut butter and chips taste the same, whether they come from name brands or generic brands. Check the newspaper every week for coupons because they can save you a lot of money on your grocery bill. Also do not eat at restaurants too often. Eating a fast food meal every couple of weeks is one thing, but eating out every night can really drain your funds.

Get a Roommate
An easy way to cut down on the cost of rent is to get a roommate. If you do not know anyone to share an apartment with, put an ad up on the bulletin board at your college. If you cut the cost of rent in half, you can even afford renter’s insurance. If you have renters insurance, your possessions will be covered if your apartment is robbed or catches on fire. Go to RentersInsurance.com to find a policy that is right for you.

Shop at Garage Sales
Instead of spending loads of money on clothes, electronics, books and furniture, check out some garage sales. At a garage sale, you may find something you need for the fraction of the cost.

1.Head to the Financial Aid Department. If you receive financial aid, find out with an advisor if your financial aid can be applied to your studies abroad. You may also want to check out Title IV of the Higher Education Act and research a little about the requirements necessary for financial aid to cover your tuition abroad.

2.Sallie Mae can be the way. Sallie Mae is a corporation that deals with student loans. If you’re interested in a loan for a study abroad only, you may want to try out Sallie Mae International. See how much they can loan you, ask questions, you don’t have to say yes immediately, but this can be an option if you are finding that there are no other possible ways to finance your studies. Just remember to be careful with loans and be well informed on their policies of interest.

3.Find Scholarships and Grants. A great way to pay for your studying expenses is with free money! Scholarships and grants are a perfect way to pay off that overseas dream you have because you don’t need to pay it back. Many times schools offer scholarships for studying abroad. Take a trip to the study abroad offices at your school and see what they have available. Find out the requirements and how to apply. Apply for scholarships outside of school that are specifically for overseas education. Here are a couple of places where you may want to begin your search Fin Aid and Student Aid, student guides to financial aid . Don’t give up easily, I’m sure you can find one that suits you and will have you studying abroad in no time!

4.Work, work, work! If you can’t find help such as Financial aid, loans, or scholarships, and you may already be working, continue to work as much as you can. Save up for a year or two until you have enough to cover the expenses of studying abroad. Reduce your extra expenditures such as things you do on the weekends like heading to a bar or going out to eat. If you really want this trip, it’ll be worth it in the end.

Author Bio: Carolina is an associate at Advantage Testing.

With just two weeks to shed those college stresses and make the most of being parent-free and living with your best friends, you’ll want to make your dollars stretch as far as possible. HostelBookers.com have done the legwork for you and pitted the top Spring Break destinations against each other comparing club entrance fees, drinks, cocktails, food and other essentials to make sure you choose the best location for a memorable spring vacation with your mates. On top of that they have the affordable accommodation like hostels in Miami close to South Beach and cheap Cancun hotels with awesome bars and pool for students on a budget.

One thing that you can do is work with a company that needs leaflets distributed. It will be up to you to decide how many to distribute on a given day. Most likely, you will need to buy the leaflets, and then you will be compensated for your work after the fact, so you will need to be willing to invest a bit of money into this venture and to be responsible for actually following through with what you have promised to do. Otherwise, you will just have a lot of leaflets on your hands and nothing to do with them.

Another good option is to offer your cleaning services. This is something that you can do for your fellow students right on campus. College students tend to be very messy and not want to bother about cleaning, so you should have no shortage of clients. The only trouble will be finding someone willing to pay for your services. One thing that you can do is emphasize the need to have a clean room when parents or other special guests come to visit. This may entice the student to panic enough that they will be willing to shell out some money for the peace of mind of knowing they won’t get chewed out for their messiness.

You might also make money as a vendor of sorts selling event tickets to fellow students. By the same token, you can try to organise trips and show the other students all of the options that are available to them on a limited budget. They may be very grateful to you for showing them possibilities that they had not considered before. College students can see some fascinating places without spending a lot of money, but sometimes it takes a little help from a savvy traveler to show just how much they can do.

One business possibility that is always appreciated is babysitter. Some college students have children to look after, so you can look among your fellow college students first and then venture out into the community to see who could use a hand with babysitting. If you are preparing to be a teacher, this can be great practice for dealing with children. It can also provide valuable experience for future parenting.

If you are skilled in writing, you may be able to help other students by offering your tutoring services or proofreading their papers. It would be unethical to write papers for other students, but many students could use some major help in getting the papers that they have written up to the professors’ standards. This is where you can be a valuable assistant, so you will be helping your fellow students to achieve good grades and earning some extra cash for yourself.

A resourceful college student need not work at a job in retail or fast food to make ends meet. Think about your skills, and create your own business opportunities accordingly.

Comparethemarket is a UK price comparison site that can help you save money on a range of financial products. Whether you’re looking for car, home or life insurance, or a quote on a loan or a credit card, Comparethemarket are able to help you find the best deals without spending all your time looking.

1. Go For a Walk – Ever tried walking leisurely with your special someone under the stars in a serene place with a beautiful view, on the beach side, or in a nice mountain park? If not
then give it a try for once and you’ll surely not regret it. There’s something about nature that imparts the best ambiance of romanticism infused with mysticism that brings people closer.

2. Cook For Your Date – There’s no better way to make the other person feel special than to show that you have put in the time and efforts to bring a smile on their face. Cooking for
them is a great way to let them know that you care. Sure, many of you don’t know how to cook. So what? What’s the Internet for? Search through the videos for his/her favorite recipe and get started. If you’re staying in a hostel, you may request the kitchen staff to help you out a little and give you the permission to cook, under their vigilance, of course!

Want to earn some bonus points? Put on a tidy sheet of cloth on the dinner table, dim the lights, put on some romantic music and light on a few candles to create the ambiance. Old school, yes! But it still work wonders as there’s a good chance that your special someone has not been swept off their feet this way before.

3. Have a Fun Movie Night – Rent out your favorite DVDs and watch them together all night long. Have some cupcakes and popcorns stacked with you and you’re all set! Spending quality time together can be so much more fun than simply visiting an extravagant restaurant or going to the theatres that offer lesser privacy and comfort.

4. Reminisce – Looking back in time to the day you first met, or the beautiful moments that you shared together can make your hearts melt in seconds and bring back the sweet
memories that has led you two to where you are today.

Finally, spending quality time with your special someone is a lot more important than any material gifts or lavish outings. Do not feel compelled to buy an expensive gift on a credit card or by borrowing money from anyone when you’re broke and are not sure if you will be able to pay back in time. The consequences of unpaid credit card debts can be negative credit reports of the credit card holder and credit repair may take a while, ranging from a few months to sometimes even a few years.

If you really want to gift something, you can always start saving now and give them when you’ve saved enough funds. There doesn’t even have to be an occasion. Just make your loved one feel special in your own way and your gesture will surely be appreciated.

Lisa Godreche is a finance expert and specializes in busting credit repair scams.

Feeding the Mind and the Body

One of the best ways to save money is to buy your necessary class textbooks secondhand. Colleges always have at least one bookstore on campus that sells used textbooks, usually for as little as half the original price. Checking the online bookstores can also lead you to textbook bargains. You may also want to check with friends or classmates who have already taken the course. They may be willing to sell you their books at a reasonable price.

Classes, sports, walking – you will be burning a lot of energy when you go to college, so being able to eat right and spend little is paramount. Having the right meal plan for you, whether it is one of the campus meal plans or one of your own making, will help ensure you eat right and keep your budget in check. To save extra money, avoid eating out too often and, when you do, take advantage of discounts and coupons. While it is usually very inexpensive, fast food should be a treat and not a regular part of your diet.

Choosing the Right College for You

When it comes to choosing a college to study at, the almost limitless choices and destinations around the country can seem overwhelming. Keeping your budget and desired school lifestyle in mind may help you focus your search more effectively. State universities and colleges offer special lower tuition rates for state residents, and some even let state residents attend for free. Private schools are more expensive and, generally, their degrees carry more prestige. Career colleges and technical schools are more locally oriented and focus on diploma and certificate programs, aimed at getting students trained and into work quickly.

Urban or rural, large or small, private or public are all factors than can have great bearing on your day-to-day costs which can eat up as much money in the long-run as tuition and room and board. For many students, the best location is a suburban one. Suburban colleges and universities have the advantages of being away from the noise and crime rates of the bigger cities, yet within easy reach by train or car. Long Island, for example, has many good schools, public and private. If you are craving fun in the sun while you study, the well known state universities and career colleges in Miami offer higher learning within easy reach of the beach.

Ways to Earn Extra Money

There are many options for making extra money while attending college, but certainly the best is getting a part-time job. Not only will you build up your wallet but you will also have valuable job references when you graduate, a real trump card as you search for work after school. Whether your job is off-campus for a local business or on-campus as a part of work-study, you will be building connections while you earn some extra spending cash.

Tailored specifically for college students, all job posts on Confidently are entry-level. That means you can search for internships without worrying about experience requirements or if you’ll be competing against more experienced applicants. In addition, all the job posts need to pass an approval process to make sure they aren’t a scam. This could save you a lot of headaches and valuable time when it comes to finding your internship. An important consideration for a stressed college student!

Know you need an internship, but not sure where to begin? Check out Confidently’s Job Search Timeline. It walks you step-by-step through each phase of the entry-level job search. Everything from developing your personal brand to what to do after your interview is covered in detail. Registered members can also get discounts on services, such as a mock interview session, from their Confidently Certified job search experts.

Confidently can connect you directly with employers. They’ve included an Employee Search feature that recruiters use to find and contact members based on information in their profile. So even if you’re not looking for a job right now, you might be contacted by a potential employer that is interested in you. This could be a great way to get ahead of the game in the hunt for internships.

Register for Confidently here. It costs $7.99 to join, with no recurring fees ever after that. But, if you’re one of the first 25 to register, you can use the code “PoorCollegeStudent” to get in for free!

One area in which many people will be tempted to cut costs is on medical supplies. This is fine, providing the patient does not choose to stop taking essential medications completely. Savings can be made by shopping around and, for this reason, Canadian pharmacies are becoming increasingly popular.

There are several reasons why a Canada pharmacy may offer a better price than a US one. One of these reasons is that the cost of medications is strictly regulated by the government in Canada. When buying prescription medication in the US it is often much more expensive than it would be in other countries; this is because there are no price controls in place. This is the reason why more and more US citizens are opting to purchase from a Canada pharmacy. The price of medication in Canada is negotiated with the manufacturers, which helps to keep it down. Discounts at Canadian online pharmacies can be as much as 80%, depending upon the product.

The marketing of medications in Canada is also subject to strict regulations. The products are not permitted to be marketed directly to customers, so this also helps to keep the price down. In the US, vast amounts of money are spent by drug companies on marketing, which can inflate the price of the product to the point where people will want to look for cheaper alternatives.

Shopping at a Canada pharmacy will also reveal that there are more generic options available to the patient. Patents do not last as long in Canada so generic alternatives can reach the market much earlier than they do in other countries. This ensures that a cheaper alternative is usually available to the branded product.

A generic product is cheaper because all the expensive work has already been carried out. The development and testing of a product can take a long time and cost a lot of money, but by the time a generic alternative can be produced, the companies involved no longer need to pay out as the original developer has already done this.

College students should always make themselves aware of when a cheaper alternative is available. Generic brands should not be considered to be inferior products – a brand name on the box is not necessarily a sign of top quality. The ingredients will be the same and the savings that can be made can be high. This is a rule that can be applied to almost anything that you buy!

College-Based Award
Much like undergraduate programs, colleges and universities do award partial or full scholarships for graduate programs if the student is especially promising. While not as common as undergraduate scholarships, it’s worth looking into whether your school offers them and what, if anything, you need to do to apply for them.

Career-Specific Scholarships
Depending on your chosen career path there may be scholarships to help you pay for the costs of taking classes to get into the field. Nursing and teaching career choices can often present with scholarships to help pay the costs of classes and certifications that are necessary to enter the field.

Research Fellowship
If research will be of particular import to your field there may be fellowship opportunities to help pay for your schooling. Technology, science, and even some math studies can provide scholarships based around the research that you will do and assist in doing while you study for your degree.

Professional Organizations
If you belong to a professional organization as a result of your current job they may offer scholarship money to help you advance your degree and become an even more valuable member of their organization. A little research into what benefits are afforded to members of your organization can result in savings on your degree.

North American Interfraternal Foundation
And you thought joining that fraternity or sorority was just about being social. This foundation awards scholarships to former members of fraternities and sororities that desire to enter into post-graduate studies and need help covering the costs.

Fulbright Program
A government funded program to help relations between us and other countries, the Fulbright program will allow you to study, research, and even teach in your area of discipline in other countries, allowing you to learn and experience the world at the same time.

Rhodes Scholarship
Specific to Oxford College, this scholarship is one of the most prestigious available to graduate students and allows the recipient to study at Oxford and even includes a stipend for living expenses paid by the Rhodes Trust.

Federal Government
The federal government offers numerous scholarships beyond the Fulbright program that can help eliminate or defer the costs of attending a graduate program to get your Master’s degree.

State Government
Your home state may also offer scholarships to potential graduate students, though typically it’s only available to those planning to attend a school within the state.

Minority Scholarships
Available for both ethnic and gender minorities, there are a plethora of scholarships available to help defer the costs of attending school to achieve your Master’s Degree

Ashley V Gause is a teacher that got her masters of teaching online. To learn more about how you can get your masters of teaching visit: http://mastersinteaching.org.