Are Generation Y’ers to blame for their financial woes? Or do they just not know any better, asks this article. Weigh in.

Credit cards, student loans, maybe a car loan. Wouldn’t it be nice to be debt-free? If your goal is to get out of debt, rank it, suggests Farnoosh Torabi, senior correspondent for TheStreet.com.

Want to see what you’re worth? Find your own Forbes-worthy rating with this net worth calculator. It’s like a “you are here” map for your finances.

School’s back in session with new tutorials from the Education Finance Counsel – a group of nonprofit student loan lenders banding together to help make college more affordable. Check out budgeting, credit and ID theft topics. Then impress your friends with your new financial prowess.

Want to check out the latest student loan crunch updates?

The Today show outlines the recent developments.

The Yale Daily News discusses how the loan crisis affects loans for professional students.

Anyone can fall victim of identity theft. But you can take the right steps to deter, detect and defend against this rampant problem.

The slipping value of the dollar, the mortgage crisis. While some experts cite these as the apocalyptic signs of a recession, others are still loath to say the R word. No matter what the next few months may bring, find out what you need to know to survive a recession.

Want to live cheap without feeling the pinch? Yahoo! Finance offers you eight ways to save that are as relaxing as a bubble bath.

It’s not too late for that New Year’s resolution! Check out the seven ways to save a grand in 2008.

Planning to save more money this year? Pay off more credit card debt? Tell someone about it, suggests Kiplinger.com. According to the article, sharing your financial goal with someone—be it your roommate or anonymous bloggers—means you’re more likely to succeed.

With tax season upon us, you may be eligible for certain deductions, such as your student loan interest, reports the Kansas City Star:

• You can deduct the interest you’ve paid on eligible student loans if your modified gross income is less than $55,000 and you are filing singly (less than $110,000 if you are filing jointly).

• Eligible loans include your, your spouse’s or a dependent’s student loans if interest payments have been made during that tax year.

• To claim this deduction, you must be enrolled in a degree program at least part-time during the time of the loan.

• Loans made by a relative or under an employer plan are not eligible for this deduction.

• The maximum deduction is $2,500.

For more student tax information, check out the IRS student tax section.

If you’ve ever dialed 411 on your cell phone, you know it’s not a cheap convenience. With most plans charging about $2 a call plus taxes and roaming, directory assistance is a splurge. The cost of being lost adds up – consumers paid roughly $7.9 million in directory-assistance charges in 2006, says CNN Money. But 411 is no longer the only game in town. Next time you need assistance, try these alternatives and keep the $2.

New Year’s resolutions tend to fizzle out by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around. If you plan to add saving more money as a resolution this year, below are some tips from MSNBC Money to help you make your resolution a success in 2008 and beyond:

The store displays are going up, nocturnal shopping on Black Friday kicked off the season. If the thought of holiday shopping on a tight budget is making your egg-nogged stomach turn, we have the top five ways to make your shopping a little easier on your time and your wallet.

Consumers and lawmakers alike are fed up with exorbitant fees so well hidden in fine print, it’s a game of “Where’s Waldo.” But it could take a while for any changes to happen on a federal level, so find out what you need to do to avoid getting slammed with fees.

Is extreme saving the new extreme sport? You better have a strong stomach and a sense of humor to handle these truly bizarre ideas.

Junk mail and spam are rampant. Sometimes you may wonder how in the world all those spammers manage to collect enough of your personal information to litter your inbox with endless nonexistent lottery winnings. Well, this article explains how they collect that information and what you can do to remain incognito when surfing the web.

Second Helpings [this article was posted in October 2006]

It’s easy to get a student loan these days. It’s harder to find a lender that won’t sell you to the highest bidder.

Is your inbox full of student loan spam? Is your quality time with the Simpsons being interrupted by some lender yakking in your ear about debt reduction? Is your mailbox so crammed full of flyers about interest rates that you can’t even open it? Well, you’re not alone.
But who are these lenders? Where did they come from? And why are they suddenly so interested in you?

It seems like every year television networks come up with yet another random idea for a reality show. But don’t be surprised if you see “Who Wants to Be a Cheapskate” debuting on your screen this fall, because cheap is the new sexy.

Yes, we at the Ramen Report advise you to take up the trend and be a cheapskate for a day. Or at least 15 minutes a day, as recommended by the smart people at MSN.

Sure, maybe you’ll get some strange glances from your roommate if you make your own laundry detergent (one of the more creative ideas suggested), but turning off the lights when you leave the room or learning how to re-attach a button (no, your shirt’s not broken) can save you some unexpected dough.

When it’s time for repayment, know your options. Most lenders offer a variety of repayment plans depending on your situation, such as extending payment terms or making interest-only payments on your loans.

Another strategy you can try is lowering the payments on your lower-rate loans and using the extra money you save to make bigger payments on your high-interest loans (this will save you money that you would’ve paid on the high interest rate).

So do a little digging and contact your lender to find out what repayment options will work best for you.

We know school keeps you busy and sometimes you have bigger things on your mind than balancing the checkbook, so we’ve outlined five quick rules of finance wisdom from TG Online.

What a girl wants and what a girl needs. Girl or boy, now is the time to trim the luxuries. Let’s be honest: a coffee shop latte in the morning sounds enticing, but is the world really going to end if you brew you own coffee instead? Is the free shipping on your online impulse purchases really worth putting more mileage on the credit card? Go vintage and try thrift stores or at least give that purchase decision 24 hours to simmer.

Maybe you’ve noticed stories on possible inappropriate relationships between schools and student loan lenders in the news. Does this mean you should ignore the advice your financial aid officer gives you and strike out on your own? Hardly.

While you have the final say in the lender you choose for your loans, schools have saved students a lot of money by pointing them in the right direction and offering valuable advice.

Spring is here and so is graduation, which means you’re probably in the midst of job hunting. We at the Ramen Report would like to wish you happy hunting and offer a few tips. You can read about these in more detail at CareerJournal.com.

Convenience can be tempting. One call to the pizza place, one easy charge to that credit card. But how convenient is it when that one $10 pizza ends up costing you more like $40 in the long run, thanks to credit card interest charges and fees? Unless that pizza is jewel-encrusted, it’s just not worth it.

So, like the chili pepper seasoning, use your credit card sparingly. Or the bill may just bring tears to your eyes long after the pizza is gone.

Graduation can be a crazy time – you’re moving, starting or searching for that great job – you may not be thinking about your student loans. But if you consolidated in school or have a Grad PLUS loan, you should know that your first bill is on the way. Are you ready to make a payment this June?

Unlike most loans, consolidation and Grad PLUS do not offer a grace period. That means you start repayment as soon as you graduate, and that’s tough for a lot of students. Considering all the life changes you go through post-graduation, it’s not uncommon for borrowers to miss payments early on — in fact, the most commonly missed payment is the very first one, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Time is money, especially when it comes to paying your bills. Make a late payment on a credit card and chances are good that your interest rate will go up, in addition to any fees they’ll charge you for being late. Keep being late on payments, and your rate could soar (up to 35% in the worst-case scenario).

Luckily your student loan interest rates aren’t going to fluctuate based on missed payments, but you can still lose a lot of money if you’re late with your bill. Here’s how:

Even though 2006 tax forms don’t include key lines about tuition and fee deductions, you can still take advantage of them (up to $4,000 in eligible expenses).

When this year’s tax forms were printed, the Tuition and Fees Tax Deduction was still pending. President Bush approved the deduction in December, after forms had already gone to print. So you won’t see a specific line on the 1040 form for tuition and fees, but the IRS has since published instructions for this deduction.

Here’s how you do it:

Four grads look back on their money decisions during college as a way to help other students manage their debt — sooner rather than later.

A perfect credit score of 850 is virtually impossible, say the experts. But a score that’s close enough will yield the same benefits.

another thing your parents don’t understand.

this article is for you…

Did you get your mail today? Odds are you have some credit card offers or loan consolidation pitches waiting for you. Maybe freshman year you didn’t mind the junk mail so much because, well, getting your own mail was still something of a novelty, right? But you’re older now, the novelty is long gone, and you’d rather not have all that junk in your mailbox.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to end this mailbox madness.

Ignoring debt in the hopes it will go away is not the most effective approach to student loan repayment. (We know plenty of people who’ve tried the wishful thinking method; it doesn’t work.)

Being proactive and knowing your options, though, is a pretty good strategy.

So you have six figures of debt staring you in the face, and a 30-year repayment term hanging over your head. Well, if you get creative, and pay off a little each month, you could end up cutting that burden in half.

You’re a student – therefore it is the time in your life to live cheap! As a student, words that motivate you may be: SALE, HALF-OFF, BARGAIN, USED, or the life-long favorite… FREE! You have probably cut coupons (You know you’ve dug through your garbage to save $1.00 on your next large pizza). You’ve probably switched from your brand name cereal and attempted the bagged-generic version. You’ve probably even searched in the couch cushions for spare change, maybe not even at your own house.