Money

College living may mean cutting a few corners
By Chase Davis

Ramen Noodles: A $1 or less dish best served hot, dusted with a fine powder seasoning, and cooked at high temperature for one minute. Stir evenly and serve. It isn't a dish that is easily botched – fine gourmet dining at a reasonable price.

The only problem is that if you're pouring the seasoning in before you cook the noodles, you're making a terrible mistake.

By Susan Johnston

Sleigh bells ring, but meanwhile your wallet is close to empty. Sure, you'd like to give your true love five golden rings, four calling birds, and so on, but is it really worth the post-holiday debt? Wouldn't you rather see red lettering on a Christmas card instead of your bank statement? Just as I thought.

So, in the true spirit of the holidays, here are some foolproof gift ideas to deck the halls without devastating your finances:

By Tony Ku, Arizona State University

New or used? Color? Make and model? These are just some questions that Arizona State broadcasting junior Autumn Pappas faced when she purchased her first vehicle.

"Something of the things I looked at was checking the mileage and seeing if there was any major damage to the car," she said.

Either way – new or used – research is a must, says Sherman Weekes, new car sales manager of Tempe Toyota in Arizona.

When preparing for college, don’t forget to include scholarship applications on your ‘to-do’ list. There are a lot of scholarships available – and each year many go unclaimed because students don’t apply for them.

The MMA College Scholarship is a way to explore how stewardship impacts your life – and help fund your college education at the same time. MMA offers a number of scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,500. Scholarships are awarded to qualified undergraduate students, who are selected based on the completion of a 450-500 word essay on a specified stewardship topic.

One more way to afford a Christian school

By Jessica High

There are many options out there to deal with the rising cost of a college education today, but there’s one that I initially overlooked: community college.

When I was a high school senior, I focused on applying to a private Christian university and wrote off community college as an inferior choice. I was tired of the public school system and was excited about going to a school with a Christian foundation with students who cared about their academics.