Cutting the cost of college incidentals
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5. Pay on time.
If you are late with tuition payments or bounce the check, the school may levy a heavy fine.

6. Know the financial aid bottom line.
Find out what grade point a student must maintain to keep financial aid and make sure that your student earns it. If she's there on an athletic or some other kind of scholarship based on talent, find out what kind of impact quitting the sport or switching majors will have. If you're a single parent and you're contemplating marriage, understand what effect that change in status will have on your child's financial aid.

7. Vet the class schedule.
Work with the guidance counselor and your child to make sure that she is signing up for the right classes. Make sure that she's scheduled enough credits to be on track to graduate in four years. If she signs up for a lot of electives instead of the required courses, she could fall behind. Taking five years to finish could easily add another $10,000 to the bill.

8. Look for ways to get ahead.
If your child can fit in an extra class for the same tuition and you think he can handle the academic burden, go for it.

9. Consider cheaper alternatives.
Understand how many credits your child's school will allow her to transfer from some other institution such as a community college. Getting core requirements and physical education credits out of the way over the summer or via the Internet at a lower per-credit price also can help you save a substantial amount.

10. Transfer in advance-placement credits right away.
If your child earned AP credits through tests during high school, make sure they are on his college record at the start, so he doesn't take classes that he doesn't need.

11. Buy smart.
The stores are full of back-to-school merchandise. Save your money. Send your child to college with a basic wardrobe left over from high school and enough money to buy a few new things online after she decides what she wants." Styles or weather or both are almost certainly going to be different than they expected," says Louise Reilly Sacco, host of the Internet radio show Frugal Yankee.

12. Decorate creatively.
Outfit the dorm room in early Salvation Army. Raid the basement for study lamps, old sheets and towels, faded quilts and worn rugs. "Whatever you send is going to be ruined anyway," Sacco says.

13. Forget the phone.
If possible, waive the dorm room's wired phone and its pricey long-distance plan. Opt instead for a cell phone with lots of minutes. Better to have too many minutes than to pay killer overage charges, even once.

14. Eat at home.
A dorm-room fridge filled with goodies purchased at the grocery store, a microwave and a coffee pot will save lots of money. Coordinating with roommates about who will bring each of these keeps the cost even lower.