From the monthly archives:

December 2007

7 Great Gifts for College Students

by Broke Grad Student on December 13, 2007

Are you desperate to find the perfect gift for a college student? I’ve noticed that quite a few people have made it to my blog by googling “gifts for college students”. I feel a little bad, because all they’ll find right now is my list of great gift ideas for a broke college student. While this list is fine for broke college students, it’s not very helpful for people looking to get gifts for a regular college student.

I figured that surely somebody else already compiled a great list of gift ideas for college students, but I was surprised with what I found. Portable electronics charger? CD/DVD repair kit? Um, I’ll pass.

Since I seriously doubt college students are eager to show off their new CD/DVD repair kits to their friends, I’ve decided to create my own list of gifts for college students that they won’t be embarrassed to show their friends. Parents, if you’re reading this, please return that portable electronics charger and get your college student something below.

7. Amazon.com Gift Card

I’m not a huge fan of gift cards, but if I had to give or receive one, I’d definitely make it an Amazon.com gift card. Why? Because it’s convenient. While other gift cards lock you into items at a particular store, you have millions of items to choose from with an Amazon gift card. Another benefit is that you don’t actually have to go into a physical store, where you might be tempted with impulse buys. Also, depending on the college town, physically going to a particular store might be a hassle. With Amazon, everything is delivered right to your door.

6. Moleskine Notebooks

My sister introduced me to these notebooks a few years ago, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since. These notebooks come in a variety of sizes and make great sketch pads, journals, diaries, etc. The best part is that they look cool (something you would actually show a friend), and they’re really high quality. Unlike typical notebooks, Moleskine notebooks have really thick paper, so you don’t have to worry about ink bleeding through if you write front and back. Once you go Moleskine, you won’t go back.

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5. Webcam

Is your college student homesick or in a long distance relationship? A webcam will help make the distance seem a little shorter. Video calls make talking to each other more personal, and it also allows you to actually see how the other person is doing. The best part is that they’re really cheap nowadays.

4. Homemade Food

If you want to be absolutely, positively sure that a college student is going to use your present, then give them food and add the word free before it. To make the gift more meaningful, select the food carefully. When I say “homemade food”, I’m not necessarily referring to food that you make. I’m talking about food that reminds your college student of home. Maybe they have a favorite dish, or perhaps there are certain foods they can’t get in their college town. My parents never sent me back to school without a few edible reminders of home.

3. George Foreman Grill

The Foreman Grill has become a staple of the college student’s kitchen for good reason — it’s quick and easy to use. I used my Foreman Grill on a regular basis throughout my undergraduate years. There’s no easier way to grill delicious burgers in a dorm. While I’ve moved on a better grill now, I couldn’t have imagined my undergraduate years without one.


2. Apple iPod

The iPod has become a staple of college life. You can’t walk on a college campus without seeing at least one student listening to their tunes. While there are cheaper alternatives to the iPod, I would still recommend the iPod, because it provides the best overall experience out of any portable media player. The iPod Touch has the same fun and intuitive touch interface as the iPhone, and this simply isn’t available on any other device right now.

1. Spring Break

While other college students may not be as broke as me, I have yet to meet one who would turn down extra money. I know a lot of people think giving cash is too impersonal, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead of giving your college student cash, you can help them cover the cost of something in the near future, like a Spring Break trip. It could be something small (covering gas money) or something huge (covering the whole trip). Either way, it’s great because you’re giving them an experience, not just pieces of paper.

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Mint Myths Debunked

by Broke Grad Student on December 12, 2007

As a grad student, I’ve learned about the importance of doing research and checking your sources before making any claims. I recently did a review on Mint.com, a free, automatic way to manage your money online. While I was doing some research for the review, I noticed that a lot of people were making false claims about the security of Mint. The most annoying part is that some these people continued to make false claims after others had proved that their claims were ill-conceived.

Well, I’d like to set the record straight once and for all and debunk the myths that have been spread about Mint.

If someone breaks into my Mint account, they will have all of my financial information.

This seems to be the most widespread myth about Mint. People worry about “putting all of their eggs in one basket.” Others talk about how they’re hesitant to give anyone or any company their bank account info. Well, the truth of the matter is that Mint doesn’t store your financial information at all.

When you enter your account credentials, they’re only used once to establish a connection to your bank accounts. This comment left in Lifehacker’s review of Mint sums it up pretty well.

No where on Mint.com do we ever have your name or address. We have a read-only connection to your bank accounts, and are provided with balances and transaction descriptions only - no names, no account numbers.

On Mint.com we know about your finances, but we really don’t know who you are.

Aaron Patzer
Founder & CEO, Mint.com

If you want more details, read the explanation of how this works in the Mint forums. You’ll find out that Mint relies on Yodlee to get your balances and transactions, which brings us to the next myth.

Mint is not as safe as other online financial sites.

Well, if you did some research on Yodlee, you’d find out that Bank of America and Fidelity Investments rely on Yodlee as well. If you have accounts with either of these institutions and check your account online, you’re probably already using Yodlee. In the comments of a TechCrunch post, Aaron Patzer makes a bold claim that you’re safer on Mint than you are with online banking.

To all those who are concerned over Mint.com security, a few points:
1) You’re anonymous on Mint.com
2) Our security is independently verified
3) Email & text-message alerts help identify fraud immediately…and being proactive is the best measure.

I’ll make a bold statement: You’re safer on Mint then with online banking. On Mint, you’re completely anonymous. We never ask for a name, address, or SSN - just an email. We know about your finances…but not about you. We’re also independently verified by Verisign, TrustE, and several outside agencies.

We also have serious physical security. Our servers are in a secure, unmarked facility. To get in, you need to pass 3 biometric scanners, 4 locked doors, and several guards. We have our own cage so we’re physically separated from all other companies. Cameras monitor our servers and power supplies 24/7. The servers themselves have additional locks. The hard drives are encrypted. It’s like Mission Impossible (except without the electrified floors…maybe one day).

Perhaps more interestingly, 90% of all fraud actually occurs offline, not online (e.g. someone swipes your card at a restaurant or from your mail). Because Mint sends proactive alerts for low-balance or unusually high spending, you’ll know right away. It’s better than logging into 4-5 different banks every day, or waiting 30 days for a paper statement before finding that something went wrong.

Aaron Patzer
Founder & CEO, Mint.com

I still don’t trust Mint.

Even with these myths debunked, I realize that Mint isn’t for everyone. I know that some people still won’t feel comfortable using something like Mint. However, that doesn’t give these people the right to fear monger. I don’t think it’s fair to scare people away from something useful, like Mint, just because you personally don’t think it’s safe, especially with no proof to back it up.

The purpose of this post isn’t to get everyone to use Mint. I put together this information so that you could evaluate the facts about Mint and then make the best decision for yourself.

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CashCrate Proof of Payment

by Broke Grad Student on December 11, 2007

Well, I guess Christmas is starting a little early for me this year. I checked my mail yesterday and was happy to find my first check from CashCrate. This check is going straight into my student loan payback fund.

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CashCrate is a great way to make a little extra money each month, and it only takes a few minutes a day. A few days ago, I even shared some tips on how to make $24 with CashCrate. It will take less than an hour of your time with the tips I shared, so be sure to check it out.

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The Perfect Gift To Give When You’re Broke

by Broke Grad Student on December 10, 2007

The worst feeling in the world is knowing that you won’t be able to spend as much on gifts as the people you’re exchanging with. Nobody wants to be known as the cheapskate of the group. Fortunately, money isn’t all that matters when you’re giving a gift.

Throughout the years, the best gifts I’ve received haven’t been the biggest, the most expensive, or the most eye-catching ones. They’ve been the gifts that make it obvious that the giver put a lot of time, thought, and effort into putting together the gift for me. This is what makes cookies the perfect gift to give when you’re broke.

cookies.jpg
Photo by medea_material

Cookies are great for a number of reasons:

They’re cheap. The money you spend on all of the ingredients will be way less than what you would spend on a traditional gift. It’s also easy to scale the recipe, so you can knock out gifts for multiple people in one shot. You can vary the packaging if you don’t want it to look like you’re giving the exact same thing to everybody.

Time is money. Even though your cookies may not cost as much as other gifts, the time and effort you put into making and packaging them makes up for it. So what if you couldn’t afford something more expensive? The only effort that goes into those gifts is buying them from a store or ordering them online. With cookies, you’re actually creating the gift with your own hands (and possibly the help of a mixer).

They taste delicious. Well, this one depends on your baking skills, but let’s just assume you can bake for now. Cookies are great because you know the person you give them to will eat them. If you know the person really well, you can make the gift even more personal by making their favorite type of cookie. On the other hand, when you give the latest new toy or gadget as a gift, the other person may play with for a couple weeks and then never use it again.

One of my relatives gives the gift of cookies every Christmas, and it’s great. Everyone looks forward to eating her cookies. Of course, I would only recommend giving out cookies if you are not baking-impaired. For those of you who are, I’d recommend something else, like making a collage out of special photos.

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Weekly Roundup #2: I Should Probably Be Studying Edition

by Broke Grad Student on December 9, 2007

Another week, another roundup. This one is dedicated to college students who are desperately cramming for finals this weekend. Although this broke grad student doesn’t have any finals to take, I still remember that feeling of trying to cram all of that knowledge into my head in such a small amount of time. I also remember how relaxing it was to take a break every once in a while, so here are a few articles to get your mind off of the books for a while:

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