Warren Buffett has some advice for young people, like college students, who want to remain financially independent. It's not new and its not a surprise, but it is solid counsel on avoiding a very common money pitfall, and worth repeating:
"The biggest suggestion I have is to avoid credit cards. Interest rates are very high on credit cards. Sometimes they are 18 percent. Sometimes they are 20 percent. If I borrowed money at 18 or 20 percent, I’d be broke.... So if I had one piece of advice for young people generally it would be to just avoid credit cards."