Navigating college life as a freshman is tricky enough. Add on the first taste of financial freedom, and many students are bound to stumble.
For incoming students, college means a slew of new responsibilities. There's getting used to course work, classes and making new friends. Campus life also marks the beginning of financial independence. With that comes many opportunities for failure, along with lasting consequences.
"Our nation's kids are graduating high school without so much as a course in economics," Corey Carlisle, executive director of the American Bankers Association's ABA Foundation, said of most freshmen's under-preparedness.
"Other than sex, finance is one of the hardest things for parents to talk about with their kids," he said.
To break the ice, here are the top money mistakes college freshmen make (and how to avoid them):