Consumer
Corner
Students and faculty in the Consumer Affairs
area maintain this column. Students majoring
and/or minoring in Consumer Affairs study
consumer law, consumer advocacy, personal
financial management, personal financial
planning and counseling, housing policy,
housing-related services, and many other
topics. In “Consumer Corner” our goal
is to provide you with useful consumer information.
We have an idea about what topics would
be useful to you as college students.
However, if you have specific consumer-related
questions that we might be able to answer,
please let us know!
Q: I’m traveling home for the holidays,
but as a student I don’t have a lot of cash
to spend on gifts and my trip. How can I
get the most out of my money?
A: As a student you are entitled to discounts
from many different merchants from around
the world. Not many people know that you
can get a student discount on your plane
tickets, but you can. There are also many
other businesses that provide student discounts.
As a rule of thumb, before you make any
purchase, big or small, you should always
ask if they offer a student discount.
As far as gifts go, shop smart! Bargain
hunting is always a good thing, though it
may take a little longer, the savings can
make it worthwhile. During the holidays
it shouldn’t be too hard to find things
on sale, and if it’s not on sale in one
store you can probably find it somewhere
else where it is. A few good Internet resources
to use to find good deals are: buy.com,
pricewatch.com, half.com, skyauction.com
and ebay.com.
A quick piece of advice: Don’t overuse your
credit card for gift purchases — or anything
for that matter. If you don’t pay
your credit card balance in full each month,
interest charges and fees can quickly add
up. Don’t spend all of next year paying
for your holiday gifts and indulgences.
Visit cccs.org for more credit and budgeting
advice.
That’s Consumer Corner for today.
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true,
it probably is! Caveat emptor! (Let
the buyer beware).
“Consumer Corner” is written by students
and faculty in the Consumer Affairs major;
an option area within the Department of
Family and Consumer Sciences. If you
would like more information about majoring
or minoring in Consumer Affairs, or would
like to ask a consumer-related question,
please e-mail Dr. Reiboldt at reiboldt@csulb.edu.
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