Going to school involves a lot of choices, like where to stay, what classes to take and picking extracurricular activities. In addition, you face the choice of whether to start building up your credit right away or wait until you are out of college. I'd recommend getting one of the low fee student credit cards, pay off your balance every month and start building your credit from the get-go. This is a convenient and powerful way to start out your financial career.

Which card do you choose? Say you decide to apply for one or two student credit cards. Which one are you going to pick? Here's my take: Jot down on a piece of paper what is important to you with a credit card. Prioritize if you prefer a low interest rate, bonus points, airline miles, convenient payment schedule, online balance access, personalized card design or whatever you can think of. Then take a look at what the different cards have to offer, paying special attention to the items at the top of your priority list. Apply for the one that strikes you as the best overall card, and remember that you can't get everything you want.

Paying off your balance. I can't stress this enough. You are getting a credit card because of the convenience and for building up your credit, not so you can spend more money than you have! So pay off your balance on time, each and every month. If you don't do this you're going to be facing a host of problems. That's not why you are getting student credit cards.

Another good card is the Prepaid Visa Card - No credit check. Quick approval. Shop online, pay bills, use ATMs.