College: How I Got the Most Out of My Parents' Investment

You need to pony up roughly $160,000 for a diploma from a private college if you're not receiving any form of aid, though that's unlikely, as a majority of students at private colleges receive some kind of scholarship, grant or financial aid, according to the Department of Education.

You're at college to get a degree and make connections, and if you keep that in mind, you'll have a lot more fun. The rational strategy in that situation is to accomplish that goal at the lowest possible cost, which in this case would mean effort. The more time you spend getting an education, which is not what you're there for, the less time you can spend doing what you want.

So what else should you know in order to wring the most free time out of your college experience? At some schools, you really don't need to attend classes, or at least lecture classes. As long as they don't take attendance, I found that most people I knew either went to the lectures or did the assigned reading, but rarely both.

Find out if you can get away with not attending class. Everyone says that doing well in college is all a factor of learning how to make effective use of your time, and I agree. Start by making better use of your class time.