Designers have it in the bag at Sacramento State. Haute couture handbags are invading walkways and classrooms everywhere. The speckled insignias of elite designers like Louis Vuitton and Prada are dappled on the purses and book bags of everyday students.

However, what you may not know about these ordinary handbags is that their price tag is about a fourth of your tuition.

For college students living with empty wallets, the camel plaid of Burberry or the trademark initials of Dooney & Bourke and Louis Vuitton make for very expensive arm candy.

That is, if you paid full price.

Most bags are no more than designer knock offs that are sold for just a fraction of the cost of an authentic bag.

But if you want the real thing – bags decorated with the signature C’s of the Coach luggage company and the interlocking G’s, P’s and F’s on the clasps of Gucci, Prada and Fendi purses n then you’ll have to pay a pretty penny.

“They’re status symbols and they’re cute too. Whenever I have (my bag) people come up to me and ask me where I got it,” sophomore Kimmy Fung said of her faux Louis Vuitton (Ellipse) bowling bag.

Coach prices range from $158 to $398, Dooney & Bourkes go from $100 to $296, and a Gucci bag will sell for $495 to $890. A Prada bag can range from $210 and to $495 for a messenger bag. On the more expensive side, bags such as Fendi run for $395 and up to $1,075. A Louis Vuitton starts at $460 and can retail for as much as $1,160 for this fall’s collection.

We know Jennifer Lopez, Louis Vuitton’s new campaign model, can afford a $1,100 handbag. But with these outrageous prices, how do college students have the dough for their designer duds?

When looking around campus, it is not out of the ordinary to spot one of these bags hoisted on the shoulders of passing students. Some even wear matching shoes and hats to complete their ensemble.

The obsession with designer label bags has been featured frequently on HBO’s “Sex and the City.”

One episode features Samantha and Carrie drooling over a Birkin bag in the store window. As the scene progresses, Samantha says “If I have that bag, then I’ll know I have arrived in New York.” She then put her name on a four-year waiting list for an infamous Hermes Kelly Birkin bag worth $5,500.

This might be a bit fanatical, but most purse aficionados don’t find it out of the ordinary.

” Everyone wants to get the latest thing as fast as possible,” Fung said, “I like to dress up because how you dress reflects your attitude. Some people are more comfortable in a t-shirt and sweats, but the way I’m most comfortable about myself is when I’m dressed up.”

Ever since the Coach Company came out with their signature C line three years ago, made from canvas micro fiber with contrasting C’s on its surface, Coach has aimed their product at a younger audience, sales representative of Arden Fair Coach store Vanessa West said.

” The most popular bag we sell is the demi in the signature C line, I think because it is more compact and girls can also use it for clubbing,” West said.

But some of these designer purses are impostors.

Women carrying these purses can smell designer authenticity. “I’ll tell you a secret, on the original Louis Vuitton the initials all line up together. If there are any cut off initials by the zipper, then it’s a fake because the knock offs are not made with as much care,” Fung said.

Fung says she’s heard of a company that makes knock off Coach bags labeled Goach with signature G’s decorating the purse instead of C’s. But since Coach is less high-end, she says, most of the ones on campus are probably real.

Fung said she’s even heard of knock off manufacturers in New York who glue authentic labels on fake purses and give the buyer additional labels, in case they fall off.

To be able to determine the authenticity of a Coach bag, just look at the label.

“If the inside of the bag says ‘Made in China’ and ‘Made from Genuine Leather’ on it, then it’s real, but if it says ‘Made in U.S.A.’ and from cowhide, then it is a fake,” senior Tiffany Small said.

But who cares about what a label says, as long as you get the best price.

Fung’s Louis Vuitton bag would retail for $735 at the store, but she paid $90 to a seller in New York. Student Cari McClathy’s Louis Vuitton shoulder bag would sell for $395 but she paid about $100 from her friend who purchased the goods in China to sell in the states for less.

Another way to get the look for less is at department stores, where replicas of the signature lines of Louis Vuitton, Dooney & Bourke, Gucci and Coach can be found on the exterior of such purses as Guess, XOXO, Hot Kiss and Rampage. These lower brand names sell for about $35 to $45 dollars instead of the triple-digit price tag you would be looking at for a designer name.

Even though she’s a designer label girl, Fung said she would carry a lesser department store brand name purse n but only if it went with her outfit.