The shopping malls are full of people looking for the best gifts at the best prices for this Christmas, but what about those of us who can&t afford to buy a gift for everyone on our list?

Willow Martindale, a Sacramento State student, said: &It&s ridiculously hard this year. I can barely come up with money for bills and tuition, then I have to find some way to buy gifts for everyone.&

Elena Larson, collection supervisor for the Student Financial Services Office, said this can be a difficult time of year for students, especially when they give in to the temptation to use credit cards.

&People often look at credit cards as an additional source of income instead of as a loan that they will eventually have to pay back, often with an extremely high interest rate,& Larson said.

Larson counsels students with financial difficulties as part of the debt management program, located in Lassen 1003 at Sacramento State.

&It&s better if students come in early to see us before they are already late on a payment so we can help them make a spending plan and get back on track,& Larson said.

Debt isn&t uncommon for students who, according to Sacramento State&s financial aid Web site, as undergraduates have an average of $11,525.56 in student loan debt and $19,539.84 as graduates.

Larson said the national average for credit card debt is $2,500. This leaves students with a lot to pay once they are finished with school.

For this reason, the counselors from Student Financial Services Office educate students about financial decisions from the beginning of their college careers. At the beginning of each semester they give presentations in freshman seminar and at freshman orientation.

At the presentations, each student is given a handbook about personal money management, which includes topics like student loans, saving money, credit cards, establishing credit and resources.

&I&ve used my financial aid before to pay off my credit cards, but often the money ends up being spent on other things that I wasn&t expecting to spend it on,& Martindale said.

Students should take loans out only for what they need and then later in the semester if they come up short they can go in and ask for more money up to the original amount allotted.

&Taking the full amount can be tempting, but the key is to remember that one day you will be paying that money back with interest,& Larson said.

Employers, insurers, cell phone providers and apartment managers all look at credit reports, so it&s important to know what it says and how to fix any problems.

Larson said some of the best online resources for financial questions are www.edwise.org and www.bankrate.com, and if students have too much debt they can contact Consumer Credit Counseling, a non-profit agency that helps consolidate credit and get it paid off.

As for Christmas spending, Larson said to limit the number of items purchased with a credit card and to think instead of items that can be made at home for much less.

&Students should take advantage of their students status while they still have it. Everyone knows that as a student you can&t afford to buy expensive gifts for Christmas. There are a lot of creative things that you can come up with.&

The shopping malls are full of people looking for the best gifts at the best prices for this Christmas, but what about those of us who can&t afford to buy a gift for everyone on our list?