By: Stephanie Brooks

You’re in college, so it’s been drilled into your head that “What you do now will affect you for the rest of your life.” Undoubtedly an education will shape your mind, influence the way you see the world, and, if everything goes according to plan, help you land a decent job. It’s a long-term investment in time, effort, and money that you hope will pay dividends.

However, you don’t want to leave college with the long-term burden of monstrous debt. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported the average debt for all student loan borrowers in the U.S. was $23,300 in 2011. The top 10% of all borrowers owed more than $54,000. A recent article in The New York Times examined “A Generation Hobbled by the Soaring Cost of College,” putting forth two telling statistics: “payments are being made on just 38% of the balance of federal student loans, down from 46% five years ago,” and “nearly one in 10 borrowers who started repayment in 2009 defaulted within two years.” Postponed and stopped payments were part of the reason students failed to make progress in reducing their student loan debt.

The rising cost of tuition is putting graduates in a bind, but what about those additional expenses such as room and board and food that accumulated through the years? It adds up. All your goals, dreams, and ambitions for adulthood can be put on hold because of insurmountable debt. Sound like scare tactics? It’s the real world. That’s why you should focus on cutting those other costs so that you can free up money to pay for tuition and thus free up your financial future.

Room and Board: That Other Big Expense

The College Board estimated the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2011-12 school year was $9,200 for public colleges. Compare that to the average cost of room and board and books, which was $13,203. These are the biggest expenses in many cases, and they don’t seem to receive proper attention amid the outrage surrounding tuition increases. If you want to substantially reduce the amount of debt you’ll have when you graduate, then you’ll pay close attention to how much you’re spending on this aspect of college life.

• Find a cheap dorm. Some colleges require students to live on campus for at least the first year. This means there will be several dorms on campus from which to choose and the price of each may vary. The cheaper dorms will lack the amenities, privacy, and newness of the more expensive ones, but you can compensate for that by rooming with your friends, with whom you’ll be more comfortable. Even if you don’t live with them, you’re bound to find new ones in your suite or floor who will make living there more fun.
• Consider co-op housing. A less common way to save on room and board, cooperative housing isn’t as popular as it once was but it remains an option on campuses where students are willing to work together to maintain their living space and campus. Those who are fearful of living an overly “hippie lifestyle” can attempt to organize a co-op with their friends and peers who share their values.
• Work for shelter. If you’re an upperclassmen, you can become a Resident Assistant in a dorm and receive free room and board in exchange for mentoring younger students. This, of course, requires responsibility and commitment to your place of residence, so it isn’t fit for everyone. The additional benefit is that you get to meet many new and interesting people while honing your people skills.
• Live in an off-campus apartment. Do you plan to stick around campus after the semesters end? Do you prefer to pay month-by-month? Living off campus can be more convenient than living on campus, where you have to pay a lump sum before occupying your room. In many cases, the cost of living around campus may by less than the cost of living on campus. Review apartment prices in the area surrounding your school and weigh them against the cost of the 3.5 months you would be spending in a dorm. Look for three- or four-bedroom furnished units. Dorm rates typically include utilities and other expenses such as water, trash, cable, and internet, but you may be able to find apartments that do this as well.
• If possible, live at home. You may shutter at thought of living with mom and dad, but if they live driving distance from campus, you may not be able to pass on the opportunity to save a truckload of money. It’s a solution that a lot of students are choosing. If your parents are like most parents, they’ll be pleased to have you around, and they’ll express their gratitude by providing you with warm, home cooked meals – another way to save – as long as you do your part to keep the house in tiptop shape.

Keep in mind that where you live will affect your cost of living. For example, if you grew up in a state such as Texas or Arkansas, where the average cost of living is low, and chose to attend college in a state such as California or New York, where the average cost of living is high, there will be an inevitable jump in day-to-day spending. Rooms on campus or near campus at colleges in urban areas, where space is limited, typically cost more than rooms in rural areas. Such factors should be taken into account when choosing a college to prevent financial shock once the move is made.

Sustenance, Nourishment, Grub

Colleges offer different levels of meal plans that provide a set amount of meals per semester for students who live on campus. For roughly $2,000, you can dine at the campus food hall or buy snacks and drinks from other places that sell food around campus. These are best for students’ convenience because food is always within walking distance from the dorms or class, and the cost is covered in your fee bill, preventing you from overspending on food if you rely on what’s provided by the plan.

It could be a waste of money, however, if you bought a plan covering three meals per day and you only eat two, for example. Typically those meals don’t roll over to the next semester, so you end up losing money. Cooking on your own, which requires you to buy your meals day to day and week to week, may be a better option, as it allows you to closely manage your money. When seeking nourishment off campus, do the following:

• Buy a cookbook. For the $10 you spend for a meal at a low-end restaurant, you can cook three or four meals and spread them out through the week. The Huffington Post provides some useful cheap cooking tips, advising readers to make use of Tupperware containers and a slow cooker, the latter of which is versatile and perfect for cheap cuts of meat.
• Buy store brands. Consumer Reports found that store brands save an average of 30% and are essentially indistinguishable from their more famous competitors in taste tests. The products consist of the same ingredients – the main difference is the brand on the box.
• Drink water, but don’t buy it. Drinking water instead of caffeinated beverages will not only save you money, but will also keep you healthy. Invest in a water filter that you can attach to your sink in your dorm room or apartment. Read this water filter buying guide from Consumer Reports to ensure you get one that provides great tasting water.
• Avoid eating and drinking out regularly. Few things are worse than waking up the next morning and realizing your tab was exponentially higher than you remember. Make drinks at home with your own ingredients to avoid spending too much at the bar. When drinking and eating out, frequent happy hours.

Remaining disciplined with your food purchases can be difficult, but, as you might expect, there’s an app for that: Grocery Gadget Free – Shopping List gives users the ability to compose a shopping list before going to the store, enabling them to figure out how much they will spend beforehand. Ziplist allows users to categorically organize their shopping list by isle so they can get in and out the store, avoiding unnecessary spending. You can compare prices with Grocery Pal.

Making Educated Decisions Financially

An important aspect of becoming an adult is establishing your financial well-being. In all likelihood, for the first time in your life, you’re responsible for managing your money entirely on your own. Many college students fail this initial test, causing themselves more trouble in the future. If you’re racking up student loan debt, you need to ensure you’ll be in a position to pay it off once you’ve graduated and landed a job. If you abide by these tips, then you’ll be a step ahead of many of your peers:

• Choose your checking account wisely. Some banks offer student packages that come with minimal fees and free overdraft protection in a savings account that accumulates interest.
• Use cash. Perhaps the best way to control your spending is to only have access to a certain amount of cash. As your wallet gets thinner, you’ll fully comprehend how much money you’re spending. Always pay with cash at the bar to avoid the sticker shock that follows a drunken evening with an open tab.
• Make use of auto-pay. Enroll in automatic bill-pay with your bank to ensure all your bills are paid on time each month. It’s too easy for the average college student to forget a payment because they were too busy studying or partying. On-time payments will help build your credit.
• Don’t get a credit card. You’ll eventually need one to build credit, but you shouldn’t have one unless you’ll be able to regularly pay down the balance. For most college students, the availability of the money is too tempting to resist, and they find themselves deeper in debt when they graduate.
• Don’t drive. Most college campuses and their surrounding areas are pedestrian friendly. Make use of the campus bus line and walk the rest of the way. Driving results in money spent on gas and maintenance.
• Find student discounts. Many businesses try to encourage the patronage of college students by offering reduced rates, such as airlines. Taking advantage of student discounts, wherever they’re offered, will save you lots of money over time.

Need a sidekick to help you manage your money? Check out these apps: Loot assists in budgeting, tracking repeat transactions, and account transfers. Red Laser enables you to compare prices of in-store items to thousands of other items online by merely scanning their barcode. Getting an early start on paying off your debt is essential, and Pay Off Debt helps you do just that by prioritizing your accounts.

Community service is the act of volunteering toward a cause or service for a particular community, and it can be a rewarding and humbling experience. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that about 64.3 million people volunteered via an organization at least once between September 2010 and September 2011. Community service can apply toward a wide variety of efforts, such as helping those in need by supplying food, water, or shelter, fundraising for a common cause, partaking in environmental care or clean-up, teaching, or general outreach. Volunteering in America‘s surveys have suggested that self-organized ‘do-it-yourself’ services have been most popular during the recession, a trend president Obama promoted with his United We Serve initiative. It might seem counter-intuitive that community service has surged during a time of economic collapse, but people continue to donate their time and give charitably, perhaps sensing that the United States needs volunteering the most in a market with dwindling resources.

Motives for Volunteering

Although young people tend to be the smallest demographic portrayed in community service efforts, volunteering when you’re young is a wise choice not only for the benefit of the community but also for personal gain. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to volunteer with some of your own motivations in mind, even though community service is often stereotyped as a selfless act. You may be volunteering in an effort to perfect a particular skill, such as leadership ability. It may fulfill an academic credit. You may be volunteering for a political cause you believe in, knowing that your presence can help initiate change. Universities appreciate a well-rounded student with a penchant for helping out in their community. Experience with community service could give you the edge you need to compete with your peers, gaining acceptance into a particular college or other organization.

Some volunteer because they feel a sense of gratification for changing their community for the better. Making a difference to improve the lives of others, propagating a cause they believe in, or networking among likeminded people can be mutually satisfying for the volunteer and the recipients of the service. Community service provides another social circle for the volunteer. It also has its proven health benefits. Volunteers have a lower mortality rate, function better, and tend to be less depressed than those who do not volunteer, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Volunteering gives one a sense of purpose and the feel-good factor of it reflects positively on our actual health state.

There are also those that volunteer for more complicated reasons. Undertaking community service can be an enriching experience, making one aware of the continual need for help around the world. Working among those in need humbles the volunteer. They may participate in community service for religious reasons, out of guilt, because it’s therapeutic to them, or in order to feel challenged. They may simply enjoy working because they’re among friends. They may have even been assigned community service as a means of punishment for a crime. The reasons vary from person to person, but regardless of the motive, volunteering efforts are needed and appreciated every day. Community service helps benefit the community in critical ways, even if it isn’t propelled by altruism. Still, there are those that gain valuable insight from community service and experience personal growth. Many colleges value community service to this end, hoping to recruit a school of students with the ability to positively impact the world.

Who Benefits?

Community service can benefit an array of different people or causes.

Likewise, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or the ASPCA is a humane organization that “works to rescue animals from abuse, pass humane laws and share resources with shelters nationwide.” With shelters across the country, they thrive through monthly donations and help from their volunteers. Using volunteer work at the ASPCA as part of your community service can give you a myriad of options, as they are in constant need of assistance. Just some of the ways you could help out include transporting animals to and from the shelter, holding fundraisers in their name, assisting in animal adoption, cleaning cages, walking the dogs, foster care, and training. All donations go toward housing the animals, tending to their medical needs, and food. Some of the shelters are no-kill shelters, which means that overcrowding can be an issue. All volunteers provide a valuable service of keeping the operation going and helping sometimes neglected, helpless animals get into happy, loving homes.

In guerilla gardening, the environment and the people who cherish it benefit. Guerilla gardening is a fairly recent trend and somewhat of an avant-garde form of community service. It is less of an organization and more of a do-it-yourself initiative, in which everyday members of the community garden in public places with or without permission for the betterment of the landscape. Some guerilla gardeners participate in “seed bombing,” in which they form wads of dirt, seeds, clay, compost, and water and scatter the bombs in decrepit areas throughout the city. The guerilla gardener seeks areas that could be used for growth, but are instead left for neglect, benefiting nobody. They then infiltrate it with flora, fauna, and even fruits and veggies for human consumption. Some may regard it as radical, bordering on civil disobedience, while others see it as bettering the community by returning life to otherwise useless areas.

The Washington Post interviewed 25-year-old Emmy Gran, a guerilla gardener who is teaching seed-bombing workshops in Shaw, Washington. At the end of every guerilla gardening spree, Shaw graffitis the walls with a moss mixture, created by combining moss, a half teaspoon of sugar, and beer or yogurt in a blender. She gardens for “food justice” and to make the community more beautiful, but notes that it can feel somewhat deviant. “If you see an abandoned, neglected lot and you decide to do something about it by planting vegetables and herbs, are you an occupier?” Gran dwells.

Volunteering Your Way into College

In terms of utilizing your community service credentials to get into a good college, the earlier you start volunteering, the better. College applications will address your community service experience and you will be required to list specific examples. Likewise, many college essays are geared toward enriching experiences, such as travel or community service efforts, hoping to extrapolate some of the self-nurturing qualities that came along with such moments in your life. If you partook in community service in junior high and high school, you will likely stand out more than another applicant that chose not to participate in community service. It sets you apart as being a compassionate, mature individual, traits most colleges highly prefer in their collegiate body. A U.S. News article touches on the importance of community service work for college applications. Nancy Lublin of DoSomething.org, an organization that helps teens to promote causes that are important to them, notes that while participating in community service in general used to be an invaluable trait, college admissions teams are now becoming even more specific, looking for students that have demonstrated a commitment to one particular community service. By consistently supporting the same volunteer effort, students “show commitment and perseverance, both of which are stellar traits for potential co-eds.”

DoSomething.org has released a survey for the past three years in which they interview admissions officers from top universities to see the number of schools that prefer to select students with experience in volunteering. This past year’s survey reflected that 72% of the 32 schools participating in the survey desired students that were consistently involved with one community service effort. However, there is a balance. Fifty-two percent believe that a student can have too many service hours, showing that they are less rounded than some students who undertake community service alongside extracurricular sports activities, involvement in student council, or the school newspaper. A student who is so focused on community service that they have time for nothing else is not as desirable as a student who can balance many responsibilities at once, with equal commitment to each.

Schools with an Eye for Community Service

If a college values community service at the University itself, it likely takes note of community service experience in its applicants. Many major universities encourage their students to partake in community service activities and in some colleges it is even built into the system. For example, Eastern Connecticut State University requires four hours of community service simply to acquire a dorm room, according to an article posted in The New York Times. The students aren’t given the choice of whether or not to give their time. If all 5,586 of 2011’s fall enrollments completed the minimum amount of community service hours required to obtain a dorm room, it equates to an excess of 22,000 hours of community service.

An article in Washington Monthly notes that University of California-Riverside grants 51% of its work study funds to community service programs, rendering it the top public school for community service. The top private school for community service is Florida Memorial College, utilizing 59.2% of its federal work study funds toward community service. If you’re applying for any of these schools, you should figure volunteer work into your college application. The schools have already identified themselves as being strong supporters of philanthropic activity.

Scholarships You Can Get

If you volunteer early in life, not only can you pad your college application with your impressive community service dedication, but you might also be eligible for a variety of scholarships awarded to young volunteers across the country. The Prudential Spirit of the Community Award grants two middle and high school winners from each state with a $1,000 award and a trip to Washington, D.C. The ten national winners then receive $5,000 in scholarship funds and $5,000 toward their chosen charity. The awards are given solely based on the individual’s efforts in community service. Thus, being a volunteer can help you pay your way through college.

Likewise, the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program is applicable to any volunteer between the ages of six and 18 that hasn’t graduated high school. The student’s community service efforts will be gauged and then awarded, with the national winners receiving $10,000 in scholarships for post-secondary education and an additional $1,000 toward a non-profit organization. Over 2,200 kids are awarded in store, regional, and national levels with over $420,000 dedicated toward scholarships and prizes.

If you still enjoy community service and hope to continue with it after graduating college, you can pursue the National Grid’s Huntington Public Service Award, a scholarship opportunity that grants one lucky individual with a $10,000 stipend to spend a year volunteering their services. The applicant must write a proposal concerning the community service they wish to enact, which can be held both within the United States and abroad, giving the winner some exciting opportunities. They may choose to volunteer on an individual basis or through established charitable, religious, educational, governmental, and other public service organizations. Previous winners have done volunteer work in places like Ecuador, Cambodia, Kenya, India, and Chile.

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Most educators in the U.S. will readily admit that our education system is substandard given our nation’s economic stature. Many of the international education metrics confirm that, showing that we lag far behind in essential subjects such as math and science. Of the 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries that took part in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report released in late 2010, the U.S. ranked 14th in reading skills, 17th in science, and 25th in math.

On the surface, it seems that money isn’t an issue. The OECD released a report in 2010 detailing international spending on education by country. The U.S. ranked fourth, spending $10,995 at the combined elementary and secondary level in 2008, the fourth-most in the world. That’s 35% more than the $8,169 averaged by OECD member countries. The report shows that a country’s GDP per capita has a direct effect on how much it spends on education.

Countless initiatives have been brought forth through the years with the purpose of strengthening our education system so that we can remain competitive with the rest of the world. From the “Nation at Risk” report during the Reagan administration that sounded the alarm on the failing state of our schools to the controversial No Child Left Behind Act during the George W. Bush administration, which many educators have deemed an ineffective reform, we’ve managed to pinpoint many of the issues but have yet to deal with them in an efficient manner. The solution starts with our educators, the ones who actually spend each day in the classroom.

Educating Our Educators

Of course, building the ideal education system requires a commitment in spending, but it’s how that money is spent that ultimately matters. And, according to many of our nation’s teachers, the mismanagement of their field of work has them demotivated and possibly looking for new careers. MetLife’s annual “Survey of the American Teacher,” released this year, posted a few disconcerting stats, including that 29% of teachers are “very or fairly likely to leave the profession within the next five years,” and 43% of teachers “are pessimistic that the level of student achievement will be better five years from now.”

The best way to improve education in the U.S. is to devise a well-thought out approach that includes developing and supporting our teachers. For them to be successful, they must be put in a position to succeed. Far too often, teachers are asked to teach classes for which they’re unqualified and lacking a sufficient amount of education to be a true expert in the subject. A survey released by the U.S Department of Education in 2011 showed that almost a third of public school physics and chemistry teachers did not major in those fields and lack a certificate to teach those subjects. The same can be said for half of public school earth science teachers.

Remember, the U.S ranked in the middle of the pack in science in the OECB report. Those were among 15-year-old students, who, in the U.S., are fresh out of middle school. According to a report by the National Academies from 2007, only one in 10 middle school science teachers have a degree or certification in the subject. The same problem is identified with more than two-thirds of math teachers.

The obvious first step to improving the situation would be to require incoming math and science teachers to have majored in the subject. For the teachers who’ve stepped in to teach those subjects without a major, additional training through courses and seminars could be funded by states and school districts. Considering the statistics that show the desire of many teachers to leave the profession, we must keep the existing ones happy and motivated.

An increased emphasis on mentorship from tenured teachers, who can continually share their wisdom with their younger, inexperienced colleagues, would not only provide more on-the-job training, but show those tenured teachers that they’re valued, a rarity these days. As the Baby Boomer generation retires and the workforce becomes younger, this remains essential.

Encouraging qualified teachers to enter the fields of math and science, however, is a challenge, and one that should be addressed at the grass roots level. Another simple solution would be to offer significantly higher salaries for those positions compared to, say, history teaching positions that already have a high number of qualified applicants. After all, the demand justifies the means.

Bridging the Gap in Funding Inequality

How money is distributed is a major determining factor in the overall quality of education. Students who attend affluent schools perform better than students who attend poor schools. When it comes to educational achievement, no indicator is more telling than family income.

A recent study conducted by Stanford professor Sean Reardon indicates the problem has been worsening over the past 50 years. Using standardized test scores, he compared children in the 90th percentile of income to children in the 10th percentile. He found the gap between the two has grown by almost 40%, a sign that students from poor families are increasingly suffering from a lack of resources at home and in the classroom.

In Illinois, for example, Taft Elementary School in Lockport averaged $7,023 in operating cost per student in 2010, according to the state’s annual School Report Card. It lacked arts, language, and technology classes. What’s more, it still used a 50-year-old heating system. An uncomfortable learning environment isn’t exactly helpful to teachers and students. Rondout Elementary School, on the other hand, averaged $24,244 in operating cost per student, offering Spanish from kindergarten forward, art, drama, and dance classes, and laptops to each student. Schools in Illinois rely heavily on property taxes for funding, meaning education in low-income areas is only as valuable as its residents’ property.

Inequities in funding occur within school districts, within states, and between states – Utah spends the least amount of money per student and ranks 42nd in education. Perhaps the reason it doesn’t rank last is because it ranked No. 1 in “spreading money evenly throughout the state,” according to an annual report by Education Week.

In essence, kids in poor school districts receive only a portion of that $10,995 average the OECD mentioned in its report. They suffer from unqualified teachers who don’t have sufficient training, a lack of resources such as updated textbooks and Advanced Placement classes, and outdated facilities that are years past due for upgrades. There’s no focus on developing teachers or giving them what they need for success. At the same time, teachers receive blame for their students’ lack of achievement.

The idea of equally distributing funds among different school districts, regardless of the average income of those who live within those school district zones, makes many Americans shutter. Anything with a hint of socialism makes Americans shutter. However, in this case, it’s necessary to ensure poor students have what they need to improve their socioeconomic standing. Isn’t education supposed to be the great equalizer?

Out With the Old, In With the New

The Obama administration has vowed to listen to educators so that policymaking better meets their needs. The administering of the Respect Program is one way he hopes to accomplish that. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is leading the way.

“Our goal is to work with teachers and principals in rebuilding their profession and to elevate the teacher voice in federal, state and local education policy,” Duncan said in a press release for the U.S. Department of Education. “Our larger goal is to make teaching not only America’s most important profession, but also America’s most respected profession.”

One major change that almost every teacher would embrace is scaling down the number of standardized tests they’re required to give. This is confirmed in “Survey of the American Teacher,” which indicates that “only 26% of teachers say that the results of standardized tests are an accurate reflection of student achievement.” While such tests serve a purpose, to an extent, in measuring how students stack up against each other, too many of the tests significantly cut into class time, hindering teachers from effectively carrying out their regular curriculum.

That time could also be spent experimenting with new teaching methods designed to enhance students’ learning experiences. The implementation of social learning inside and outside the classroom through the use of social media, for example, can encourage participation and achievement for every student, regardless of their academic standing. Using a Twitter account to facilitate a roleplaying game, Rosie Miles, a senior lecturer in English at the University of Wolverhampton, got her students to act as characters in Charles Dickens’s Bleak House to better their understanding of the novel. Some teachers have similarly taken to using Pinterest in the classroom. Miles could use it to track literary devices from the novel in visual form, something her students could reference as they read.

Methods of technological integration have been well-documented during the technological revolution, but there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to making it work. The same can be said for any type of new lesson plan. The results are gauged with trial and error, which only can happen when teachers are afforded more flexibility and control over their classes. If the Respect Program works, then it will have provided teachers with these luxuries.

Summer is the perfect season for swimming, staying out late, and sailing up the music charts with a big hit. Many musicians have found the right hook and the right audience, and seen insane summer success. Even if you don’t like these summer songs, we bet you’ll have trouble getting them out of your head. Do yourself a favor and learn more than just a few lyrics; it’ll keep you from driving yourself crazy later if you only know one line and it’s stuck on repeat in your head.

1. “Call Me Maybe”

   Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, But here’s my number so call me maybe.

   This song is pretty much the soundtrack of the summer, so you’ve probably been unlucky enough to get it stuck in your head at some point. With multiple viral videos based around it, the Carly Rae Jepsen hit is impossible to avoid. We’re just going to warn you: if you try this line on anyone during your summer vacation, expect them to groan and walk the other direction.

2. “In the Summertime”

   In the summertime, when the weather is high, you can stretch right up and touch the sky.
   When the weather’s fine, you got women, you got women on your mind.

   Mungo Jerry knows how to capture summertime in a song. Listen to this song once at the beginning of the summer, and it’ll stay with you until the school year rolls back around. You’ll be dancing and singing, and if you don’t know the words, you can provide the rhythmic “Chh, chh chh, UH” in the background.

3. “Summer Girls”

   New Kids On The Block had a bunch of hits.
   Chinese food makes me sick.
   And I think it’s fly when girls stop by for the summer, for the summer.

   If you were a child of the ’90s, this 1999 LFO song, with its terrible lyrics and all, is going to bring back some summer memories. How can a song that makes so little sense be so darn catchy? Do you need more examples besides Chinese food making the band sick? Check this out:
   Like the color purple, macaroni and cheese,

   Ruby red slippers and a bunch of trees.

   Call you up but what’s the use?

   I like Kevin Bacon, but I hate Footloose.

   Now just try to get it out of your head.

4. “Kokomo”

   Aruba, Jamaica, oh, I want to take you.
   Bermuda, Bahama. Come on, pretty mama.
   Key Largo, Montego, baby, why don’t we go?

   Doesn’t this song just make you want to jump on a plane to an island somewhere? We can practically feel the breeze right now. If you can’t get out of work or summer school long enough to make it down to the Caribbean, you can instead hum this song at your desk and annoy everyone around you. Kokomo is supposedly a poolside tiki bar in the Florida Keys (or just totally fictional), but you could always go instead to the lovely town of Kokomo, Ind., if that’s all your summer vacation time allows.

5. “Summer in the City”

   Hot town, summer in the city,
   Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty.
   Been down, isn’t it a pity?
   Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city.

   If you need an anthem to celebrate summer nights (besides Grease‘s “Summer Nights,” another contender for this list), this Lovin’ Spoonful diddy is your go-to track for the next few months. And if you live anywhere in the South or in a big city where you have to walk everywhere, you can definitely relate to the feeling of walking around half dead, hotter than a match head during the day. Once the sun goes down and you find some relief, crank this song up and enjoy the cooler temperatures while they last.

6. “School’s Out”

   School’s out for summer.
   School’s out forever.
   School’s been blown to pieces.

   Come on. You can’t tell us you didn’t sing this song every year growing up when summer came around. Not as sugary-sweet as some of these other catchy tunes, this song might cleanse your palette a little if Alice Cooper is more your style than Carly Rae Jepsen. It’s perfect for recalling those days when you couldn’t wait to be rid of your teachers and will bring back that good ol’ summer feeling no matter what age you are.

7. “California Gurls”

   California girls, we’re unforgettable.
   Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top.
   Sun-kissed skin, so hot,
   we’ll melt your popsicle.

   Are girls in California really that much better? The Beach Boys and Katy Perry seem to think so. This 2010 hit was blasted from radios across the country and we’re betting it got stuck in your head more than once. Even if you’re not from California (or even a girl!), take this opportunity to put on your Daisy Dukes and bikinis, and hang out poolside with this tune blaring.

8. “Baby Got Back”

   I like big butts and I cannot lie.
   You other brothers can’t deny,
   when a girl walks in with an itty-bitty waist and a round thing in your face…

   Everybody’s favorite 1992 summer hit, Sir Mix-a-lot’s song made it OK to like big butts. You may have different taste in women than the rapper, but when you hear this song, you can’t help but think about the 5’3″ girl with 36″-24″-36″ measurements. Learn all the words and this could be your new summer karaoke song!