Nearly 3 million first-time students start college in the coming weeks _ and many will be short on money before the semester ends. With tuition rising steadily, many face the prospect of taking on heavy debt to pay for their degrees.

After talking to school officials and experts in fields ranging from design to finance to publishing, The Associated Press has assembled some tips for staying solvent through Thanksgiving and beyond.

For textbooks, the average yearly bill is $900, but save by buying used books at campus bookstores or through Web sites such as half.com, campusbooks.com, collegebooksdirect.com, and others. Look into whether the publisher of a book you need has more flexible options; Thomson Learning, for instance, lets students download “i-chapters” of some titles instead of buying the full book.

Parents and students heading off to college spend $8.2 billion annually on electronics – nearly as much as on clothing and dorm furnishing combined, according the National Retail Federation. Save money with multipurpose devices, says Stephen Saint-Onge, an interior designer who is also a design consultant with Philips Electronics. A 19-inch flat panel monitor can double as a TV, a computer can double as a stereo system.

Comparison shopping for loans is difficult. A new Web site, http://www.simpletuition.com, lets customers compare student loan offers in much the same way Orbitz lets users search for airfares. Right now it compares only private loans, and doesn’t include big players such as Sallie Mae, but as part of broader research it could help you find a deal.

If you’re smart and outgoing, you can eat practically free for days at a time, particularly early in the year when student clubs are trying to attract new members. Get breakfast bagels with the hiking club, and lunch subs at the English department open house.