The Fall Semester Bells are tolling, ushering in back-to-school awesomeness in the form of new stacks of textbooks, another year's tuition and more student loans.

If you are feeling the financial-aid blues this semester, then you aren't alone. According to FinAid.org, the average student debt for graduating 4-year seniors is $23,186. College Finance 101 featured a post today titled "The Bagel and Student Loans" which reports the number of students borrowing money is growing. The post also says that in an effort to revive the struggling economy, some folks have their fingers crossed that forgiving student will be next on the government's to-do list:

Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org ran the numbers and found that there is about $730 billion is outstanding student loans and almost $600 billion of that is government loans (the rest is from private lenders). Could this boost our economy by forgiving their loans? Perhaps the people with huge loan amounts (law students, med students etc.) would spend the money as consumers or save it rather than use it to pay down other debts, but that’s not a guarantee.

Curious what bagels have to do with student loans? Then you should probably go read the post...

Since rising costs on school supplies aren't helping, Inside Higher Ed had some good news for budget-conscious students. Cengage Learning, a textbook publishing company, is going to be the first publisher offer hard copy textbooks for rent:

Cengage said it would transform its existing online platform, known as iChapters, into a broader site that would allow students to rent print textbooks at 40 to 70 percent off retail as well as purchase print and digital texts and other materials.

Still feeling over-charged and glum? The Wired Campus reports that Google made a potentially-exciting-for-students announcement today:

[Google] will let authors use Google Books to distribute works that they have published under Creative Commons licenses. Readers will be able to download the copyrighted books and share them with other Google Books users as long as they comply with the authors' decisions on how the material can be used.

There are already 9 books available, and more on the way. The Wired Campus blog also takes a look at several applications which give you access to thousands of textbooks for those of you elite individuals who own an iPhone. There are plenty of new educational apps available that let you buy books for a reasonable price.

Save money, read The Links and have a great weekend:

Seth Godin Compares Internships to Free Work: Godin is a fan of Charlie Hoehn's idea that 'free work' is a better use of your time than an internship that might not give you any real, intelligent project experience. 'Free work' is defined as work "done as a freelancer, remotely, without direct supervision and it creates a measurable output." Godin says that many "fast-paced companies" and employers would be excited to work with a motivated individual who's ready to work hard. Hoehn's ebook on 'free work' and finding a job after college is definitely worth the read.

Forbes Reports that New Grads are Doing Good Works for a Salary: According to the article, the number of young adults applying for jobs at non-profit organizations like AmeriCorps, Peace Corps or Habitat for Humanity. Employers are also starting to look more for volunteer or paid "do-gooder" experience. Unfortunately, competition is getting tougher. "Applications [for the Peace Corps] have risen 12% in 2009. At AmeriCorps, the number of applicants has tripled over last year."

Mashable Presents the HOW TO Guide for Facebook Networking: You. Have. To. Read. This. Seriously. I know using Facebook for professional networking sounds like a bad idea now, but this post goes through every aspect of turning your profile into a job search tool. The best part is, you can divide your Facebook contacts into "Personal" and "Professional" which means you can still leave up your goofy quotes and random photos for your friends to see.

"just the ones i'm getting rid of" courtesy Plutor via Flickr Creative Commons

College costs a lot of money. Not a big news flash for college students. Why else would you be living on Ramen noodles, care packages and free goodies from those student organization fairs?

Broke Grad Student had a post today on an infographic about the average student debt by state that made the rounds on digg a few days ago.

The graphic reports that Iowa has the highest average student debt, at more than $26,000. Utah boasts the lowest, with an average student debt of about $13,200. It explains that students going to schools in the west have lower average student debt because more of them attend public schools.

This infographic from The Project on Student Debt also lists the most expensive colleges in the US based on the cost of tuition plus room and board. Sarah Lawrence College wins the award for most outrageously expensive school at $53,166 for the 2008-2009 school year. Ouch. George Washington University and Georgetown University also made it into the top five (not surprised. Living expenses here are scary enough to make even a grown college grad cry).

With this much debt floating around, the results from the "How American Pays for College" survey surprised me. CollegeRecruiter.com has a good post on this survey of 1,400 undergrads and their parents, titled "Cost Not a Factor When Choosing a College." During the college application process, 42 percent of families didn't limit their school search because of cost.

College students and their parents see higher education as a critical investment in the future, but according to a national study of college-going families, many overlook the cost of college as they select their school and do not consider post-graduation income as they decide whether and how much to borrow to pay for college.

According to The Project on Student Debt, factors that can affect student debt are things like tuition (duh), state policies, student demographics and resources available to the school for financial aid.

Links don't cost anything so save your change for the laundromat...

College Students are Poor Advises: That you should be careful with your (probably limited) funding by "making the most out of your wallet." If the student loan numbers above were starting to make you sweaty and uncomfortable, flip through these tips on saving money in college.

What Would Dad Say Has: An interview with Ira Glass, host of the radio show, This American Life. The advice focuses on successful story telling because he believes it's important to be able to "take almost any subject and figure out how to illustrate your points via a compelling story. If you are jobseeker, it is about your 3-minute elevator pitch, if you are sales rep, it’s about the thing you are selling."

Dan Schawbel at the Personal Branding Blog Explains: Why you should take advantage of Facebook's custom URL offer (starting at midnight on June 13). Dan points out that a personalized Facebook address will rank very high in Google searches for your name, which could be a very valuable asset to your job search.

The Work Buzz Reports On: CareerBuilder's latest annual survey on unusual job search tactics. When the going gets tough, the tough get... really wacky ideas on how to find jobs. My favorites: candiate washed cars in parking lot and another sent a cake designed as a business card with the candidate’s picture on it.

Careersthatdontsuck Forecasts: In what industries the most hires are likely to happen in the upcoming months. "According to the Q3/2009 Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, 15% of employers expect to hire more employees this quarter."

"Money Shirt" courtesy Rob Lee via Flickr's Creative Commons.

Graduation is upon you and the real world looms. Don't freak out. You'll be fine. We've got a ton of links for you further down the page about finding that perfect career ... and we're confident you'll find it. Once you start making money, you have to be careful about how you're spending it, how to make it last and how to plan for your future. So, to start us off today, here's some advice from the sage of personal finance Ramit Sethi, who was out promoting his new book I Will Teach You To Be Rich (side note: That's our Nation's Capitol behind Ramit, where he did his live shot for G4 in the ThinkTalk studios ... maybe we'll try to get him on our show next time he's in town. For some more personal finance info, check out our interview with Larry Winget.)

In America, first you get the job, then you get the money, then you get the women ... don't worry, we've got all the advice you need in The Links ...

Modite Investigates: What type of companies are hiring during a recession. Rebecca Thurman is one smart cookie and she does a great job of rounding up a number of different sources on what type of companies you should be targeting with your resumes in this tough job market.

The Wall Street Journal Explores: The benefits of the Post Graduate Internship. "In this tepid economy, taking an internship when a full-time job can't be found may be a new grad's best option. "There has never been such a high level of graduates taking internships," says Donald Asher a career expert and author of "Who Gets Promoted and Why." While many of the more-formal internship programs geared toward undergrads may already be filled, soon-to-be grads can still find them if they're resourceful, target their efforts and are willing to work to convince a company to create one for them."

Allison's Job Search Blog Has: Info on managing your job search applications. Alison Doyle has some good resources for tracking your applications so that you can keep an organized handle on what jobs you are applying for and where they are in the app process. Plus, they're free!

College Finance 101 Shows: The basics of paying back your student loans. This goes along with keeping your personal finances in order, and after you graduate, keeping track of loan repayment is an important part of this process. CF101 has a good roundup of the resources you need to keep organized.

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.

Welcome to the Daily Roundup. Each day at the ThinkTalk Blog we will post some links that we find informative, interesting, or just plain funny. The goal is to let you know what else is going on out there, and ultimately help you with the development of your career.