As the theme of last week’s a.l.l. section said, we’re all broke. We have very little money, if any. We are college students, and we are not wealthy people (with a few exceptions).

The hard news is: It’s not getting any better.

Blame the economy, blame mom and dad for not offering money (no strings attached), blame the university for costing so much, blame your dirty laundry for needing cleaned, blame your stomach for growling because it needs sustenance. Blame whomever or whatever you want, but the fact remains that your wallet will be none the heavier after you point fingers – the fingers of very empty hands.

The fact of the matter is we are college students and there is some unwritten rule somewhere that we’re not allowed to have money. It’s sort of like how you always just lose one sock from each pair you own. You can’t keep your socks together for a mysterious reason, and you can’t keep your money clip filled, either.

For the more spiritual students, just assume being broke was in the stars for you.

Our advice? Embrace it.

Think it’s not cool to take a weekend to hang out with the family? What’s more uncool: surviving on Ramen until next week or letting mom and dad cook you a delicious home-cooked meal?

Not interested in staying home this Friday while all of your friends go to the bar? It’s guaranteed that at least one of them will come home either in tears – having just broken up with someone – or will hook up with someone they wouldn’t have if they hadn’t taken a multitude of shots. Win for you. Give your friend a good ol’ “I told you so” even if you never saw it coming. Just be a little nicer in the morning.

There are some even more simple ways of spending money. Don’t park on campus without a pass and then curse Parking Services – it actually isn’t their fault, and it doesn’t make your ticket go away.

Don’t hand in a book you borrowed from the library late just because you’d rather watch one more episode of “Home Improvement” in the middle of the day. The couple of dollars you’ll have to spend when you finally do hand it in could have bought you a sandwich. Or maybe it would have helped pay your end of the cable so you can watch more episodes.

You can’t change the fact that you’re broke. Nostradamus even knew we’d all be broke, so don’t fight it. Embrace it. Have fun with it. And remember: You don’t have to worry about muggers when they have nothing to mug.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.