Communal bathrooms, difficult courses and dining hall food are a few of the unfamiliar challenges students face when making the transition from the comfort of their hometowns to an independent college lifestyle. But some students also face another hurdle: handling their finances.

Whether paying $3 at New York Pizza or $40,000 for annual tuition, many students are first challenged with managing their money when they arrive at college.

An unstable economy is further testing students as they attempt to balance their checkbooks. However, with the exception of some cases where parents have lost their jobs or there has been a severe change in family financial circumstances, most students have already set up their payment plan for this school year, said Seamus Harreys, dean of Financial Services.

Now, he said, many students are trying to tackle the tricky task of financing tuition for the 2008-09 school year.

“Most of what we’re seeing is questions about next year,” he said. “What private non-federal loans will be available? And that’s a hard question to answer because most lenders haven’t told us yet.”

He said that information should become available in May or June, but many private lenders, like the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority and Vermont Student Aid Commission, have not secured funding for loans at this point.

The university is moving to direct lending because of economic issues. Loans previously borrowed from a bank or credit union will now be borrowed from the federal government through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program.

Returning students will be awarded aid packages from the university June 1, Harreys said.

He said Financial Services provides counselors to consult students about these big issues on a one-on-one basis. However, he said they are also available for smaller issues that students run into at college, like balancing a checkbook, something he said is “vitally important” to keeping good finances.

Some students might struggle to keep up with these fundamental financial housekeeping tools because they fall into an unfamiliar arena, said economics professor Neil Alper.

“My impression is most students being independent for the first time, there’s a learning curve associated with keeping track of your finances,” he said. “Most high schools don’t have programs to have those personal courses to help with personal finances issues in dealing with checkbooks.”

Dan Abrams, a sophomore environmental science major, said the dynamics of Northeastern – including co-op and living arrangements – can force students to confront these issues earlier than they might have to at other schools.

Many co-op students working 40 hours a week have the opportunity to make more money than they did in high school, meaning they have more money to spend.

“Since we are a co-op school, people are constantly receiving a paycheck,” he said. “So I think more and more people are buying more expensive objects like clothes and iPods versus [students at] other schools.”

However, when students receive larger paychecks, they have more money to manage. Living in the heart of a city, often off-campus or in apartment-style residence halls with full kitchens that need to be filled with groceries, can add to students’ financial stress.

“We’re in downtown Boston. Everything is expensive, so the standard of living is much higher. Money doesn’t last as long,” said Abrams, who lives on-campus in an apartment-style residence hall. “Like I said, the biggest thing I spend money on is food.”

Harreys and Alper said there is no evidence to suggest Northeastern students, while faced with different living dynamics, have a harder time juggling finances than students at other schools.

However, both agreed on one fool-proof way to thwart financial woes: “Plan ahead,” Alper said.

Harreys said balancing a checkbook forces students to have an “internal dialogue” to see where they spent their money, and if it was on something they wanted or needed.

As for college, he said, it is most difficult for Financial Services to assist students for semesters that have already passed and are still unpaid for, called a “back-balance.” The best thing for students to do is to contact the office as soon as possible if they have questions or concerns about their finances, he said – whether they are large or small – and to be prepared.

“Going to college is probably one of the three big financial tasks of all of us, beyond buying a house and planning for retirement,” Harreys said. “[When paying for] college, whether for yourself or for your children, planning is probably the most important aspect.”