Get a good kitchen set and starting making your own meals. Spend two weeks where you make every meal you eat, so you break the habit of eating out.
Also continue to surround yourself with fantastic people, it will keep you from getting depressed. Exercise (jogging, especially) is a very economical and beneficial pastime. Start that as soon as possible.
To add to cooking idea, challenge yourself to eat "simply" – i.e with cheap carbohydrate heavy ingredients such as rice, pasta, potatoes as a substantial portion of your calories.
Use meat sparingly (it's expensive!) to make things more exciting, and always put onions, garlic and [all kinds peppers[1], zucchini, fennel (the bottom parts), herbs[2]].
All of those ingredients last in the fridge and can be "revived", or cooked when they're starting to go bad. If you're new to feeding yourself all of your meals and having food in the fridge all the time, the tendency to buy fresh products that rot in the fridge is high. These ingredients let you cheat a bit.
Olive oil and salt and pepper should be liberally applied to all of this.
Finally, on the the health front, you'll probably cook more than you need – this can cause overeating. I usually portion food into a storage container before I start eating, forcing me to control portions. When you start cooking all of your food and controlling your portions, you realize more what your body needs and honestly how little it actually requires for sustenance. Rich world countries eat such an incredible amount of food.
My two cents! This is a personal thing, so your mileage may vary, but hope it's a bit helpful.
[1]: I live near a substantial hispanic population, so all sorts of interesting peppers exist that can change meals completely for very little cost and effort. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum
[2]: Depending on your market and the season, herbs can be relatively affordable or completely absurd. I only buy it if it's fairly priced, can be a real gouger.
Suggestion to eat cheap carbos is insane. Sure its cheap, but it will also raise your blood sugar, make you feel without energy and make you obese.
Considering that I've been practicing diets without any carbs for a while now, I can say that:
1. They aren't much more expensive if you plan ahead. You need to buy in bulk and refrigirate at home.
2. You do get added benefits of canceling any drinks with carbs, which means no juices and beer and much less carbonated stuff (all you can do needs to be sugar less).
3. You should feel better across the day. I always got super tired after eating rice or pasta (especially the simplest, white stuff, full grain is usually better but not much).
If you need a very good crash course on what to do, read the 4-hour body from Tim Ferriss. That's a nice starter for people trying to change their lifestyle.
BTW: Since I reduced/removed carbs from my diet I lost 10-15% of body weight, am much less tired/sleepy and can perform better mentally. I also eat less without even trying, overeating is very hard + regardless of the fact that I eat at least two eggs daily + insane quantities of fatty foods (ribs, suckling pig, bacon, butter) my bloodwork (including holesterol) improved.
Definitely this! I'm currently in my first year of uni and a lot of it seems like getting a good routine is important.
I'm lucky to have clever friends around me, so going for a drink or a game of pool and talking about work and assignments is always a good way to talk and share knowedge on assignments/problems/tech world.
Equally, scheduling when I'm going to eat is quite important. If I know I have an hour and a half till I eat, I know I will work in that time. Similarly, if I have 30 minutes, it's best spent talking to friends as I won't get much done. Know what works for you and stick to it.
Equally getting up is an issue I face(d). Waking up at 12:00 means that half the day is wasted. This took me a while to figure out, but if you want a good working day, set alarms for eating, powering down your laptop, and going to sleep (23:00 for me).
It's all about finding a good routine when you have an abundance of time - which works for you - and sticking to it.
...get a girlfriend/boyfriend that complains if the food is always from 'the roster'. It is much easier to cook exciting stuff if it is to be cooked with love and shared.
Also continue to surround yourself with fantastic people, it will keep you from getting depressed. Exercise (jogging, especially) is a very economical and beneficial pastime. Start that as soon as possible.