In the New York apartment that Marymount Manhattan College sophomore Jillian Hmieleski shares with her two roommates, there is no traditional telephone. "Since we all have cellphones, it seemed so pointless and expensive to have a land-line phone," says Hmieleski, who hails from Vermont. "We wanted to have a cable Internet connection, so we didn't need the dial-up line for the computer either."

In this age of cellphones and high-speed Internet connections, college students no longer face the monthly ritual of divvying up phone bill charges that was common a generation ago. Instead, many students opt to own only a cellphone. Today's national calling plans can make cellphones a money-saving choice for long-distance calls.

All in the family. Parents who want their far-flung offspring to call home easily may want to consider a national service for multiple members of a family, such as T-Mobile's FamilyTime plan. For a monthly fee of $49.99, you get 400 minutes that can be used on two lines, plus unlimited mobile-to-mobile and weekend service. Up to three additional lines can be added for $10 per line.

Parents who don't want to give Junior carte blanche when it comes to long-distance calling may appreciate prepaid national plans. AT&T Wireless's GoPhone plan charges your credit card each month for a fixed amount of minutes. For a monthly fee of $39.99, for example, you get 400 minutes plus unlimited weekend service. You can decide ahead of time what happens if the monthly limit is met. More minutes can be added automatically or service can be cut off until the next month.

Prepaid calling cards also offer another way to avoid phone bill surprises. AT&T's Web site, for example, sells a 300-minute card for $30. But be careful how you use it. Like most prepaid calling cards, AT&T imposes a surcharge when used with a pay phone. And be careful when comparing rates offered by calling cards. The ones that seem to have the lowest cost may have hidden connection charges. For other tips on how to choose a calling card and how to use it wisely, visit the Web site of Consumer Action (www.consumer-action.org).

For those students who can't imagine a dorm room, even a home, without a land line, an inexpensive strategy is to use a cellphone for long-distance calls and a traditional phone for local calls. Why waste precious minutes ordering a pizza? -Mary Kathleen Flynn