For many, college teaches the valuable skill of managing time. You need to make time to attend class, time to study, time not to study and, of course, time to eat. As a recent graduate of New College of Florida, I can attest to the importance food played for me and my friends in college life. The success of many a college function has hinged on food. If that food is free, you can usually count on people showing up. What you can't always count on is free food every day, especially when attending a small school like New College.

When there was no free pizza to graze over-or elbow my way towards, as the case might have been-I had to find food elsewhere. The cafeteria lost its charm pretty quickly; I'll leave it at that. Delivery wore thin, too. The only other option was-gasp-to leave campus.

Going out to eat was totally justifiable for a number of reasons. There's the old, "It's not like I'm slacking, I mean, I need to eat, right?" And, really, if there isn't anything in the fridge, well, then, there just isn't.

The following list of restaurants comes from my four years of dining out in college as well as suggestions from other students. Our criteria-classic for any college student: It had to be good; it had to be abundant; and most of all, it had to be cheap. Our definition of a cheap meal was simple-roughly $5 for lunch and $10 for dinner. A few items on this list defy that definition, but that's OK once in a while. And as we gleefully discovered and you will see, dining out on a college budget doesn't just mean going out to get the pizza.

Dinner at Yoder's might be the most wholesome thing some college students do all year-discounting the many possibilities for gluttony, of course. A psalm on this 30-year-old Amish eatery's menu impels diners to "taste and see that the Lord is good." Regardless of your own affiliations, there is no denying the divine qualities of the food at Yoder's-especially the pie. Rare is the diner who doesn't leave with at least a slice, and more often than not, a whole pie. With over two dozen varieties on the menu and special pies offered daily, Yoder's desserts are a draw all by themselves. I know a few seasoned Yoder's fans who make pie their first course, knowing very well they won't have room for dessert. That homemade goodness will cost you, though: a slice of pie ranges from $3.50 to $4.25. At four and a quarter, that might as well be lunch, and what's wrong with that?

Now that we've discussed desserts, let's move on to dinners. The majority of Yoder's entrées hover around the $10 mark, although several offerings are available in smaller, cheaper portions. The leftover factor is a big consideration here. You'll most likely be able to make another meal out of whatever you take home. For under $10, you can do no better than a quarter fried chicken, a pair of side dishes such as mashed potatoes, fried okra or baked apples, and a few slices of freshly baked bread topped with apple jelly. Although good food takes time, the dinners at Yoder's are usually ready when you are. Despite an ever-bustling dining room, the wait for a meal is never long.

While Yoder's can cater to the college budget, we quickly learned it doesn't exactly cater to the college schedule. The doors close at 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and stay closed on Sundays.

At first glance, the prices at Tondero might not appear cheap. Everything changes, though, when you see the portions. Large oval platters are piled so high at this Peruvian eatery that they put Richard Dreyfuss' Close Encounters sculptures to shame. Most of the appetizers and entrées at Tondero lend themselves to sharing, and family-style ordering is not uncommon.

Meals begin with a dish of cancha, large kernel South American corn, fried nut brown and served with a smooth, pale-green chile sauce. Although Tondero's menu is varied, its seafood dishes seem to be the most frequently ordered. One of the stars of Tondero's menu is its ceviche, a chilled salad of fish, squid, shrimp and mussels, "cooked" by citrus juices and served with corn, boiled sweet potatoes and a red onion, lime and cilantro slaw.

For something on the warm side, there's the jalea mixta, a similar blend of seafood, deep fried and served with copious amounts of the onion slaw. The captain's basket this is not. Meals such as the ceviche or the jalea mixta rely on the simplicity and freshness of the ingredients and the technique with which they are prepared. The flavors of lime and chile in the ceviche are clear and fresh; the fried seafood is light, and not at all greasy, doing justice to the seafood's delicacy.