First, welcome to FlyerTalk! I am a student, too, and I also operate under budgetary limitations, so maybe I can share one or two ideas.

First, a couple quick questions that people will want to ask:

• Can you tell us what metro area you live in? This might impact which program(s) would be of most use, based on what air/rail carriers have service there.
• How much travel do you typically do? For example, some of my classmates make annual trips to Asia to visit family. Others travel to academic conferences/boondoggles.
• Can you tell us what your "travel goals" are? For example, I'm trying to accumulate miles for travel on Amtrak, for free travel in the Northeast corridor where I live and attend school.

One other question, what are you studying? (It's really none of my business, so please feel free to ignore this question...)

As for credit cards, I have signed up for a Continental MasterCard from Chase, because it has a significant bonus and I fly CO. It has a $65 annual fee. But, I had learned a trick on FlyerTalk: I called up and asked to cancel, citing the fee as disproportionate to the card's utility -- which is how I really feel. The fee was waived.

There's also an Amtrak Guest Rewards card from Chase, which has no annual fee. I'm going to sign up for this soon. AGR is kind of special in that award travel can be redemeed for 3,000 to 10,000 points, as opposed to 25,000 to 50,000 for air travel. Typical credit card earning is 1 point per dollar spent.

I'm sure many will chime in with more ideas, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot from FT. Welcome again!