College is probably the biggest financial investment you’ve made yet, so when you can find opportunities to cut corners and save a few dollars, the Clog is behind you. With the costs of tuition, housing and even basic necessities like food and toilet paper, it gets expensive pretty quickly.

Luckily for Cal students, we have a Software Central — with plenty of free computer programs that you can download with no additional tug on your wallet. Many of them are essential to college success and preparation for the real world.

Microsoft Office Suite. Who doesn’t need this? Maybe you’ve never downloaded Word or Excel (How have you been getting anything done?), or maybe you really just need the 2013 upgrade so you can type fancier and impress your professors. Either way, you can get this software for free as a Cal student. And if the word “free” isn’t good enough for you, you get to keep the software after graduation.

Stretch Break. Stressed out with kinks in your neck and back? Not yet? Well, midterms and too much time spent hunched over a desk will soon change that. You could rely on the Clog’s advice on how to stretch out your stress, but if that’s not helpful, the Tang Center has an app for that! The program will lead you through different stretches.

Photoshop. Have you always wanted to design a cool flyer for your club? Doctor photos of your roommate? Students can get Adobe Creative Suite 6 for free! If you don’t know anything about design, you can try to teach yourself. Or, if you’re extremely lost, there is a game called LevelUp that helps you learn how to use Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash Professional and all of the other programs included.

What’s your favorite free program from Cal’s Software Central? Let us know in the comments below!

Image sources: Microsoft Office, Tony Alter and UC Berkeley IST under Creative Commons.