The future looks bleak for the U.S. economy.

Wall Street experienced a tumultous weekend as the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 500 points in the wake of several dramatic financial collapses that have the U.S. and global economies waning.

Lehman Brothers, an international financial-services firm, filed for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, with a bank debt of $613 billion and a bond debt of $155 billon.

Merrill Lynch — a Wall Street mainstay that withstood the Great Depression — sold itself to Bank of America Sunday for $50 billion to avoid the Lehman Brothers’ fate.

Insurance giant American International Group is facing a meltdown and is seeking $40 billion from the Federal Reserve to stay afloat.

All of these events come only a week after the federal government bailed out mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, seizing control of the companies, which have more than $5 trillion in mortgage debt.

These crises are the result of banks making irresponsible loans to people who cannot afford to pay them back.

But some of the blame also belongs to the people who borrowed foolishly in the first place.

The widespread defaulting on subprime mortgages — high-interest loans given to high-risk borrowers — caused the initial skid that has the economy reeling.

With the economy in such a sour state, it is time for college students to think about how they are going to handle their finances.

The economic crisis makes it clear that living on credit won’t work forever. Students need to lose the sense of entitlement that makes them believe they can buy whatever they want as long as someone finances a loan.

Students should learn from the shocks of this weekend and expect to live within their means after they graduate. They need to realize that homeownership may be more difficult in the future as financial institutions will — hopefully — be more responsible, loaning money only to people who can afford to pay it back.

Students should not expect to be offered generous mortgages, and this is not a bad thing. People do not need to buy homes they cannot pay for.

In preparation for the time when they can buy a house, students should protect their credit. They need to pay their bills on time, avoid credit card debt and safeguard their personal information to ensure their credit is strong when they are ready to purchase a home.

Today’s college students will soon be taking over a market that has been left in shambles. If they make sound decisions now, they can avoid debacles like those that happened this weekend.