Nah, he's canadian, so going to a great school there is probably cheaper than going to a mediocre school in the US.
My favourite advice (I didn't do it until my last year at Uni): spend every day like you're working a typical 9-10 hr/day corporate job (with the hour or so for lunch

). Even if you don't have early classes, get up early and start first thing in the morning, and even if you're done at 3 work until dinner. Sometimes you'll have to work longer, sure, but overall your time will be better spend by "forcing" yourself to find extra studying/reading/hw-checking to do to fill out the easy days.