I am a grad student and I work. I am having to pay my tuition out of pocket. There have been some surprise expenses(new tires,increased tuition ect) lately and I applied for a small loan through my credit union and was turned down for 3 late payments on my vehicle. Is getting a credit card worth the hassle to help with paying for stuff?

Just use your credit card carefully. You need a credit card to get an airline ticket, a hotel room or a rental car if you use the telephone.

Just don't get over your head!! You will be in so much if you use it to much!!!

Just don't get over your head!! You will be in so much if you use it to much!!!

If you don't got a credit card already, you may wanna get one right away. At least one. You always need back up, especially as you say for those new tires, car repairs and so on. Try Bank of America, they are pretty generous on the credit lines. But if you had 3 missed payment on your vehicle, that might have spoiled your credit for a while. In this case you might wanna try this link for low-credit cards:
http://www.cardratings.com/poorinfohome.html
And this one,
http://www.indexcreditcards.com/unsecuredcreditcards.html
Good luck, and I suggest you get at least one credit card, just in case you know. I know what it's like to pay for tuition and stuff out of pocket ... been there before! Credit always helps when you treat it right.