Big Apple fun - on a budget!

The Metropolitan Opera (64th Street and Columbus Avenue) has student tickets, $25 and $35, for some shows, and sells standing-room tickets at the box office each Saturday at 10 a.m., $15 to $20, for shows the same day through the following Friday; cash only. Details at (212) 362-6000.

You can get free tickets for TV shows that are taped live, but plan ahead. A year's wait is typical for attending "Live with Regis and Kelly" (www.livewithregisandkelly.com). However, many shows - including David Letterman's (www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/) - have same-day standby seats.

Or join the crowds watching "Today" through the glass studio windows, 7 a.m. at Rockefeller Plaza. If your taste is more Kelly Clarkson than Katie Couric, head to MTV, Broadway and 44th Street, where the under-25 set gathers Monday-to-Thursday afternoons as guests arrive for "TRL" ("Total Request Live") at 5 p.m. It's hard to see the second-floor studio from the street, but sometimes guests wave at the window.

Good music can be found all over Manhattan without emptying the nearest ATM. Jazz fans may enjoy the Knickerbocker (33 University Place, 212-228-8490, $2 cover), 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, or the Zinc Bar (90 W. Houston St., 212-477-8337, $5 cover, www.zincbar.com). Or buy a pint at Puck Fair (298 Lafayette St., 212-431-1200), where you'll find 20-somethings partying until 4 a.m. to everything from hip-hop to '80s top 40. For a club that matches your taste, check listings in Time Out magazine.

SPORTS AND CONEY ISLAND: Bleacher seats at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx are just $12, but the $8.50 beers could break your budget. Reserved seats for the Yanks' minor league team, which plays on Staten Island, are $9, while general admission for the Brooklyn Cyclones - the Mets' minor leaguers, with a stadium in Coney Island - is $5.

While you're in Coney Island, stroll the boardwalk, take a dip in the Atlantic (yes, the water is safe for swimming), or visit the Coney Island Museum at Surf Avenue and West 12th Street (99 cents, open weekends noon to 5 p.m.). Admission to the New York Aquarium is $11, but you can enter the amusement parks for free. Or, for $5, scream your head off on the legendary and relentless Cyclone roller coaster. You've been warned.

FOOD: For breakfast, get a $1.25 bagel with cream cheese from a deli or pushcart.

For lunch, "a slice to go" runs $2 at the city's ubiquitous pizza places; hot dogs from street carts are around $1.50. Frankfurter aficionados swear by the 95-cent dogs at Gray's Papaya, located at Broadway near 72nd Street; Eighth Avenue near 37th Street; and Sixth Avenue near Eighth Street.

For supper, go ethnic. Ali Baba, 34th Street east of Third Avenue, has Middle Eastern entrees around $12. Share a feast in Chinatown with friends, where main dishes are around $10.

Make an evening of the East Village. Check out the scene in Tompkins Square Park, browse the vintage stores and sidewalk vendors, then dine on Japanese food at Kenka, 25 St. Mark's Place, where beer on tap is $1.50 and a bowl of silken fried tofu is $4. Or go Ukrainian with pirogis and borsht at Veselka, Second Avenue and Ninth Street. Either way you'll find immigrants, students, punk-rockers and yuppies side by side.

FADE OUT: After a long day in Manhattan, your cousin's fold-out sofa in Brooklyn will look mighty comfy. If you don't have a cousin (or friend of friend) to crash with, rooms in the $150 range are surprisingly easy to come by. Nice, moderately priced hotels include the five in the AppleCore chain (www.applecorehotels.com), which offer WiFi access, free breakfast, and midtown locations.

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