Paying For College 101: How You and Your Family Can Afford The Cost of College
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a high school junior or senior, or the frantic parent of a high school junior or senior, trying to figure out how to get through four years of college without crippling student loans or selling your house.
I have good news, and I have bad news.
The Bad News – Time is Ticking
Let’s do the bad news first, I like to get that out of the way so that the good news will make me feel even better. The bad news is that time is not on your side. If you only have a year or two (or just a few months) before college starts, you won’t be able to invest your way into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Good News – You Don’t Have To Go into Debt
In the words of Branch from Trolls 2, “Calm Down.” Time may not be on your side, but it doesn’t mean you have to go into debt to afford college for yourself or your child. There are actionable ways to avoid tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars of student debt so don’t panic.
How Can You Afford The Cost of College?
Let’s face it, college is expensive and it’s going to continue to get more expensive. If you have made the decision to go to college, you owe it to yourself to take the decision seriously and use the time to set yourself up for the future.
By the way, if you’re still deciding on whether you want to go to college or not, read this article on 10 High Paying Jobs That Don’t Require a College Degree. If any of these jobs or career paths pique your interest, you may want to re-think going to college. Take as much time as you need to decide, because this decision could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars…….
Okay, so none of those jobs interest you and you’re deciding to go to college. Keep reading and I’ll help you learn how to pay for college.
Paying For College 101 Tip #1: Make Applying To Scholarships Your Full-Time Job
How To Do It: If you’re like I was as a Junior or Senior in high school, you’re probably thinking you can only get a scholarship if you’re really good at sports, or if you’re first in your class. That thinking, my friend, is wrong.
There are almost as many scholarships for college as there are colleges. That may be slightly exaggerated but there is a TON of scholarships out there. You’re probably saying “Joe, applying for scholarships takes too much time and I have much better things to do.”
I get it, it is extremely time consuming to apply for some scholarships. Others though, only take a few minutes. Regardless of the length of time it takes, think about it this way. If it takes you one hour to apply for $5000, and you wind up getting it, you paid yourself $5000 for that hour. If you can find a job that pays you as a high schooler $5000 for an hour, by all means go and do that, but I’m going to bet those are probably hard to come by.
Obviously, just because you apply for a scholarship doesn’t mean you’re going to get it, but if you don’t play the game, you can’t win the game. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. I think Michael Jordan said that but for you kids out there you can pretend Lebron said that. The point being, the more you apply, the more chances you have to get money.
It can definitely be overwhelming to figure out what you are qualified for and what you aren’t, but all it takes is some patience and dedication, and you’ll be on your way.
Resources:
If you’re too overwhelmed to even search Google to find out how to get started, read this article from The College Investor and you’ll be on your way to applying to scholarships in no time.
Remember, time is money.
Paying For College 101 Tip #2: Pick A College You Can Afford
How To Do It: This is actually the easiest way to pay for college, yet very few people do it. Believe it or not, you are not obligated to take out a student loan to go to college. I’ll say that once again, YOU DON’T HAVE TO TAKE OUT A STUDENT LOAN TO GO TO COLLEGE.
I’m going to tell you something that colleges and the government don’t want you to hear.
Colleges and the government WANT you to take out loans. Shocking right? Why in the world would they want that? Of course, it’s because of the insane interest payments you’ll have to pay for years and years and years….and years.
It’s sad to see, but there are actually people out there collecting social security checks and STILL paying off college loans. If that’s not insanity I don’t know what is.
The main point here is to go to a college you can actually afford. If you aren’t great with money and don’t quite know what type of college you can afford, that’s okay too, seek out someone who can guide you in making financial decisions.
Make sure you fully understand how much money you’ll be able to receive in scholarships from both the school and external sources before you commit to any college. Look at the price of living off campus vs. living on campus, in state vs. out of state and overall living expenses. Every little dollar helps to crunch the numbers before you go or else the numbers will be crunching you.
Paying For College 101 Tip #3: Work, Work, Work, Work, Work
How To Do It: Work.
But seriously, if you are paying for college yourself, and aren’t a millionaire, you should have some sort of a job. Now, I know that you have a busy class schedule and being successful in college should be your first priority. That being said, once you get the hang of your classes and schedule, if you have free time (which you should) you can dedicate some of that time to working.
I spent an insane amount of time during my sophomore year of college playing Guitar Hero (a video game that was extremely popular for a year or two then disappeared), watching television and hanging out with friends, and I STILL had time to work.
Ideally, let’s try to stay away from the minimum wage jobs. I know these are easier to get but making minimum wage (while better than nothing) is a tough way to try and pay for college along with the rest of your expenses.
In the old days when I was in college, it was tough to find an off-campus job since I wasn’t allowed to have a car on campus. Now with legitimate ways to make money online, whether you have a car or not on campus is irrelevant.
It may be tempting to push off getting a job and enjoy your newfound freedom as a college student, but believe it or not, college is not a vacation (even if you’re at school in Florida or California) so work as much as you can to put yourself in a good financial position coming out of college.
Paying For College 101 Tip #4: Start at A Community College
How To Do It: Community colleges get an bad rap sometimes. Sure, they aren’t as prestigious as Yale or Harvard, but they can help get you to where you want to be.
If you know you want to go to college but are not 100% sure what path you want to take in college, spending two years at a Community College is a good way to get your feet under you. Sure, it might not sound as cool when you tell your friends, but you know what is cool, having more money in your pocket than your friends aimlessly going to a college because of the name.
Make sure you understand how the credits can transfer to another school, but most of the time after your two years are up, you can transfer to a larger school and wind up getting your degree only having to spend two years at the university you choose.
Paying For College 101 Bonus Tip For Parents: Start Saving ASAP
How To Do It: This one is a bonus tip for you parents out there, and it involves starting early. If you are planning to help your children pay for college, make that decision before they’re born because it’ll give you time to get your finances in order.
529 Plans and 403B plans are great tools to use for investing in your child’s college education and if you can add money to it over 18 years, you’re going to be in a great position to not have to go into bankruptcy when you find out your child got accepted to a big-name school. I’m not telling you to put thousands of dollars in it per month, just throw any money in there that you can. Money compounding year over year is a good thing and you don’t need to be Warren Buffett to know that.
Talk with a financial professional to determine whether a 529 or 403B or a different plan will work best for your situation.
Treat College Like The Opportunity That It Is
It’s easy to get caught up in just assuming going to college is just another thing to check off your list and not put much thought into it. Take out a loan, party every day and in four years come out with a meaningless piece of paper and a pile of student loan debt.
My advice is not to be normal. Treat going to college like an opportunity to invest in your future. Plan, plan, plan.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by this whole process and don’t know where to turn, don’t worry, your friends at Your Career Strategy have you covered. Whether you’re a parent or a student, our Career Coaches can help you through all of the difficult aspects when it comes to college. So don’t wait, reach out today (Your Career Strategy).