My husband and I met in college. We got married a few months after I graduated and he still had a few classes left. We managed to walk away with two bachelor’s degrees and no debt. We paid our own way and didn’t have full-ride scholarships. It wasn’t easy, but we did it.
With the cost of a college education rising, you’ll want to make a plan early for how you are going to pay (or help pay) for your children’s education, or your own. Looking at the numbers is overwhelming to say the least. Squirreling away the complete cost of a college education might not be possible, but don’t let that stop you from doing something!
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. While it would be nice to count on a full-ride scholarship, the fact is that most people don’t get one. Diversifying your plan to afford college is the most practical way to make it happen.
Here are six practical ideas to help you prepare for the cost of college.
Choose an affordable school
The cost of tuition won’t be the only factor you’ll take into when choosing a college or university, but it should definitely be near the top. The range of tuition costs is enormous! In most cases, private universities are going to cost much more than state schools. When you compare costs of different schools, look at the big picture, not just the cost of tuition. Be sure to take into consideration the cost of living.
Don’t discount the option of attending a community college, especially if you are unsure of your major. You can get your general education classes for a fraction of the price that you would pay at a larger university.
For my husband and I, going to an affordable school is one of the main reasons we don’t have to deal with student loans from our undergraduate degrees.
Earn scholarships
Encourage your kids to work hard in high school to increase their chances of getting scholarships. Seek out scholarship opportunities. Don’t wait for them to come to you. Apply for local scholarships, as well as national scholarships and scholarships sponsored by the school.
Start applying for scholarships early. Don’t wait until the last minute. When the deadlines get close it’s easy to toss the application aside, saying, “Well I probably wouldn’t have gotten it anyway.”
Don’t quit applying for scholarships after your freshman year. While I only had some small local scholarships when I started out, after doing well my freshman year, I received a scholarship that covered half of my tuition for all of my subsequent years.
Work full-time during the summer
Summers aren’t just for fun in the sun. During the summer, take a break from school and work your tail off! Consider getting more than one job if you can. If you can hack sales, then selling pest control or security systems is a lucrative summer job. If sales isn’t your thing, (I totally understand, it’s not mine either), find something else that pays well, even if it isn’t pretty. You can do anything for a couple of months, right?
If you’re living away from home, you can save even more money by heading home and living with your parents for the summer while you save all your pennies. Not paying rent or food while I lived at home during my undergrad summers allowed me to save much more than if I had stayed in a college town. It definitely wasn’t as fun as having roommates, but a growing bank account made the lack of social life well worth it (again, it’s only a couple of months).
Work during the school year
When I started college I was a little intimidated by the idea of working and going to school since I had never juggled school and work before. My first semester, I found a job on campus where I just worked eight hours on Saturdays.
Each semester I added more work to my schedule. At first I was afraid of what it would do to my grades to have blocks of time where I was working during the week. As it turned out, the more hours I worked (with twenty being the maximum), the better my grades were! I attribute it to having to manage my time better. I didn’t waste time or procrastinate school projects. I was forced to use all my time well.
Contribute to a 529 college savings account
Neither my husband nor I had a 529 plan to help in our diversified plan to pay for college. It sure would have been nice to have a tax-advantaged college savings plan in place back when we were still in diapers.
We have started 529 college savings plans through ScholarShare for each of our children, so that they will have one more asset to help them afford college. We have an automatic contribution set up each month which is so convenient. Even though we aren’t making huge contributions, we are glad that we actually started!
Live Frugally in College
Don’t underestimate the value of frugal living during college. Keeping your expenses low can really go a long way to stretch the precious dollars that you’ve saved.
Go without a car. Most college campuses are very bike friendly and can easily be navigated on foot. Public transportation can help with longer trips. My husband and I both survived just fine without a vehicle in our undergraduate days.
Pack your lunch and skip the meal plan. Buying your own groceries will not only be cheaper, you’ll never be stuck eating whatever the cafeteria is offering that day. Plus you’re more likely to avoid the “freshman 15” if you’re making your own meals versus the all-you-can-eat meal plan.
These are just a few of the frugal habits that save me money during college. For a more thorough list of how to save money when you’re in college, check out these great frugal living tips for college students.
While saving up the entire cost of college before setting foot on campus might seem impossible, there are lots of useful strategies that, when used together, can prevent you from having to take out loans for college or at least keep them at a minimum. As we worked to pay off six figures of student loan debt from law school, I can tell you that it’s well-worth the time and effort to do whatever you can to prevent the debt situation rather than deal with it after the fact!
How about you?
- What did you do to to make college affordable?
- What other ideas do you have to keep the cost of college down?
FASFSA is important to fill out if students are planning to work on campus too. This is different than it was in my day. No matter what the income all students should fill one out!
All 3 of our kids took AP classes and were able to graduate a little early. Ds#1 had several AP classes and went to community college and was able to transfer to a highly rated state school. He did Door Dash and uber eats on weekends and it was very lucrative for him.
Unfortunately, dh had a stroke right before he started so FAFSA really kicked in at a time we needed it most. I realize this is a rare thing, but no matter your situation, fill it out. You never know. Fortunately, both of the younger ones graduated with less than 15K in student loans and I personally consider that a huge win.
Thanks for sharing Jennifer! AP classes are a great way to get some college credits while still in high school. That’s great that all of your kids took advantage of that. Good advice on filling out the FAFSA! That can be a big help. I’m glad it helped you guys out! Way to go– $15K in student loans is less than half of the average students have these days!
FASFSA is important to fill out if students are planning to work on campus too. This is different than it was in my day. No matter what the income all students should fill one out!
Love this post! I did many of these things in college to save money. Great tips 🙂
Kudos to you and your husband! I didn’t have the maturity to choose a school for the cost at 18. I was going to the best school I could possibly get into. I had a friend who turned down an Ivy league school for a cheaper school and I never understood that at 18. Totally “get it” now!
Your perspective definitely changes when you mature. For us, it was nice that BYU is ranked well and affordable.
Great tips! I only know one millennial who graduated from college 100% debt-free (aside from some people who have wealthy parents who paid for the entire cost). She started at a community college and was able to take all of her classes there for free because her dad is a professor at the college. (He gets a certain number of free credits every semester that he or his family members can use). She completed her two year degree in HR. She then worked full-time as an HR Assistant for a while and saved enough money to pay for her bachelor’s degree.
I would highly recommend this strategy to most millennials (unless they’re in a field that requires a 4 year degree or an advanced degree). Many entry-level jobs don’t pay well, and if you’ve only had to pay for a two year degree (instead of a four year degree), you’ll have less debt. You can then work for a while, save money, and go back for your bachelor’s later. Once you finish your bachelor’s, you’ll already have some work experience, which will help you land a better job.
It’s funny – I didn’t have debt from my undergraduate degree either. I was extremely frugal, worked during summers and the school year, didn’t own a car. But my parents had always told me it’s smart to go to the best possible school you can get into for your “terminal degree,” regardless of student loans. I took that advice for law school and the rest is history, unfortunately. If only I could turn back the hands of time…
I totally hear you! The tuition difference (which we now call debt) is pretty incredible!
Yes– my husband and I did these things as well, and, like you, both earned our undergraduate degrees with no student loan debt!
Pell grants were helpful as well — it’s important to fill out the FAFSA early in the year if you think you might qualify for financial aid.
I definitely advocate living frugally and working both during the school year and especially during the summer, too. I even think it is prudent in many cases to consider taking a semester off if you cannot afford tuition. It sure beats acquiring the staggering debt many of my classmates took on!
That’s a great suggestion that I didn’t mention. My husband took a semester off to go home and work during his third year I believe. There’s nothing wrong with slowing down a little to prevent debt. And yes–Pell grants are great too!
Although we have debt from graduate school, I know that choosing a school with a much lower tuition allowed us to not incur as much debt as we would have at a private school. It also helped to attend a school that was located in a low-cost-of-living area to begin with.
One thing we’ve seen some people do is to encourage their kids to take high school classes that count for college credit. In some states, like Washington, I believe that you can even attend a community college for free in high school and receive college credit if you are in 11th or 12th grade (http://www.sbctc.edu/college/s_runningstart.aspx).
Yes! My husband took some college classes while he was in high school too!