Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Things You’ll Need:
Step1
Mind your debt. Some high school kids literally sign their lives away for their dream car. Then they have to work every spare minute to cover large loan payments, insurance, and gas, leaving little money or time for college. No one cares what kind of car you drive to classes so buy a beater. If you’re already in debt, put all your effort into reducing, and if possible, completely eliminating it. Ask for more work hours, pick up an extra job, or sell some of your stuff to pay off debt quickly. Then you can use your wages for tuition, books, and living expenses.
Step2
Choose colleges wisely. Pick an in-state school over out-of-state. Go for a public school instead of a private one. You can even get your core at a two-year college and transfer to a four-year college to finish your degree. There’s a college out there to fit everyone’s budget.
Step3
Approach financial aid and scholarship applications like a job. Be thorough and leave no stone unturned. You may know for a fact that you don’t qualify for a Pell Grant, but you’ve got to apply and be turned down before you can be eligible as a student worker.
Step4
Live cheaply = live at home. It may not be cool, but living at home during college is better than living at home *after* college when you can’t afford your own place because of large student loan payments.
Step5
Find an employer who will pay for your college classes. Most of these employers require full time employment, and while it is certainly challenging to both work and attend college classes, I know dozens of co-workers who have managed it. And every one of these determined individuals have gone far in their careers.
Step6
If you can find no other way to attend college than by student loan, pick a field in which student loans may be forgiven. For example, teachers who teach certain subjects or at qualifying schools may have their student loans forgiven.
Authority 
Comments
WandaB said
on 6/9/2008 I wish someone had given me this advice when I was going to school!!! On behalf of those still in time to benefit from it - Thanks!
jackknive said
on 6/8/2008 My school newspaper advertises that you should sell up to three times a week, and you can get $60! I'm sorry I think it's sad. And even when tuition isn't that much, they make up for it in fees. Find a school thats $10,000 or $15,000? Less? Great! Wait till you see the fees. It ads up to more than tuition. Oh and they are mandatory for you to be a student there.
jackknive said
on 6/8/2008 I am going to medical school in the fall. It's a state school, of a state that I am a resident of. Plus I did two years at community college. There is no financial aid if you are white. It's all a lie. Schools have told me I would have gotten a free ride if only I was a minority. I can't earn any money or I lose the little financial aid I do have. I applied to one of the best schools in the country, was accepted, and they told me they don't want poor students and were completely unwilling to work with me. I don't have debt, I can't because I don't have the rich family to pay or to get a loan. My financial aid suggested I sell a kidney to make tuition last spring. I'm sorry, I am just being realistic. If you are minority you can get help. If you aren't, good luck. I hope your parents can pay for it or they have the perfect credit and high income level needed to get a loan. I
AbbyNormal said
on 5/1/2008 This is a really good article. My daughter intends to spend first year at home to save costs. But she will get ALL scholarships for her tuition. I went to college and my parents didn't pay. I worked, got scholarships, grants, and minimal loans.
wigfallstewart said
on 4/24/2008 i paid about $40K per year for University, 20 some odd years ago. But my parents had the money to pay for an Ivy League education. I dont know why parents without the income would promise to send their kids to these high priced schools when their budgets are more State Universities and colleges? I study tuitions across the boards all the time, and many many colleges dont have the $40k a year price tag, so why are people paying this or only asking about such a hefty price tag?
This sounds like the whole mortgage/housing debacle. People want a Champange life on a budweiser budget. What is wrong with all 80% of the colleges that dont cost this? Most professionals are not Ivy League grds, so why is everyone trying to get into the few schools that cost the most?
Look at your state Universities, which most states are the best educations in teh world. From University of Texas, to Un