How to Pay for College After a Bachelor's Degree
Going to college is expensive. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the average cost of attending a four-year institute of higher learning in the United States was $20,435 in the 2008-09 academic year, meaning the total cost would be at least $81,000 to complete a four-year bachelor's degree program. Although the costs at public universities are significantly less, $50,000 is about the minimum cost to get a bachelor's degree. Most students do not have the financial resources to pay for all of the expenses of going to college, so they often end up borrowing tens of thousands of dollars that they must pay back after graduation.
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Instructions
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Get a good-paying job. While finding a job that pays reasonably well so that you can afford to make a significant monthly student loan payment can be a challenge, it is essential unless you have other sources of income. Having a college degree should help in finding a decent-paying job.
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Create a budget. Create your budget based on your salary and expenses, plus making a significant student loan payment every month. You can consider a five-, 10- or 15-year repayment schedule depending on the size of your student loans and the amount of your salary. If at all possible, try to pay more than the minimum required by your student loan provider or you will be repaying your loan for 15 years or longer in most cases.
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Make extra student loan payments as possible. If you win a few hundred dollars in the lottery or playing poker, consider making an extra payment on your loan. You can always make advance payments on student loans and the more you can do this--especially early on--the less interest you'll pay.
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Make sure to celebrate with a nice meal or a bottle of wine when you finally get your student loans paid off, as it is quite an achievement for many. Now you can begin saving for a down payment on a house or other financial goals.
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Tips & Warnings
Consider joining the Peace Corps or Americorps after graduating from college. You do not have to repay your student loans while volunteering in these programs and in some cases you can even receive some amount of forgiveness of your student loan. The Department of Education also has a loan forgiveness program for those who work in public service professions for 10 years or longer.
