College Prep: 5 Ways to Lower the Cost of College
College is expensive. We’ve all heard about the student loan crisis and the rising tuition rates. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to work around or lower expensive tuition costs. There are a lot of things to consider before turning to large amounts of student loans. Here are some things you might find helpful to consider as you prep to pay for a college education.
The cost of a college education has gone up exponentially over the past few decades, and it shows no signs of slowing down. The cost of tuition and room and board continues to increase, and many students rely on student loans to help them obtain their college degrees. Student loans are a great resource that can help students get the education they want or need to pursue their longterm career goals. However, student loans can also become a huge burden for students, as they take on tens of thousands of dollars in debt to get their education. Know that student loans are NOT always your only option.
We encourage students to explore as many ways to cut college costs as possible before turning to student loans. We’ve compiled a list of some of the major options that we think students should consider — you’ll probably be familiar with some, but others might surprise you!
How can I lower the cost of college?
Scholarships
Scholarships are free money that someone gives to you to be used toward your education. FREE MONEY. That’s amazing, so you should definitely run after any scholarship opportunities that you can find that you qualify for. Most scholarships will require filling out some kind of paperwork and many require you to write an essay, and then you’ll wait and wait and wait to hear if you’ve been awarded the scholarship(s). But a lot of the time it’s FINDING the scholarships to even apply for that is the hard part. How do you know where to look for scholarships? Here are a couple places to start:
School Scholarships
Once you know what colleges you plan to apply to, do some research on their tuition and scholarship packages. Visit the Financial Aid and Tuition pages of the colleges’ websites. Many schools will offer automatic scholarships for certain students who meet a specific test score and GPA threshold, and there are many other grants and scholarships that will vary from school to school. Make sure you know what is available at the schools you’ll apply to, and if there is a scholarship that you qualify for, make sure that you know the steps you need to take to be considered for it. Many scholarships will require a separate application from your standard college app.
Outside Scholarships
There are TONS of scholarships that people and companies offer to students going off to pursue their undergraduate degrees. Do some research to see if you can find scholarships that you qualify for. It’s possible that your local community and community businesses will have information on local scholarships that you could qualify for. Furthermore, expand your research to outside your community. If you’re involved in a specific group or have a history of working for a particular cause, it’s possible that you could find many scholarships that fit with your background. Once you find scholarships that you qualify for, most scholarship applications simply include filling out a form and writing an essay. Take your time and make sure you submit a strong application because scholarships are competitive. Every penny that you can save on your college education will pay off in the long term because that is money that you won’t have to pay anyone back, and it will therefore not be subject to interest.
Below are some great sites that might be helpful for your scholarship search. For most of these sites, you’ll be prompted to create an account and answer questions about yourself to help the site determine what scholarships you might be a match for. This is super helpful, as you’re going to find TONS of scholarships that you DON’T qualify for (many scholarships are insanely specific — one $10,000 scholarships presented to an incoming college freshman that is a female playing on the tennis team of College XYZ). These tools can help you focus your time on those scholarships you DO qualify for and avoid reading through those you don’t.
Scholarship Locator Websites
College Board Scholarship Locator
Sallie Mae Scholarship Search & College Planning
There are many other sites out there like those noted above. We’ve picked some trusted sites from established companies that are prominent in the higher education scene. No matter how you go about it, work hard trying to find scholarships that you qualify for and then work hard on your application. Any FREE money you can get to put toward your education is going to make future you SO happy.Personal loan (or gift)
The reason that student loans become such a problem for students after they graduate is mainly due to two things: high payments and accruing interest. Students who have just graduated from college may not even have a job lined up yet, and if they do, they aren’t usually starting at an enormous salary. Not only are student loans a significant amount of debt, but new graduates often aren’t equipped to handle the high payments and the rising total costs due to interest rates with their starting pay.
However, student loans are nice in that you can get your education now and pay for it later. So what if there was a way to do this and eliminate the high, demanding payments and the high interest rates? Well, for some students maybe there is. We don’t all have parents that will offer to help to pay for school or a rich grandparent that left us a college fund, but it never hurts to ask a relative or close family friend if they might loan you some money for college. Sometimes parents or family members will pay for the schooling and then allow the student to pay them back down the road when they have an established job and can afford to do so. Again, this is not always a viable option, and it might seem a little awkward to ask someone to lend you money, but you never know until you try!
Federal Aid: Grants, Loans, Work Study
All students should go through the process of filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). You’ll fill out the FAFSA every year before starting another year of college, and the government will use this application to tell you how much government aid you qualify for. Government tuition aid is delivered to students in three forms: loans, grants, and federal work study opportunities.
Loans:
Federal student loans are still money you borrow, but they generally have much kinder interest rates than private student loans and offer graduated repayment options that allow you to start repayment with smaller payments that gradually get bigger over time. Any student loan is money that you will have to pay back eventually, but federal student loans are generally an okay option for students looking to fund their education. Nevertheless, you still want to avoid taking out loans at all costs: federal and private alike.Grants:
Grants are like scholarships in that they don’t have to be repaid later, but they’re awarded based on financial need. You can receive grants through the government as part of FAFSA, or you can receive grants through your new school. There are some different types of grants that you could be eligible for, so make sure to do your research of both federal grants and grants through your specific institution. For example, Federal Pell Grants make up the majority of grant money awarded to students and are awarded based solely on financial need.Work Study:
If you qualify for it, a work study is a part-time job that you will have on campus at your college. Maybe you’ll work in the cafeteria plating food, in the Humanities department making copies and helping professors prep for classes, in the fitness center cleaning equipment and gym mats, or something similar. Regardless of what specific job you’re assigned (the college will generally decide this for you, but they may ask you to list your preferences), the pay for the job will be directly applied to your tuition costs rather than put into your hand. So it’s basically a job that it seems like you complete for free, but it’s actually deducting from your total student loan cost. For example, you might be awarded $2,000 a year in work study pay, so throughout the year you need to make sure to work enough hours to add up to $2,000 total compensation. You can’t go over the amount allotted, and if you end up not working enough hours and you make under the total $2,000 amount, you’ll then have to pay the remaining amount back to the college later.Get a Job
Many students will overlook this option when figuring out how they’re going to pay for their schooling. It’s true that most students won’t have access to a high-paying part-time job during college, but every little bit counts. Depending on the type of school you decide to go to and the amount of federal aid you qualify for, some students may find it possible to work a lot during the summers and pay for some or all of their tuition each year and avoid a lot of student loan debt. If you’re looking at much more expensive tuition bills, remember that you CAN make payments toward your student loans WHILE you are in school. Most students will wait until they are REQUIRED to make payments after graduation and a grace period, but it can be incredibly beneficial to actually throw some money at your debts BEFORE you graduate and avoid a lot of accrued interest.
A lot of college students think they won’t be able to balance study and a part-time job, but we encourage students to make that happen. The key is that you prioritize what you want to spend your money on. This is a tough one - pizza and parties and clothes are all important during college, but even if you can throw a tiny piece of your income toward your tuition costs, you’ll see exponential savings by reducing the total principal balance that will have interest tacked onto it. Not only will taking on a part-time job help you potentially chip away at your college costs in advance, but you’ll also be building a resume and job experience, which is incredibly valuable.
Think Ahead
A pretty straightforward way to make college cheaper is by going to a cheaper school. There are a lot of fancy, expensive private colleges out there, and sometimes it’s the right choice to attend one of these schools, but sometimes it just leads to piles of debt. There are many degrees that you can get from a 2-year school, or you can typically attend community college to complete your generals and then transfer to a 4-year college later to complete your specialized degree. Weigh these options before signing on for 4 years at an expensive school.
You may wonder if “downgrading” to a less prestigious college will affect your future, and the answer is probably not. Employers will rarely examine the quality of your school in close depth. They’re more concerned about whether you have actually completed a college degree and in what field. However, some prestigious companies may very well prefer to hire alumni from prestigious schools. If you are looking this far ahead, consider where you want to be after graduation. Do you want to be a high-level executive for a major law firm or financial institution, or are you thinking maybe you’ll be a teacher or a nurse? If you have an idea of what type of career you want to have some day, consider these factors when selecting your school and choose a school that specializes in that area but that also allows you to set yourself up for success while borrowing less money.
College is expensive to the point where many students will still rely somewhat on student loans to help them to get through school. However, the less money you have to borrow for your education, the less money you have to repay and the less interest you’ll end up paying in the long haul. Consider at least combining some of these other potential cost-saving opportunities above with your student loans to save yourself from paying so much in tuition now and interest in the future.
Yet, if you plan to go on to obtain a secondary education after high school and know you will need to borrow some money to pay for college, do make sure you know what types of financial support and student loans are available and how they work.
No matter what you decide, the key takeaway from this post should be that you should make sure you’re informed about the financial aspect of your college education and know your plan for paying for it.