How To Pay For College Without Going Broke
Are you one of many people out there in the world trying to figure out how to pay for college without going broke? It’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it’s very admirable that you are searching for answers because it shows that you you are being active in taking financial control for your future while getting an education. Here are a few things you can do.
University vs Community College
Have you ever watched that weird movie with Will Farrell and Luke Wilson called Old School? They are old people running around to join a fraternity, which looks super fun, but then you realize that you’re being an idiot and you shuold be going to school for an education rather than for fun? Many people choose college based on what they see on tv, or they are told to go to the biggest colleges in their state. That is not the best way to choose a college, expecially if you do not want t ogo broke after attending.
There are so many different institutions to choose from when it comes to picking the perfect place for your educational endeavors. When it comes where to further your education, there are many factors that come into play. How much is the tution? What facilities and technology are included for my access that is a necessary desire for me? What fields of study is needed in order to attend? These are the questions that matter so that you can begin to create your goals, and figure out how to go to college without going broke. You have to know how much it is going to cost you.
I know I spoke about the movie Old School previously, but the basis of that movie is not what you should pick your college on. The real question is how can I get the best education, thebest opportunity, without the super expensive price tag. There is no reason why some under age of 21 and 22 should be racking up thousands upon thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars before they graduate to get their first real job. If there was a way to do this, would you?
Community College
Growing up, there has always been the talk of going to the best universities. I then ended up taking another route of going to community college after realizing paying $16,000 per semester at a private college was not going to fair out well, and that was including scholarships. I was able to transfer to a community college for a fourth of the price, I was able to learn more and get better hands on experience within my field, and graduated on time. Most people typically do not get all of that with a university. But for some reason, community colleges are frowned upon. I believe this is a misunderstood topic.
Often times, community college allow you to learn more of the skills of the trade or field you desire to learn without the necessity of doing a ton of liberal arts electives. Universities are more focused on making you a well-rounded individaul as opposed to community college focusing on giving more of a shortcut to the path of getting your degree. This is huge because the least amount of time that you spend in college, the less money you have to spend. The downside to this is that you graduate with an associate degree instead of a bacholor’s degree.
In my experience, I’ve also noticed that community colleges have more of an exphasis on attaining certifications within a trade. This matters because depending on your job, certifications are needed in order to get the desired job in the workforce. Even if you have a bachelor’s degree, you may not get the job without a certification. If you’re able to work towards getting certifications early, in theory, you’re able to get your dream job a lot faster, perhaps even before you get your associate’s degree in community college.
Universities
4-year universities are great. The goal of this section of the blog post is not to bash universities. I’ve gone to 2 universities in my college career. The experience was nearly the same. Some was my fault, but others was due to the culture of a educational learning in a university.
I had a lot of fun going to school at these universities. I met a ton of people, I played sports, and learned a lot, but I didn’t make a ton of progress towards my computer expertise. I got a better overall experience as a student who was beginning to learn more about myself and explore more about the world. I also had a weird experience where I took all of the wrong classes for my degree because my I had the wrong advisor. I was going to school for computer engineering and somehow my advisor was in civil engineering. I was taking a biology class and I had no idea why I was in there because it had nothing to do with computers. This type of thing happens quite a bit in universities.
OFten times, you have a ton of kids going to a university without any work of life experience. They are fresh out of high school, looking to have a little fun at college dormotories, and there are a few serious students who know exactly what they want to do. This may be the case with many students in community college, but I would like to challenge the notion in that there is a higher ratio of more “serious” students in community college. They don’t have the time or money to waste. The students may have jobs, kids, or something else going on and time is precious. So they need to spend the least amount of time to get the same type of education.
However, if you are able to stick through the 4 years or more in universities, often times, your bachelor degree will have a bigger weight than an associates degree. Imagine two people applying for the same job and with the same qualifications, but one resume says UCLA and the other says Middle Georgia Community College. Often times, the person from UCLA may be given more attention, eventhough the person from Middle Georgia Community College may have spent the same amount of time on the filed of expertise in college as the other person.
Universities are typically a lof more expensive than community college becuase they have a lot more resources and facilities. They may have olympic sized swiming pools, indoor basketball courts, professional ski jumps, or a phenomenal library. A community college may not have a swimming pool but they may have a basketball court. That basketball court may not be as good as the university’s. They may not have a great library, but they may have quality teachers and professors that have been teaching in the same classrooms for the previous 10 years. For reasons like this, community colleges are often much cheaper, but you have to understand what you’re looking for to know what you’re willing to pay for.
Trying To Experience And Get Ahead
When I was still in high school, my brother went to college for nursing. I remember my parents buying his books and it came to $700+! My eyes almost fell out of my head seeing that huge number! He had a ton of books, and then later got a chance to work in a hospital. My brother hated it. So he chose sports therapy afterward. $700+ down the drain. For someone who is financially consious, that is a ton of money to spend and to not be applied to your future.
Sure, I understand that you really do not know what you want to do until you try it, but there are a few things you can do to get a headstart and minimize on the chance of losing money. For example, while you’re in high school, or while you’re in bewtween jobs and looking for another one, do some research online and see if there are any local places giving a paid internship. Paid internships are a little difficult to come by, so you may have to find a place to do volunteer work. The arguement with that, is that everyone doesn’t have the ability to work for free, but my rebuttal is that you can do volunteer work for a few hours at night.
THe main idea here is to get experience in something before spending your money in college for something that you will later be disinterested in. Even if you start in a majob that you do not like, you will at least have eliminated the things that you do not like. For most, college is a place of exploration. Our purpose here is to eliminate the exploration and hit more of a bullseye.
Another thing you can do is take online courses on a subject matter to see if you like it or not. E-learning ihas blown up over the past recent years. You can go to websites such as Udemy and pay as little as $9 and take a video course on something that a college will have you pay thousands for, and you can take it on your own time. Perhaps, you can learn about a subject matter, and then test out of the class so you don’t have to take it while taking your college major. More on that next…
I’m giving you all types of nuggets here. I hope you’re picking up what I’m putting down 🙂 Previously, I mentioned testing out of classes that you would have to take in college. This is a HUGE hidden secret. Colleges do not make it known of the ways to circumvent taking certain classes that are on the track of your major. You could have had a job that invloved learning calc 3, or maybe you were an accountant to a small firm that your parents owned.
You are able to approach your college and show proof of your experience and be exempt from certain classes that may be in your major. Also, if you think you have va grasp on a subject, you can take a standardized test or final exam from the class that you want to be exempt for, and if you pass it, you will not have to take that class. The more classes you can get credit for in your educational track, the more money you will save. This could equal to thousands of dollars being saved, thus helping you pay for college without going broke.
Scholarships
You do not have to play sports in order to get a scholarship for your collegiant studies. There are many other ways that you can attain scholarsrships so that you can pay for college without going broke. The truth is that there are a ton of people, foundations, and collegiant programs looking to literally give away scholarships to students who can qualify.
I recently spoke to a young 19 year old, balck, woman. She was going to a local commuinty college and she neeed extra money for her studies. I asked her about checking the HR departments to see if there are any departments that give away scholarships. She asked what scholarships does she qualify for? I stood in amazement because the answer was a little obvious to me. I mentnioed that she goes to a predominantly white college, and they may pay her tuition just for being black. Why would they does this? Colleges need more diversity and this is one of the best ways to do it.
She had no idea that colleges do this, and she said she was going to check when she had a chance. By the way, in case you didn’t know, I also happen to be a black man. Hence the name of the blog 401k Minority Millionaire. In my college years, I scratch and clawed to find this information, so I feel like it is my job to sound the alarm on what I know.
However, despite me playing the race card here, you do not have to be black (or African American…however you want to label it) in order to find good scholarships. There are many other sponosored programs out there that are providing tons of scholarships for those that qualify. There are academic scholarships, financial hardship scholarships, scholarships for furthering your studies in a particular field, essay scholarships, and much more.
Free money is the best money, and scholarships bring that option. I’m sure that once you begin the search and get a little creative, you will find all types of scholarships out there. Apply, apply, and apply some more. I’m sure you will be granted some funds if you stay consistent.
Finding Work Study
I went to a number of college in what I consider my “professional college student” career. I went to so many colleges that I became a professional at it! During this time, I fell upon something called work study. This is when you are either awarded a certain amount of money to earn from your college, or you qualify for a program so that you can earn money…like a real job. The only exception is that it typically has to do wit hsomething within the school.
Picture this. You’re a computer major. There is a computer lab that you use on the regular. There is a helpdesk assistant in an office that helps users reset their passwords, fix printer errors, and many other things to keep the students happy. That person may get paid a measly$12/hr, but for a student without any work experience, thats good money!
Now imagine that person graduated and the technology deptartmnet needs a new person. TADAHHHH…that new person is you. And the way they pay you is through their work study program. I’ve had simliar scenarios like this, happen to me on numerous occassions and I was so happy to do it. I get paid to do something that I can do in my sleep (without thinking), I can do my homework, and I’m gaining more experience to put on my resume! Oh I fogto one more thing…I’m getting paid!!!
LEsson of the story, find all avenues of getting paid by way of the vehicle of work study. PErhaps you can pay for your tution before you even graduate with this method! It beats going broke in order to go to college…that’s for sure.
Minimize Your Expenses The Best You Can (My Kryptonite)
In the previous ways mentinoed of how to go to college without going broke, I gave you a ton of cool tips. Some you may have thought of, some you may not. This one is probably the most practical, but yet the most powerful. So before you give me an eyeroll, I ask that you give me a second to explain my kryptonite.
I can make money like no one’s business. My mom calls me a distributor. Money always comes in, I connect people and resources, and money is always transacted through my hands. I don’t believe I will ever be completely broke. It’s my gift. But let me make a ton of money, and then pay off any debts that I have right away so I can build my profits…not happenin’ lol.
It’s been my achilles heel. It’s been my sore thumb. It’s been my kryptonite. This subject speaks home for me. The reason many of us are so broke in the first place is because we have too many expenses. I challenge you to see where the money is leaking from in your budget (if you have a budget), and see where the extra money is going. You may say that you don’t have any extra money. I bet that you do 😉
In a book that I am reading called “Automatic Millionaire”, he talks about this same scenario, while using something the author calls “a latte a day”. If you got to Starbucks, you’re going to EASILY spend $3.50-$5. For many, this is routine. You may do this without thinking before going to work, dropping the kids off to daycare, or even going to school in the morning.
Regardless, you may be broke, but you will somehow find that $3.50-$5 to spend everyday. So what does this equal each month? LEt’s do the math. LEt’s say 5 times a week rather than 7 times a week. At $5, that is $25 in a week.
“That’s not killing my pockets.” You may say.
LEts take it a step further. You do this for the month. This equals $100. An extra $100 a month, down the drain! Where is this extra money coming from if we’re broke? This isn’t including that nice, warm, cream cheese pastry that calls my name every single morning that costs an extra $4 bucks.
Let’s take it one more step. How much are we spending a year in this case? A whopping $1200! $1200!!!
LAdies and gentlemen, this is a very conservative number. $1200 can do a lot to further your education in collegiant studies to better your future. If you’re really tight on the cash, let’s get serious with ourselves. Numbers like this can be seen in uncessary spending for things such as cable, internet, Netflix and Hulu accounts, gym mermberships, software memberships, and so much more. All of these things can be put on hold so you can improve your future through education.
Run a spending audit on yourself, find the leaks, and reduce on expenses. You will be amazed at what you can cut in order to achieve your goals. You can easily cut costs, and put some of the temporary pleasures on hold, gain something that will benefit you for the rest of your life. But it starts today. I don’t know about you, but I’m trying to destroy my kryptonite.