Now let’s imagine for a minute that you have your eyes set for this big time degree from this big time university. You have already moved into your new dorm, and you just started making those lifelong friendships. Everything is going smooth until you get a notice that the $12,000 balance on your student account needs to be paid by Monday.
You scramble to the financial aid office, and you pass these people in a black suits who say they will pay that $12,000 balance for you. They even sweetened the deal by saying you won’t have to pay them back until after you graduate. Sounds like a great deal right? So you grab the pen and sign.
No, they unfortunately weren’t your sugar daddy/momma. They were people from the loan office. And they convinced you to join a cycle that many Americans are in nowadays.
This blog is going to show you steps you can take to avoid having to get student loans. And in the end I’m going to reveal how I was able to graduate without any student loans.
If you would rather watch the video instead of reading the rest of this blog click here
FAFSA
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA is an application that the government makes you fill out in order for them to see how much they think you should pay towards your school.
In other words they want to see how much money you and your parents/guardians have before they give you some assistance with paying for school.
I would fill out the FAFSA first. Not only because it’s the first thing on the list, but in order to apply to other grants/scholarships you must have the FAFSA completed. I’ve filled out this application every year, and the only thing that it has given me was a $5,000 loan.
Scholarships
This is where the majority of people focus their time. Scholarships are usually the only thing you hear anyone outside of school talk about. So I am going to give you some types of scholarships that are out there. And give you the inside scoop on how to rack up on them.
The first type of scholarship is a merit based scholarship. This one is simple, if you have a high enough GPA, and a great score on the ACT or SAT. The university that you attend will give you a scholarship amount based on those qualifications. Merit = Academic. (Merit based scholarships are also given for athletic, and artistic abilities fyi)
There are numerous scholarships out there for the taking. All you have to do is know where to look. Searching online is going to be your best bet as it will give you access to those various scholarships.
Just look up anything, left handed scholarships, high school organizational scholarships, there are even scholarships for attending the university in the same city as your high school. You just have to look for them.
When I was a senior in high school I applied for 100’s of scholarships. My school counselor had a booklet in her office that had scholarships for seniors that were offered just in my city. So I applied to every scholarship that I was eligible for.
The last tip of advice for scholarships is this. Every scholarship is going to want to see why you should receive this money over the next person. In doing so they are going to ask you to write an essay. In order to avoid writing a new essay each time. I would write a generic mock essay, and when you apply to a scholarship, trim that essay to better fit what they are looking for.
Grants
This one is a little less talked about around the community. Grants are basically scholarships. As long as you follow the rules and regulations of the grant you will not have to pay the money back.
A Lot of times when I thought of grants I was always thinking about the 40 or 50 year old’s who were deciding to go back to school. But there are grants out there specifically for younger people.
Most younger people who are eligible for grants get the Pell Grant. This grant is only for students who are in financial need. Another big grant out there is the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG). FSEOG is for students who have exceptional financial needs.
There are also grants for military personnel who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. And the Teacher and Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grant is for those who want to teach once they get out of college. My advice, search up grants that you qualify for. You never know, it might surprise you.
Join the Armed Forces
This one is pretty simple. You can sell your body in order to pay for school. That is right you can join certain branches of the military in order to help pay for school. Most of the time you can walk right up to the recruiter office and tell them you want to go to college and you want them to pay for it. They will be more than happy to take you.
The air force, navy, army, marines, and national guard will give you the opportunity to earn up to $120,000 back for the repayment of federal loans that you have taken out. And they will pay upfront if you join them first before enrolling in school.
I had plenty of classmates who were in the national guard while in school. And the guard paid for their education. The only thing they had to do was go to drill a few weekends here and there. So if you were already considering joining the military why not make that extra push and get your school paid for as well.
Get a Job
Yes, I know. If you look up most sites that try to give you advice on paying for school. They will all say that you need to get a job in the first 3 sentences.
Even though getting a job is low on the list. It should still be considered. These jobs can be on or off campus, and they can come with a lot of perks besides helping you pay for school.
If you fill out the FAFSA you may qualify for work study jobs. Work study means you get first dibs on the preferred part time jobs on campus. Some of these on campus jobs include
- Working at the Bookstore
- Working in the Café
- Being a Teacher’s Assistant
- Being a Resident Assistant (Highly Recommend)
- Working in the Housing department
- Working with Research in your field
- Working in the Library
- Being a Tutor
- Working at Rec
Being a resident assistant or RA is something that I recommend because it pays for a lot. Most institutions will award you with half if not all of your room and board paid for. (Housing and Food).
Off campus jobs are really just any part time jobs you can find. I would say tread lightly with this because you want to make sure that the job doesn’t distract you too much from your school work.
Miscellaneous Things You Can Do
I have more tips that can help you with the cost of your degree, but they are all over the place. That’s why I created this section here, so I can throw them all at you at the same time. 🙂
After you graduate and get that dream job, I would check with your employer because sometimes they will offer tuition reimbursement for the loans needed to get your degree. And if they offer that, they will also probably give you some type of credit to continue your schooling to get post baccalaureate degrees.
Other than the TEACH grant. There are a lot of programs out there that will pay for your student loans if you come and teach for x amount of years after you graduate. Oftentimes you have to teach like 5 years at a local school before they pay for the loans. This may be the best thing for people who have a lot of debt to pay off, and not sure how to do it.
You can opt into a 5 year masters program with your degree. While this is not necessarily paying for your school. You will get two degrees for the price of one. This will work in your favor if the profession you want requires a masters degree in order to start making real money.
Rob’s Opinion
This part of school can be the most stressful part if you don’t have a plan. Hopefully you will be able to grab something from this blog to give you an idea on how to pay for your time in school.
For me I applied to tons of scholarships in high school. Enough scholarships that it could have paid for my entire first semester of school alone. I then started working an “on” campus job at the annual giving office.
Sophomore year I became a RA and remained one until I graduated. This position paid for Room and Board, which worked out to be half of my overall cost of school. On top of that I also became an Ambassador which paid a little money each semester.
Junior year I received an extra scholarship from the African American Faculty Foundation at my school. This along with the normal merit based scholarship I received helped pay for my school that year. I also Co-oped during the summers. This helped me gain valuable experience working in my field, while making money.
Senior year I was able to pay for my school with all of the things listed above. The gaps that I had financially in school were filled by my parents who helped pay when needed.
I want to be transparent about my experiences because I want you to know that there is more than one way to pay for school. But the biggest thing you have to do is take the initiative. Take that first step of applying to different scholarships and grants. And don’t be afraid that they will tell you no. Because it only takes one Yes to erase all the No’s
