If you’re planning on going to college (or if you’re already there), you eventually have to own up to the fact that it’s going to be expensive. Too obvious? Well when I was a senior in high school, I didn’t really absorb that fact. Yes, college costs a lot of money, but it didn’t feel like it was MY money. The funds for my education were coming from somewhere, so it didn’t really matter how school was being paid for, right?
Wrong. Unfortunately, I didn’t figure out the true cost of my education until after I graduated from college. My parents handled all of my college finances (this included filling out my FAFSA , helping me decide what kind of financial aid to accept, and paying whatever balance was left over), and I just kicked back and enjoyed the “free” education. I’m not saying they did a bad job. They did a pretty good job considering what they were given to work with. However, I still ended up in a pile of debt. If I could do my college finances again, here’s what I would have done differently.
- Know the cost.
There is no shame in being uneducated about finances, as long as you don’t stay that way. I wish I had sat down with my parents my senior year, figured out an estimate of what we’d be paying for college, and discussed what they could reasonably afford. If I had known what the cost was and how I could help, it would have made life a lot easier. - Help out.
I had the same work-study job all through college. It didn’t pay much, but since I didn’t have any real “bills” to contend with, I could have easily put a little toward my own education, whether it be through buying my own books, paying a portion of a monthly bill, or paying down some of the interest on my student loans. - Apply for scholarships.
I didn’t apply for many scholarships when I was in high school, and I didn’t apply for ANY when I was in college. This happened mostly because I was lazy and terrified of asking people for letters of recommendation. I did end up with a few, but applying for more would have helped a lot. - Take college seriously your freshman year (and every year, really).
I graduated from college with a pretty good GPA, but I struggled my freshman year, which resulted in me losing two of my precious scholarships. They required a 3.5 GPA, and I didn’t hit that at first. I took too many classes my first semester and hadn’t developed good study habits yet, so my grades suffered. I wish I had dropped one of my classes that first semester (looking at you, Computer Science 101) and asked for more help when I started struggling mid-semester. Keeping those two scholarships could have saved me from taking out at LEAST $3,500 of the loans that I ended up accepting. - Take out fewer student loans.
I don’t think I could have completely avoided student loans, but I could have handled them a lot better. Student loans, though very helpful, are not some kind of magical money piñata. They can be a huge pain once you have to start paying them back. I am able to make my loan payments for now, but there was a time when I couldn’t. I don’t expect to have them paid off for another nine years. If I had done everything previously mentioned, I would probably still have to make payments, but a smaller loan balance means smaller payments and extra money in my pocket each month.
Of course, these are just my experiences and mistakes with college finances. I encourage you to ask yourself how you can be more proactive in paying for your schooling. Is it a matter of applying for a few more scholarships, or just educating yourself a bit more on your existing financial aid options? Are there any other ways that you can reduce the cost of college and also keep your debt to a minimum?