TIPS FOR MAKING COLLEGE MORE AFFORDABLE

CONSIDER COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS

We have three children and anticipated that all of them would attend 4 years of college. Our plan all along has been to have them attend our community college for the first two years. 3 kids times 2 years each at the more expensive cost of a 4-year college was just too much for us to save. We plan to do everything we can to avoid our children going into debt for school. At least we would like them to go into the least amount of debt possible. So, as soon as they were old enough to start talking about college, we shared these plans with them. When you get a college degree, your employer does not care where you attended the first two years of college. So, why not save all of that money?

BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT WILL TRANSFER

If you do decide to go to a community college or less expensive school for the first two years make sure to pay attention to what classes will transfer to your new school. You don’t want to have to take additional courses because the ones you took at your first school won’t transfer. In NJ, where I live, there is a website called njtransfer.org that helps students pick class equivalents to meet the requirements of the college they plan to transfer to. It works really well and gives you the actual course numbers so that you can be sure to pick the correct one. I would imagine that most states have something similar. If you are unsure check with the college on how to plan your courses to make sure you get the most transfer credit.

LOOK INTO PROGRAMS WITH OTHER COLLEGES THROUGH THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Our community college has a program with one of our 4-year state schools where you can earn a degree from that state school through the community college at a much lower cost. There are limited degrees that they offer in this program. But, if it happens to be the degree that you are looking for, that could be a really great option.

APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS

So, this one is a do as I say, not as I do. Up until now, I have had one child who has attended college.  We did not apply for any scholarships. I read and heard everywhere that we should apply for as many scholarships as possible. I had reminders on my phone to work on applying for scholarships on a regular basis with my son. Every time I looked into scholarships, I felt overwhelmed. Some were so specific I thought I would be spending time applying for ones that he would likely never get. However, if I had more guidance on how to do this it would have been a great thing to do.

At the time, my son was about to start community college at a relatively low cost and I wasn’t concerned enough to put in the effort. If you are feeling this way about scholarships, I would definitely suggest talking to a school guidance counselor or the college financial aid office to get put in a good direction. If you can get some free money to assist with education, why not?

MAKE SURE TO FILL OUT THE FASFA

If you are not familiar, the FASFA is the Free Application for Student Financial Aid. The first time I had to complete this form, I was definitely intimidated. But, it really wasn’t hard to do.  You can save your progress if you need to find information like a bank statement or something like that. Your tax information can be imported right from the IRS too, so that made things easier also. The FASFA is that it is required for students to be eligible for certain grants, scholarships, and loans. So, while you may not think your child will need or qualify for any of those types of financial aid, it’s still best to complete the form just in case. It would be terrible to not qualify for a grant or scholarship, just because you didn’t fill out the form. This form needs to be completed annually.

CONSIDER USING A 529 PLAN TO SAVE FOR COLLEGE

 A 529 plan is sort of similar to a ROTH IRA, where you save money for college and are not taxed on the growth of those funds. So, if you put in $1000 and that grows to $3,000 over the course of time, you will not be taxed on the $2,000 of income that you earned as long as you use the $3,000 for education expenses. This does not have to be specifically for college.  It can be used for private schools, trade schools, etc. The one thing I can say about a 529 plan is to be really thoughtful about making sure you get the money out to pay for education.

MAKE SURE TO PRIORITIZE THE USE OF 529 FUNDS

When my son started school, rather than pull money out of the 529, I thought it would be a good idea to keep that money there for when we transferred to a more expensive school. He paid for his community college by working part-time. I let the money sit in the 529 instead of pulling the money out for the education costs he incurred. It never occurred to me that he may decide not to continue with a traditional college education. I thought for sure the money would be needed for college. He has since decided not to continue on the path I thought he would. I now have money in the 529 that he will likely not be using.

This money can be transferred to my daughters, who will hopefully use it.  Funds can be transferred to a 529 for another person to be used for education. But, if you do have to pull the funds out without using them for education costs you will be taxed and have to pay a penalty.  So, it’s important to plan as best as possible on how to use the funds. I would have been much better off pulling the funds from the 529 account as first priority as we started incurring education expenses, rather than hang on to them for later.

WORK PART TIME

I know this is not for everyone, but working part-time can be a great option while attending college. My son worked part-time while attending community college. I set up a budget with him so that he had a certain amount for personal expenses, gas, car insurance, etc.  Whatever was left after those costs went towards college. By doing this we were able to keep what we had saved for college to help him when he transferred to a more expensive school. Although, as I said, I should have pulled the funds from his 529 account when we had the expenses to show and put that money in a regular savings account. But the point was that he was basically able to cover his tuition without dipping into the college savings. We agreed that we would cover any shortfall he had each semester when tuition was due.

CONSIDER LOOKING FOR A JOB WITH TUITION ASSISTANCE

Many companies offer their employees tuition assistance. If you are not particularly committed to a certain job, it might be a good idea to look for one that will help pay for college. Typically, you do have to pay the cost of the classes upfront and then get reimbursed a portion of the cost after receiving a certain grade, usually a C or above.

TAKE LESS CLASSES

This kind of goes along with working part-time.  If you are working part-time, you may also want to consider taking a lighter class load. If you can afford to pay for 4 courses instead of 5.  Why not consider taking 4 courses? This allows you to spread out the cost over more time, allowing more time to save up additional cash. Yes, it will take you a longer amount of time to complete college. However, if you are trying to keep the cost more manageable and do not want to go into debt, this could be a good option. If staying on campus this may not be a great idea due to the cost of housing.  This suggestion is more for those commuting to college.

CONSIDER LIVING AT HOME OR OFF CAMPUS

I understand that to some it is very important for their kids to have “the college experience”. I personally commuted to college, so I don’t really know what that experience really was. But, I can tell you that I do not feel in any way like I missed out on anything. So, if this is not something particularly important for you and your family, consider living at home or at least in a less expensive off-campus location. This can save so much money.  The cost of living on campus adds a lot to the bill each semester.

CONSIDER TRADE SCHOOL

Trade school is a great low-cost option for those who are interested in training for certain careers. My son went to community college for 2 years, and it really just wasn’t for him. He’s a really smart kid, but he was just not really interested in any particular path. He had many ideas but nothing he was really excited about. One day I was browsing through the catalog for our local vocational school and showed him an apprenticeship program they had for becoming an electrician. He was immediately interested in it and started asking for more information. It was the first time I had seen him have a strong interest in a particular career path. So, just keep your options open because you never know what might be the right fit!

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic to check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

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