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7 More Ways To Pay For College

Posted by administrator under Paying For College

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So, getting back to our normal theme of figuring out a way to pay for college, I found an article on the WalletPop blog entitled Seven Little-Known Ways to Pay for College.

There actually only 6 things and none are exactly lightning bolts from the blue, but one or two of them may be things you hadn’t thought of before.

  1. Get Federal Grants (you don’t have to pay these back)
  2. Government Programs for Single Parents
  3. Support for the Unemployed
  4. Full Scholarships for Soldiers (the GI Bill is such a better deal now than when I got it)
  5. Tax Credits
  6. Perform A Little Community (or World) Service



WLS tv in Chicago had a short story on (what else) coming up with cash to pay for college. The video can be seen above.
The story source page with copy can be found here.



Paying For College Without Debt Screenshot
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Click the screencap to go to the video (you have to sit through a 10 second ad).

If you just want to read the copy go here.

The Seattle Times carried an article on September 20th, 2009 justifying or debunking (depending on your point of view) the high cost of a college education.

FTA: “Colleges are like the cookie monster”

From the point of view of learning institutions, justifications range from the facilities, the cost of the faculty, to the new athletic facility.

There’s still nothing to explain why I had to pay $150 bucks for a book I’d never even read once. There’s also nothing to plausibly justify why the increase in college tuition has outpaced inflation for decades. Basically it sounds like we’re all getting the short end of the educational stick so to speak.

The full text of Nick Perry’s article can be found here.

So you’ve scrimped and saved and finally your young one is off at the learning institution of their choice. But, when that first bill comes what’s the best way to tap into ye olde 529 account? The earning on a 529 account are supposed to accrue tax free when used for appropriate higher education expenses, so you want to be sure to do this right. Nothing will ruin that empty nest faster than a visit from the tax man.

The College Money Guru (aka Joe Hurley) over at BankRate.com has an article about how to tap into your 529 funds and keep the tax man happy.

Don’t forget to pay attention to the part about why it might not be such a hot idea to have your 529 funds send directly to the school (very bottom of article).

Following up on yet another article I posted a few days ago, the Wall Street Journal has published an article laying out some positive changes the Obama administration has in store for 529 accounts.

529s are working as planned, with many middle class families participating. The Obama administration, or accurately the Treasury Department is looking to increase participation in 529 plans. They plan on doing this by encouraging funds with lower fees (index funds) for starters.

Good News. I’ll take it.

So in addition to your IRA, 401K, and just about every other investment tanking, now the New York Times published an article this weekend about some of the problems that prepaid college tuition plans are feeling.

I always thought of the state sponsored prepaid tuition plans as totally safe investments. However, the NYT article is discussing some things like plans adding new fees, closing to new investors, and in one case a state is developing a “doomsday scenario” for their fund.

The entire article can be found here.

APP.com has an article with some non-sugar-coated truths about the sacrifices involved with sending your child to College. The article reviews some information given out at a recent preparing for college seminar that was offered to parents.

FTA:

“You’re going to have a big out-of-pocket cost as a family, no matter what,” said Chuck Drawbaugh, the owner of College Funding Associates, an advisory group in Rumson.

Topics covered in said article include:

  • Rising tuition
  • Congressional plans
  • Offering advice

Here’s a bit of a follow-up on an article I posted a few days ago on new ideas for college financing. College is so expensive that it really dwarfs just about anything else you might buy except a house.

My first post linked to one measly little article with a couple of ideas. Well here’s a whole lot more, and I actually think that these have a whole lot better chance of paying off.

First off we have “Nine Unique Way To Pay For College”. This article outlines several way to make money ONLINE. None of this stuff is exactly easy, but requires some hustle and might very well not pay off, but if can find a niche, your odds improve greatly.

  1. Blogging (haha, I’ll let you know how this one is working)
  2. AdSense
  3. Help others find jobs
  4. Videos
  5. Freelance
  6. Games
  7. Paid Reviews
  8. Stock Photography
  9. eBay

Next, we have BankRate.com’s 7 alternative ways to pay for college. This article is really about reducing your expenditures than making money for college per se. These ideas are imminently doable. For example, I’ve known probably a dozen friends who did their first 2 years at California Junior Colleges and then transferred to a regular 4-year University.

  1. Accelerate your degree
  2. Be a transfer student
  3. Go where you’re wanted
  4. Choose a tuition-free school
  5. Get a sponsor
  6. Lock in tuition
  7. Work off debt with community service

And rounding out our little trifecta here we have Kiplinger’s with a article called Smart Ways To Pay For College. Some of the ideas from this article are repeats of the previous, but there are at least 2 new suggestions as well. It’s worth a quick read.

The bottom line here is that there’s some non-traditional way to make money for school as well as non-traditional (and MUCH less expensive) paths to that degree. Keep informed and come up with a plan and start executing EARLY. Nobody is going to go out of their way to do this stuff for you.

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