The high cost of a college degree is currently at an all-time high. Due to this unique situation, very few working adults can afford to pay for an education from an ordinary savings account. Modern times call for special techniques and creative thinking on the part of prospective college students or on the part of parents who want to cover some or all of a child’s education.
What strategies make sense? One of the most common and useful ones is to set up a special savings account for the purpose and contribute to it every payday. These college funds usually don’t pay all the bills but can at least put a dent in schooling expenses when the time arrives.
Other useful strategies include the use of Private Parent Loans for moms and dads who want to help out with the high cost of a college degree. Other adults decide to continue working while attending class, paying for courses one at a time. Finally, some are lucky enough to find scholarships or gain access to an employer’s educational assistance program. Here are details about a few of the main ways people pay for degrees.
Paying for College Expenses
What happens when you are saving for a child’s college education instead of your own? The high cost of a college degree is staggering. The good news is that there are multiple strategies for dealing with this uniquely parent-oriented challenge.
For starters, you can obtain financing via a Private Parent Loan (PPL), a contract in which the parent, not the child, is the sole borrower. The goal of using a PPL is to relieve your youngster of the burden of graduating under a cloud of student debt.
When moms and dads choose to apply for Earnest parent loans, they get the benefit of competitive rates and flexible terms based on their own credit ratings, not the child’s score. It’s actually one of the most efficient ways to finance a college education and avoid sending your daughter or son into the working world with a large student loan balance on the day of their graduation.
Working While You Attend School
Adults who choose to hold a full-time job while attending online or in-person college classes have a lot of responsibilities to juggle especially with the high cost of a college degree. But many opt for this technique year after year.
One of the major benefits is being able to pay-as-you-go and not build up a loan balance. This can also help overcome lifestyle creep by keeping you on a strict budget as opposed to feeling flush with cash from a loan. The downside is that this method can take up to eight years to complete a traditional four-year degree.
Hunting for Scholarships and Grants
Working with a scholarship and grant finding service, as long as it’s a no-fee organization, can be of immense help to cash-strapped parents who want to earn degrees. There are several reputable companies that offer such help, and most of them let you apply for multiple opportunities by filing a single, generic form.
Even before that, they’ll use your information and background data to match you up with scholarships and grants that you have a realistic possibility of winning. Finally, don’t forget to ask your current employer about financial assistance programs for company workers who want to earn degrees. Many firms have matching or direct grant programs in place, but you need to inquire about gaining access to them.