Thanks for the long comment and great tips on savings for college bound students.

Things have changed a lot over the years Not only do you no longer need to purchase expensive textbooks but you can even rent them now. I never would have imagined that.

Steve

First of all , there is still money to be had out there based on financial need. If you fit the right criteria you can get the lowest cost student loans from the government.

Have her do her first 2 years at the local community college. Tuition is cheap . Going local eliminates extra money for living expenses. Your state might have extra programs for helping with tuition. For instance, in South Carolina, the lottery will give scholarship money to state resident students that keep a 3.0 GPA.

If she can transfer to a local university she will save on living costs there too. Many texts can be purchased cheaply used online at websites like abebooks.com and amazon.com . There are other websites for this also.My son just bought a $100 book for $6 online.

She will also have to work to pay for expenses . She will need to get a part time job to help. Even if she has to reduce her school load some so that she can make enough money to pay for school it beats starting out life loaded down with debt.

Another thing is that certain fields will actually pay for her education. For instance, I know someone who went into nursing and the local hospital offered to pay for her tuition if she agreed to work there for a few years after graduation. There is also a program for teachers if they agree to teach in areas that are hard to attract teachers they will pay off your loans.

There are lots of scholarships out there too. You have to hunt for them online.

So there are things you can do to get your kid through school. Don’t stress out, make a plan. In the end what is important is that she gets the degree and has a low debt load. Where you graduate from isn’t as important as that.

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