Wow, it's been a while since I have been on here.  My daughter has retired her barrel racing and has moved off to College.  Wow, what an eye opener as a parent.  We want to help her with tuition, but also want her to be responsible for a good portion of the cost, we can't afford to pay it all, but definately want to help as much as we can.  What really sucks, is she doesn't qualify for much financial aid, because they take into consideration mine and my husbands wages.  I guess they think that if you make a decent wage you can afford to pay for the tuitions costs.  It's very frustrating.  Any young college kids out there or parents thay may have experience this same issue.   I guess I'm searching for ideas, maybe something I'm missing.  She applied for a student loan, but doesn't qualify for any subsadized loans, so the interest by the time she pays her student loan back for 1 year, she's paying almost double what it cost for 1 year.  I was sick about that.  Isn't there any other options out there for young kids going off to college???  She's planning to get a part time job, but I would hate for her to jeopradize her studies because of a job, definately going to try the part time work for starters, if it get's too much she will need to quit. Thanks in advance

A stressed out Momma for her kid.

I'm 27 with about $60,000 in student loans. My mom was a single parent but made enough to keep me from qualifying for any help, too.

DO NOT LET HER TAKE OUT PRIVATE LOANS they will suck her dry. I don't know where you live, but some states, like Tennessee, offer two years of community college for free or a reduced tuition to residents, adults looking to further education, etc. Is community or online college for at least her basics an option for the first year or two? That way she can work and save until then.

If you haven't sold her horse(s) already, can she use them to teach lessons, or lease them out for extra money?

I am a college student in Texas at a 4 year University and I have paid for 90% of my tuition with scholarships that I earned through FFA in high school. Make sure she applies for scholarships through her university as well. At my school, one scholarship application makes you eligible for department, college, and university-wide scholarships. I have gotten anywhere from $1000-$3000 per year which helps. My parents' income prevented me from getting federal aid as well. They have not paid at all for my tuition but do help me pay rent (it's so expensive!!!).

After my Freshman year, I began hunting for part-time jobs. A lot of places in college towns are great about working with class schedules, so if she feels like she can handle a job (especially one she enjoys) it is a great idea to help offset living expenses/have some extra money. I fortunately have not had to take out loans yet, but I am planning on going to vet school so that time is coming for me.

ETA: Working during school breaks is super helpful too, especially since our Christmas break is almost two months!

Scholarships scholarships scholarships.  Every $100 or $200 helps.

I’m coming up on 10 years since I graduated so I’m sure things have changed. I was also very fortunate that my parents had done some investing ahead of time and we had some savings available.

Also consider taking core classes at a community college where credit hours might be cheaper.

Living on campus tends to be pretty pricey by the time you include a meal plan etc.  I lived on campus 1 year and then moved off campus, much cheaper.  I worked part time and after my freshman year I was able to get in grading for a couple of the core classes so I did that for at least 1 class per semester.  

I did end up taking a couple loans out, small ones and at the time they were private loans with reasonable interest rates - but it sounds like the system has changed in that regard.

I was in the same boat when I started nursing school. I had a full ride to a local university where I took all my gen eds. The nursing school worked out a payment plan with my mom for what the loans wouldn’t cover. I took out unsubsidized loans and worked full time. I made sure to pay at least the interest each month when I was in school. That saved me a ton. I would also recommend getting gen eds done at a community college to save money. 

We are putting our 3rd child thru Iowa State College.  They worked as much as they could and we paid the rest.   So far my kids have no college debt.   But they were as poor as church mice in college.  Never got to go on spring break trips.  They really felt bad when their friends went on their trips with their student loan money.  My wife wanted them to take out loans and I refused to let them.  My children are now successful in the corporate world and they know now how blessed they are for not having any college debt for when they talk with their friends about how strapped the friends are.

Please do not take out any college loans.  You are signing your childs financial death warrent.  The future is in trade schools not 4 year universities.

As parents we gave up a lot of our own ability to have a better financial life to help out kids.  It was worth it.

My wife is a school teacher and she also cleaned businesses at night to put my kids thru college.  She caught a lot of greife from the other teachers about working 2 jobs.  I farmed and am a grain elevator manager.  We sold all the farm operation out in 2011 and everyone thought I was nuts.  I could see the hand writing on the wall in farming.  

Please help your child out financially without student debt if any way possiable.  4 years of struggle is better than 15 years of your child being a slave to the banks.

Their is a reason that the laws were changed to make it not possable to file bankrupcy on student debt.

We are putting our 3rd child thru Iowa State College.  They worked as much as they could and we paid the rest.   So far my kids have no college debt.   But they were as poor as church mice in college.  Never got to go on spring break trips.  They really felt bad when their friends went on their trips with their student loan money.  My wife wanted them to take out loans and I refused to let them.  My children are now successful in the corporate world and they know now how blessed they are for not having any college debt for when they talk with their friends about how strapped the friends are.

Please do not take out any college loans.  You are signing your childs financial death warrent.  The future is in trade schools not 4 year universities.

As parents we gave up a lot of our own ability to have a better financial life to help out kids.  It was worth it.

My wife is a school teacher and she also cleaned businesses at night to put my kids thru college.  She caught a lot of greife from the other teachers about working 2 jobs.  I farmed and am a grain elevator manager.  We sold all the farm operation out in 2011 and everyone thought I was nuts.  I could see the hand writing on the wall in farming.  

Please help your child out financially without student debt if any way possiable.  4 years of struggle is better than 15 years of your child being a slave to the banks.

Their is a reason that the laws were changed to make it not possable to file bankrupcy on student debt.

I finished nursing school, and have $37,000 in student loans to begin to pay off. I am obviously older than your daughter, so I was able to qualify for financial aid. I was able to get a pell grant, but the program I was in it was like $7,000 every 3 months so I had subsidized and unsubsidized loans through the government. Your daughter should qualify if you were to complete the application for the parent PLUS loan I believe it’s called. 

My parents haven't helped out a dime with my education (that's a long story) and they made too much for me to qualify for financial aid so I had to take out student loans. $38k later. That hurt. I worked part-time thoroughout University but I also had two major knee surgeries in the 4 years of that so two summers were pretty much written off as far as working full time to save up. I'm three years out of University right now.

Apply for every scholarship you can find. For the university, look for department, college, and university level awards. With these make sure you check back every year as more may become available as you declare majors, hours, etc. I would check with the high school and see if there are any local organization that offer scholarships. I remember when I was in high school our English classes and I believe the counselors kept them. These were from organizations like the local Country Club and most of the time you didn't have to be a member to apply. I also kept up with the scholarship search engines for national level awards but I had much better luck with these options.

I would also stress the importance of not taking out loans for non-school related things. I watched my friends buy cars, go on spring break, go shopping,etc on this money and now they gripe about their student loan payments.  I had no help from my parents and worked my entire way through all three of my degrees (undergrad through phd) and I payed off my student loans in my late 20s because I was always looking for scholarships/grants and had a stringent budget I stuck to.

I love Dave Ramsey and he always says no one ever  asks  what college your graduated from...................just want to know what degree you have...............pay cash for everybit.....might take a little longer but its the best in the long run.........

I was the youngest of three and didnt qualify for enough either. I took out private loans to finish. I hated it but I had to. One was a parent plus loan which had comparable interest rates to your subsidized loans so it was a better option than private.

I also worked part-time (25-30 hours a week) and I was BROKE!!! I didnt have much of the college experience. However, I am thankful I had a job. I paid a few classes out of pocket and all my books. But i graduated with close to 40k. I paid for my horse and expenses while I was in college but it taught me a lot. I hated it then and i was envious of others but i learned a lot!!! It was also helpful for my resume that I have consistent work history.

Our sons spent some of their college time living at home and attending local state colleges so we they would not have living expenses, and they both worked part-time jobs while in school.  My advice is to avoid loans if at all possible.  Even if it takes an extra year for them to finish -- finishing with no loans is a big deal.  Be sure she investigates her chosen degree so he has no surprises at the end -- she needs to know exactly what she will get for the investment of time and money -- is she going to be able to graduate into a field paying less than $40,000 a year or one that pays lots more with possibilities to move into six figures?  So many kids have no idea what jobs will be available to them when they leave school -- do the work up front so she knows where she is going to end up.  She should try really hard to find intern positions in her chosen field for summer work. Having a degree is no guarantee of a good job.  It's about havin the RIGHT degree. 

When possible, she can save $ on books by buying them used online (Amazon, plus several other sites- google "used textbooks"). OR, rent them from the library if she doesn't need to write in them. If the school's library doesn't have them, they should be able to get them through inter-library loan. Renting books from the library is my college money saving pro-tip lol.

If she is already started at a 4-year school then this may not help, but I agree with others, she can save SO MUCH in the long run by getting gen ed's done at a community college then transferring to a university. Also highly recommend this if she isn't 100% sure what she wants to do yet. This is bad coming from someone who works at a university, but as a somewhat recent college grad (in last 10 years), I'm a realist. 

Also, if she hasn't - seriously, apply for any and all scholarships through her school that she can. Again, from my experience working at a university, it is shocking how few applicants we get for some of the more specific / department scholarships. I think students just assume they won't get them or don't want to take the time, but often there are scholarships that aren't utilized. She also should really get to know her professors so they can write her glowing recommendation letters, thus improving her chances of getting scholarships. 

Hope this helps. It's definitely stressful.. also for others with student loans, if you struggle to make the payment, call them, and say "I can't pay that right now, but I can do $25 or $50 a month" - they usually will agree to whatever you can do at that time. Also with federal loans, make sure you do income-based repayment! My first full-time job didn't pay much at all and my loan payment was like $10, but has gone up over the years as I've made more money. 

Stay far far away from the private loans. Also, you may want to check and see if she would qualify for some assistance if you stopped claiming her on your taxes. My parent's were in the same boat and I got more help when they stopped claiming me on their tax returns. The problem is that I am not sure if that affects whether or not she can still be on your health insurance because I had a small job but it came with some benefits. Something to look into.

The worst decision I ever made was to go to college. My mom told me I had to go to college or couldnt live at home. So I took out loans and went. 2nd semester, she kicked me out. LONG story but in a nutshell, I kept my mouth shut about what her husband had done to me as a teenager for several years and she found out. Blamed me. She used me going to a barrel race with a friend as reason to kick me out..... So here I was, 18, enrolled in college, working retail making very little, now with student loans. I sucked it up, took out more loans and finished school. 50k in debt with a business degree that honestly, hasnt done me any good. I work as an AP clerk for an amazing company but I could do the job without the degree. I dont think Ive used anything that was taught in college. 

Apply for scholarships and take whatever is offered. Any little bit helps! Dont take out private loans. And rent books from Chegg. Saved me thousands!!!! 

There should also be grants that your daughter can apply for.  Grants do not need to be repaid.

I was in her boat. My parents made too much for me to qualify for federal subsidized loans.  My only option was private loans.  I got some scholarships but not enough to put a dent in anything.  I went to a junior college for two years so I only graduated undergrad with about $27,000 in student loans.  Vet school was a completely different story.  Since it was professional school, everybody qualified for federal aid but the only option was unsubsidized loans.  I have about $200k in vet school student loans.  I pay them back with the income based repayment option. This year my repayment didn't cover the interest i accrued.  It's a vicious cycle. 

The FAFSA serves as your application for federal student loans as well. You’ll be notified of what you can borrow in the financial aid award letter from any school that accepts you. There are two types of federal loans: subsidized and unsubsidized. Subsidized federal loans go to undergraduate students with a financial need. The subsidy covers the interest on the loan while you’re in school. Unsubsidized federal loans aren’t based on need, and interest starts to accrue immediately.

I am a teacher and went to a 2 year commuity college on a volleyball scholarship so that was paid for. My mom was single when I went off to the 4 year universtiy so my 1st year I was able to take out student loans. However, she got married and that changed everything and I was in the same boat as your daughter. Anyways, I worked 3 jobs and also did 24 credits. I was a horseshoer, house cleaner, and stall cleaner. I was not a straight A student but kept a 3.0 -3.5 for the year. I was on the deans list and that helped because my school would give you 100 bucks off of tuition. In the end I came out of school with 45,000 in dept. :(

I believe you can work and go to school. I am not going to lie, it was not easy and sometimes my day would start at 5AM cleaning stalls. Then have class from 8AM-1PM, have a few hours to work on school work then I would go clean houses and offices in the afternoon/evening. Depending on homework I would clean at 11PM if it was an office. I would then shoe horses on the weekend. 

I would reccomend going for every scholarship that is possible https://www.anthonyoneal.com/scholarships . Also, is it possible for her to go to a community college her 1st 2 years? Way cheaper. I would also recomend Anthony O'Neal's book Debt Free Degree. https://www.anthonyoneal.com I would not recomend going into large amounts of debt. I got mine paid off but it took a lot of work and I follwed Dave Ramsey's debt snowball https://www.daveramsey.com/dave-ramsey-7-baby-steps?snid=start.steps . I have co-workers that still have student debt and they are in there 50's. 

Hope this helps and gives you a path to helping your daughter go to college. Good luck! 

I graduated in 2008.  I worked a full time job and went to school full time.  I chose a good college that was affordable.  I graduated with my MBA without any debt.  My parents paid my car insurance and would fill me up with groceries when I went home to visit but that was it.  In my opinion, if she wants it she will make it happen.  If she doesn't want it, it's not going to happen no matter what you do for her.  

Check state schools to see if academic tuition waivers are available.  My daughter attended two years of community college on a total tuition waiver and lived at home.  Her part time job paid for fees, books and transportation.  Her jr and sr years were at a state school with a partial academic tuition waiver.  We helped her with housing, books and fees.  She worked a lot of weekends and all vacations.  

Academic waivers were dependent on continuing GPA.

My parents made too much money for me to qualify for grants etc, but they definitely didn't have the money to pay my way.  I joined the guards to pay my way through college.  It was the only way I could do it.  It was a great experience and I don't regret it.  It's not for everyone but it is another way to pay for schooling.  

I taught Early Graduation for several years. The counselor is supposed to help the seniors with college issues but I found a lot of kids slip through the cracks and don't get the help they need. Especially if they had already slipped through the cracks and ended up in there with me. I asked the counselor for help on occasion. This is one thing she told me.  Get on the internet and fill out the FASFA application. If you can't find it I can look for it. That is the financial help site. This is what I told the students. Go to a community college as long as you can. Way cheaper and you can probably live at home. Two places you need to know the location of are the FINANCIAL AID OFFICE and the PLACEMENT OFFICE.  Often there are scholarships that are not used each year because no one asks about them. They can also direct you to low interest loans. The placement office can help find you a job on campus perhaps making copies for professors. The placement office can also help you get a job years after you graduate.  It's a good resource. You can rent books off the internet to keep from having to buy them. 

one last tip. If you live in Texas, Sul Ross University is the cheapest University in Texas. A coach who shared my room told me that. He told me he could not understand why the counselor didn't push it more. It is located in Alpine TX which far removed from any other civilization!  

If you or your spouse are 100% dis. Veterans her tuition will be covered at a 100% cost. There is also the option of ROTC. 4 years of enlistment for her complete college tuition isn't bad and when she gets out she will be eligible for not only high paying government jobs but also multiple grants and scholarships for female veterans. 

 Though my daughter is many years off from attending college I'm so grateful that her tuition will be completely covered to any school she enrolls in. 

you could always ditch the college route and pursue a trade. 

That way you could actually make some money 

for real  look what welders make

Our local vo-tech college offers a heavy equiment certification course. It costs $300 (cost is subsidized by various businesses that need heavy equipment drivers!). Students have a HIGH paying job waiting for them when they complete the course which is weeks long instead of years. If I was a young person right now I'd sign up!  Great paying career with mobility opportunity.