One Snarky Chica with Issues

Going to college can be mighty expensive. I know cause I have the student loan debt to prove it! But you know what, it does not have to be that way. There are tons of scholarships out there that you, or your son/daughter, can apply for to cover the cost of college. My excuse is that I was mostly lazy and slightly under the impression that my parents were going to pay for my school.

Luckily my brother is not that naive. He is going to be starting college in the fall. He found a couple of schools that he wanted to attend and they were all private with a hefty price tag. The school he will be attending in the fall has a cost of $35,000, not including room and board, and he will be attending with only $400 per year as his out of pocket cost. Why? Because he applied for every scholarship he heard about.

He got on the web and found out about FastWeb’s scholarship search and began looking for anything he qualified for. He also paid attention to local scholarships. These are great as you have less competition! He got a little money from the school as well. When it was all said and done he was left with about $5,400 a year to pay out of pocket. He asked his advisor is there was any way he could get any additional scholarship money and told of how he was basing his school decision on the place he had to spend the least out of pocket on. The next day he got a call from the school. Thanks to some kids declining to go there that had been given scholarships there was extra money that could be given out as needed and he was given an extra $5,000 a year leaving only $400 out of pocket.

So, if you are looking for ways to pay for college, here are the important things to remember:

• Apply for as many scholarships as possible.
• Use places like FastWeb but don’t forget about local scholarships.
• All schools offer money to people that do not end up going there, that means extra money is actually available if you ask.
• Ask for it!