How to Graduate College With No Debt

University Short Cuts
Dec 9, 2024
7 min read

Summary of Article:

Score Well on SAT/ACT: Aim for high SAT/ACT scores to qualify for scholarships. This reduces college expenses and saves money in the long term.

Take Dual Credit Courses in High School: Complete general education requirements early to save time and tuition fees.

Choose an Affordable College: In-state colleges or schools with reciprocity agreements offer lower tuition rates, making them more budget-friendly.

Apply for Scholarships: Focus first on local and college-specific scholarships, then broaden to national ones for more opportunities.

Work Part-Time Jobs: Consider jobs like grading papers or becoming a teacher’s assistant to cover living expenses while gaining experience.

Pass Classes on the First Attempt: Avoid retaking classes, which adds time and cost. CLEP exams can also allow you to skip certain courses.

Save on Laundry: In-unit laundry is more economical than paying per load at laundromats, saving both time and money.

Buy Food at Costco: A basic Costco membership can reduce meal costs, especially with their affordable food options.

Get Reliable Roommates: Split rent and utility costs by sharing housing with dependable roommates to lower living expenses.

Graduating College with no debt is one of the biggest burning questions nowadays, given the high prices for a degree and how many people have College debt. I will say it is possible to do this, and I have done it, but it can be difficult. I will cover the important steps to do this in this article. I am going to cover why getting a good score on your SAT or ACT is important and how to make money in the summertime to help pay for college.

First, do not underestimate how helpful studying and doing well on the SAT or ACT is. The main point of these tests, other than getting into college, is to get a nice scholarship at the college you choose to go to. The scholarships will help out quite a lot in paying for college and any way you can minimize what you have to pay will help in the long run. Don’t push off all the costs as a problem after college. So doing well on the tests will minimize the cost early. However, don't be too worried if you don't do well on them. I was able to still pay for college without debt and without doing well on the test. You will have to work harder, unfortunately, though. So keep this in mind when you are studying for your SAT or ACT. I know it can be very annoying to do so because I have been there and taken the easy way out by not studying. I could make up excuses for why I didn't do well but it was because I didn't want to put in the time and study for the tests. In hindsight, I would be sitting with more money in my bank account if I did better on the tests.

The next thing that will matter quite a bit is taking college classes in high school that will transfer to a college that you choose to go to. This can save a lot of time and money. If you're able to get all your generals done, it is like saving A full semester of college. This comes out to have a real valve when you come to the end of your college career. I have referenced this in other blogs and I suggest you take a look at this for more information. But I did this, and it saved me a lot more time than a scholarship can do since it cuts two things down at once. Taking college classes in college and the money for these college classes. Ultimately I think you have more guided learning in high school compared to college. High school dual credit courses are easier than in college. So there are three reasons to take the course in high school. Even Though you may think your high school class load will be way harder, at least, I did just face it head-on, and it will save you in the long run.

Moving onto the next topic that will help you in crushing your potential college debt is picking your college. Unfortunately, an instate college or a college with reciprocity is going to be your only choice, given the lower tuition costs. I know many people will want to go to a college that is in a cool location or a distant state, but this doesn't make sense for the average college student. Unless you get a full ride somewhere you will probably have to stay in your state to get the most bang for your buck. There is a catch, though: make sure your colleges in your home state have the degrees you're looking at getting within 4 years. It doesn't make sense to go to them if they do not have this. If you have to do a 5th year, it will add that much more cost to your education without income or a lot of income that you would, in theory, be getting from working. Everyone has their own goals, but if your goal is to graduate with no debt, then a logical cost-benefit analysis will need to be done. This doesn't need to be fancy, but Just some thought of how to use your time wisely to achieve your goal. Maybe make a little timeliness to see where the money will dry up and what some options for scholarships or how much money you could make in the summertime working an internship and a second job. This will allow you to compare colleges and see what college is the right fit for you.

The next step is to find scholarships that apply to your major of study and apply to as many as you can handle in the summer and with your class workload while in school. This is because scholarships have different start dates for when you can apply. But be sure to be smart about it. Since your college will have scholarships you can apply to, I would start with these or any other local scholarships since there will be a smaller pool to draw from than National scholarships. This will increase your odds of getting a scholarship. Then, once you have applied to all these scholarships, you can move to the National ones. Just know it's not as likely for you to get one of these so you may want to be more selective.

Another step to take, especially once you get farther into your college career, is to get a job grading papers for a class or be a teacher's assistant. This can help pay part of your rent or all of your food costs for the month. It is, unfortunately, trading a good amount of time for dollars, but on the bright side, it will help you manage your time. It will also stop or help manage a lot of the debt that could build up through college if you don't start attacking it right away. Another positive for grading papers is that it's a good way to fill out your resume and can be used to get a better internship for a better job coming out of college, and if you do end up with some debt, you will have a bigger shovel to get you out. Or at least more capital to play with. With a lot of things, there is more to a basic job than you can see, so always remain positive even when you're working for a low amount of money if it's getting you to where you want to be.

Now, more obviously, passing your classes the first time is the best way to save money and time. Also, you can take the CLEP test to test out of classes if you think you know them well enough to pass. Then you will save time and money instead of taking them. It can make you graduate earlier by a semester. However, depending on the field, it may be harder to find a job in the fall or winter months. It is something to look into and see if it's worth looking at both sides in order to figure out if you could probably find a better full-time job in the spring. Ultimately this would be up to preference and what your job market looks like. But you would still save some time if you did CLEP classes.

Ironically enough, laundry in your apartment will save you money because it's around two dollars to wash and dry your clothes when its not in your apartment. Then you factor in the dry not working correctly, and you have two loads of clothes, then you're at eight bucks for one week of laundry. You're looking at around three hundred dollars worth of quarters to do laundry in a year. Not to mention the time you waste checking on it and forgetting you did laundry the night before. Having in-unit laundry is well worth the cost and time. It will honestly save you time. Then you can grade papers while you do your laundry, and it will be a net positive overall.

If you're lucky enough to have a Costco near your campus or apartment, this will save you a lot of money on food if you get the hotdog and drink combo. You just have to get the lowest membership card. It will take around sixty meals to break even with the membership cost, and then after that, you can't find a cheaper meal. Also, Costco is just cheaper in general for many items, but you will have to do some planning to find out what is cheaper. I might have to do some digging and make a spreadsheet for this.

The last and best way to save some more money is to get good roommates at your apartment or house that you guys will rent. This will cut your cost down a lot between each of you guys since everything can be split amongst each other. However, as I stated before, Make sure your roommates are good before you start to live with them; otherwise, it can be more hassle than it's worth.

I hope many of these topics help you save money when applying for and attending college. There are many ways you can attack this problem and I hope I provided you with some advice that will be easy to implement. Of course, there are many ways you can get through college, but I tried to give options to everyone.

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