Frugal February #25: College Costs

Teenagers and parents of teens, this one's for you!  How do you save money on college costs?

We told our kids years ago, like about age 10-12, that we would not be paying for them to go to college.  That no one had paid for DH's education, or mine, except ourselves.  That our children should plan on working hard in school, getting good grades, applying for scholarships, and also think about taking on part time employment through their teen years.  That life was not a free ride, and neither was college.

Tough stuff, and not very PC.  One son chose the military.  He knew he didn't care for school, and didn't have the patience or self-discipline to get through four years of college, let alone four years of good grades in college.  It was the right choice for him, and now, in his last year of service, and five years more mature and disciplined, he is looking at the possibility to getting out of the military and going to college on the GI Bill.   Or, staying in the military, going to college, becoming an officer, and retiring at the ripe old age of 38 with a full military pension.  Then he could take his degree and his experience, get a job in the civilian world for 20 more years, and retire again at 58 with two pensions.

Second son is an overachiever, and loves to see A+ next to his name.  He did very well in school.  He applied for many, many scholarships, but unfortunately received few (being a 'not poor white boy', truthfully and again not at all PC, is rather a detriment in the competitive world of grants and scholarships).  He did receive some funds based on his graduating valedictorian from high school.  But mostly the way he has funded his college education was by working extra hard in high school, taking AP courses (and scoring well enough on those finals to get college credits, eliminating 4 required college classes) and doing dual-enrollment through the local community college for his junior and senior years.  He has also taken out a student loan, with DH and I as co-signers.  His loan, his education, his responsibility for his own future.

From personal experience then, I can talk to you about four ways to cut the cost of college:

• joining the military
• taking AP classes
• doing dual-enrollment while still in high school
• starting your bachelor's degree at community college, then transferring to a 4-year university.

Military: don't discount it.  Especially if you (teen/young adult) or your child (parents) is not fond of school or does not have a good track record with completing and turning in homework.  Four years of military life can make just about anyone into an organized, responsible, goal-oriented person.  And the government will then assist with or cover the cost of college.  Four years is a drop in the bucket if you look at the big picture.  How many of us have spent four years piddling away our time, energy, and money at something?  Why not spend four years doing something that not only pays you to do it, gives you a place to live during that time and medical/dental/vision insurance (not to mention life insurance), but also gives you money for your education?

AP classes, if you can score well enough on the exams, are a great way to save money on college tuition.  Yes, you still have to pay the exam fee ($80 per AP class this year for DD1), but you save the cost of the class and the textbook by not having to take that same course in college.  Three credit hours times however much your child's college of choice charges per credit hour most likely is much more than $80.  And have you looked at the cost of the average book for college? 

Dual-enrollment you do have to purchase the textbooks and other materials for, but you do not have to pay tuition for.  That is covered by the public school district, and that money is provided by (your) taxes.  DS2 took about 15 credits of dual-enrollment.  At a cost of $79 per credit, he saved $1185 by taking those courses through dual-enrollment while in high school instead of waiting until he graduated and officially went to college.  Actually, if you look at the cost his 4-year university charges per credit ($857 per credit according to their website), he saved himself $12,855.  That's a boatload of money!

Community College: Even if your child is not able to take AP classes or do dual-enrollment in high school, don't despair.  Most 4 year degrees can begin at community college, then transfer to a university to finish up.  That is how DH did his college education.  He went as far as he could at community college (and met me, lol, so not sure in the long run what his savings was because he picked up a wife and eventually four kids!) then transferred to the same college DS2 attends now and only had to do two years at the higher tuition cost of the specialized college.


If you have young children, it's never too early to start looking into options for financing their educations.  We were never in a position to contribute to college funds for our kids (the plan we had burst with the housing market bubble right when the eldest was finishing high school), but we have assisted in financing their college through knowing the options (and co-signing their student loans).