College Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

12 Strategies I Used To Avoid Getting Buried in Student Loan Debt

November 9, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

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Today, I have a great guest post from Matt from Method To Your Money. Here are the strategies he used to graduate (nearly) debt-free from college.

12 Strategies I Used To Avoid Getting Buried in Student Loan Debt #payoffstudentloans #studentloans #debtfreejourney #moneysavingtips If you’re getting ready to attend college, or if you’ve got kids who are preparing to go off to school, student loans can sometimes feel like a forgone conclusion.

In fact, over 70% of graduates leave school with significant student loan debt. That’s 44 million people who owe $1.5 TRILLION dollars, or around $37,000 per person!!

It’s all a bit INSANE!!

But what if I told you that I have found a way to avoid being one of those indebted graduates, a series of strategies to avoid the anchor of student loans and to start your career off on the right foot? A method that I’m already starting to instill in my children so that when they go to college, they’ll be fully prepared to CRUSH it both in the classroom and with their bank accounts.

My family was firmly entrenched in the middle class. My dad is a pastor and my is mom a nurse. Growing up, money was not a limitless resource and my parents always made decisions with finances in mind. [Read more…]

Parents Paying For College – Is This A Good Idea?

October 22, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 37 Comments

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Parents Paying For College - Is This A Good Idea? #shouldparentspayforcollege #parentspayforcollege #collegedebt Do you think parents should help pay for their children’s college education? Do you think parents should be required to pay for their children’s college education?

These are tough questions to ask and to answer, but they are very important when thinking about the ever increasing cost of higher education.

These kinds of questions are quite personal to me and relevant to my blog. A major motivation for starting Making Sense of Cents was my $40,000 student loan debt (you can read about how I paid off my student loans in just 7 months).

My student loan debt was higher than the average $30,000 per student, and surprisingly, it is often parents paying for college by taking out loans to cover kid’s education.

I've read countless stories of parents who have $200,000 in student loan debt for their children, and it’s these parents paying for college who have found that these debts are causing them to struggle financially, unable to reach their retirement goals, etc. These parents end up drowning in debt because they just honestly want to help their children get through college. What they don’t realize, though, is that there are other ways to help your kids graduate from college. [Read more…]

How To Determine What College To Apply To

October 18, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Making Sense of Cents and College Ave Student Loans have partnered on a series of blog posts on what to expect when it comes to planning for college…especially when it comes to time to pay. Through the series, we hope families gain a little more insight on how to tackle the next four or more years ahead with a stronger financial footing. All opinions are 100% my own. To learn more, please visit: https://www.collegeavestudentloans.com.

There are over 1,000 colleges in the United States alone.

The list of college majors is long as well.

When deciding what college to apply to, it can be a tough decision.

You shouldn't just choose whatever college your friend applies to, or the college that the majority of your school is going to.

All colleges are different, and all people are different too. People may be on different career paths, they may have different needs for a college, and so on.

This can make choosing what college to apply and attend a difficult one. [Read more…]

Get A College Degree In 12 Months And For Under $10,000

October 4, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

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The following content is sponsored by Capella University. All opinions are 100% my own.

As most of you know, I have three college degrees – two undergraduate degrees in Business Administration and Management, as well as my Finance MBA.

One thing I pride myself on is that I was able to graduate early, but I did still accrue a decent amount of debt.

Most colleges don't make it easy to graduate early or to create a good schedule. I had to work hard towards that and I don't know of many other people who have been able to do the same.

Recently, I heard about FlexPath from Capella University, which can greatly help a person achieve a faster graduation time.

If you are looking for a college degree, but think that you can't fit it into your schedule or in the price point that you are wanting, then FlexPath is definitely something that you may want to look further into. [Read more…]

Cutting College Costs: Understanding The Cost And Value Of Your Degree

March 27, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 49 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

There's a myth that expensive colleges are always better than the cheaper ones. As if higher college costs means that you'll automatically get a great job, you'll have an extremely high salary, and more.

Are colleges with higher college costs always better? Here are some other things you'll want to think about when paying for college and college tuition. Well, that's not always true.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal:

From the academics [who have studied whether students from elite institutions outperform their peers or not] we know that in terms of future earnings, 1) your choice of field matters more than your choice of college, 2) after controlling for ability, the earnings differences of graduates from elite and non-elite institutions are small at best, and 3) any earnings advantage that may emerge over the long run is difficult to concretely tie back to the effects of one’s college choice.

According to Forbes, tuition for an in-state public college averages around $28,000. Private college tuition was double that amount at an average of $59,000.

For a four year elite university, the cost jumps to $68,000. [Read more…]

You Don’t Have To Go Broke For Your Kid’s Education

November 30, 2016 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 38 Comments

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Should parents pay for college? Do parents HAVE to pay for college? Before you think about obtaining college loans for parents, you should read this. Should parents pay for their children’s college education? Do parents have to pay for their children’s college education? These are tough questions to ask and to answer, but they are very important when thinking about the increasing cost of higher education.

These kinds of questions are also really relevant to my blog, as I began it extremely focused on paying off my $40,000 student loan debt (you can read about how I paid off my student loans in just 7 months).

My student loan debt was higher than the average $30,000 per student, and surprisingly, it is often the parents who are taking out loans to cover their kid’s education. I've read countless stories of parents who have $200,000 in student loan debt for their children, parents who are struggling financially, etc. These are parents who are drowning in debt for their children. [Read more…]

Why Saving Money In Your 20s Is A Good Idea

October 16, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 63 Comments

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Saving money in your 20s is a great idea and I don't want anyone to make you believe otherwise. Start saving in your 20s today! Recently, I read Elite Daily’s article If You Have Savings In Your 20s, You’re Doing Something Wrong.

There are so many things wrong with this article. The author in this article basically says that you should spend all of your money in your 20s, even if you have money to start saving in your 20s. Saving money in your 20s to her means that you are boring, lazy, and just planning for your death.

To state the obvious: I disagree with her article.

I believe that saving money in your 20s means you’re doing something RIGHT.

There are tons of horrible advice in her article such as:

What memorable experience does money in the bank give you? How well-rounded can people become sitting at home, watching their limited funds gain interest?

As well as…

When you’re 40, you’re not going to look back on your 20s and be grateful for the few thousand you saved. You’re going to be full of regret.

I read this article over and over again to see where the author would say “Gotcha, April Fools!” However, that never happens. I’m sure this article is mainly just click bait to get people to head on over to their website. I think the advice is horrible and I’m hoping no one is following the advice of this author. However, I’m sure at least a few people are taking her seriously… [Read more…]

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