Student Loans Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

How To Go To College In Europe For $8,000 Or Less A Year

Last Updated: October 11, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

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Do you want to save money on college, such as by learning how to go to college in Europe?

Yes, you can actually save money by going to college in Europe, and today’s article will show you exactly how.

The average cost of programs for college abroad in Europe is around $8,000 per year, which is a huge savings over what you may pay in the U.S.

There are also hundreds of options under $4,000 per year, and there are even 50 programs that are tuition-free for international students.

Plus, bachelor’s degrees in Europe tend to only be 3 or 3.5 years long, which makes the cost per year even better.

And, you don’t even need to know a foreign language as there are over 3,000 bachelor degree programs taught completely in English in Europe. [Read more…]

How Do Student Loans Work? What You Need To Know About Borrowing Money For School

Last Updated: March 18, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Have you ever wondered how do student loans work?

Maybe you’re thinking about going to school and taking out a student loan, perhaps you are a parent trying to help your child find the best options, or perhaps you are about to start paying down your student loan debt.

Whatever your case may be, I am hoping today’s article will help you learn more about how student loans work, so that you can be prepared for your future.

There are just so many different components to student loans, and it can make it very confusing to understand how student loans work.

There are federal vs. private loans, you can pay them back in a variety of ways, and more.

Student loans are a big part of many people’s lives.

The average amount of student loan debt per borrower is $35,359 and 44.7 million people in the U.S. have student loan debt. [Read more…]

21 Ways You Can Learn How To Save Money In College

Last Updated: October 11, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Looking to learn how to save money in college? With ever rising college costs, it can really help your current and future finances if you learn how to save money.

Tuition for an in-state public college averages around $25,290. Private college tuition costs twice as much, at an average of $50,900, according to Value Penguin. If you want to go to an elite, four-year university, the cost jumps to $68,000 per year.

And, if you’re going to college for something like medicine or law, you may end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years that you are in school.

As you can see, college can be very expensive.

However, I want you to know that you can learn how to save money in college so you can get a valuable college degree on a realistic budget. [Read more…]

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

Last Updated: August 16, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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.

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…]

Credible Review – Refinance Your Student Loans And Save Money

Last Updated: April 13, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you looking to refinance your student loans? Student loan debt can easily become overwhelming to think about, especially as it can loom in the tens of thousands of dollars, some well over $100,000.

On average, a graduate of the class of 2015 has slightly over $35,000 in student loan debt.

And, if you have a law or medical degree, you may find yourself with an average of around $150,000 or $200,000 in student loan debt, respectively.

That’s a lot of money!

One thing I haven’t talked about much here on Making Sense of Cents is that there are many options for paying off your debt. One of these options is refinancing your student loans, which I’m going to explain further in this Credible review. [Read more…]

The College Costs Parents Need To Be Aware Of

Last Updated: May 12, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 6 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. 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.

College costs can vary widely.

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.

And, if your student is enrolled in higher education for something like medicine or law, college costs may reach hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years.

When most people think about the cost of college, they tend to only think about the price of tuition at a certain college. However, there are many other college costs that should be thought about as well. [Read more…]

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

Last Updated: September 20, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 47 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. 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.

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…]