myUsearch blog

Renting a home in college is very much a rite of passage, like your first kiss or learning how to drive a stick shift. In fact, even if you plan to live in the dorms, the odds are you won’t live there for your entire four years: many colleges require you to live in the dorms your first year, but after that, you’ll likely want to find your own housing.

When the time comes to do this, it can be stressful: finding the right location, finding something you can afford, and finding a place that doesn’t look like it’s violating every section of the local health code can all be stressful. (more…)

A year’s tuition and room and board, even at a state school, often adds up to more than $20,000. If you’re planning to attend a private college or university, you could pay more than $50,000 annually. For decades, smart students have exercised the college choice of community college to cut down this cost, yet there are other ways to save both money and time in college. Let’s take a look at your college choice options:

• Option one:  Earn college credit for knowledge you already have.  You have several options to choose from, including AP exams, CLEP exams, and DSST/Dante exams. These evaluation tests offer different options for earning credit for advanced work or knowledge you already possess. Check them out carefully.

• Option two:  Take courses online.  StraighterLine, for example, offers college courses that you can take online at a very low cost.  Another option is to make use of StraighterLine’s innovative Partner College Program. It offers a streamlined college admissions process to students who have completed StraighterLine courses online.

• Option thee:  Attend a college that offers a three-year degree program. Hartwick College and Wesleyan University are now offering three-year programs for certain college majors.  More colleges are joining them.  If you search online for the key term “three-year college degrees” from time to time, you can monitor this trend and find schools that are starting to offer three-year degree programs. Remember that many of these schools still charge pretty hefty fees for the three years while you attend, but if you can trim one year from the process, that will translate into pretty significant savings.

As the price tag for a college education continues to increase, it is no surprise that the thought of how to pay for it weighs heavily on parents and students.  For too many families, this concern may present a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, but like most obstacles, there may be another way around.  Here are five ways to find aid for college:

photo by alan cleaver_2000

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Why pay full price for college? Here are five strategies that can cut costs by 25 percent or more and take the pain out of finding aid for college. 

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As warmer weather nears, students begin to think about the end of classes and the beginning of vacation time and outdoor activities. Unfortunately, having fun often requires money, that’s why it’s not too early to start thinking about summer jobs.

Photo by Les.Butcher

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