Most high school students don’t have the high level of linguistics and math aptitudes to make a success of college, but if you think Junior is “college material” and have aspirations of having him earn a four-year degree, the time to start laying the groundwork is when he reaches middle school.
College costs have been skyrocketing for thirty years, with no end in sight. It is not unreasonable to begin your student’s journey into the realm of higher education by beginning your plan to finance this adventure.
The end product of this exercise will be a four-year college financial plan. Worried about the cost and don’t know where to start? Here are twenty-seven hacks for managing college costs.
Become “College” Financially Literate
This is the single most important thing your family can do, and most families are not going to do it.
Let me begin by sharing an anecdote with you:
Several years ago, my adult daughter had two boys about to graduate from high school. She had been working on their college plans for eighteen months. In December before their May graduation, the high school scheduled a financial aid planning session for the parents. I asked if I could tag along.
The school had invited in a financial aid officer from a nearby college. In her presentation, she took us through the various loans available. (In my opinion, that’s not financial planning, but the lady did know student loans inside and out.)
After the meeting, my daughter—much more of a social butterfly than her old man—must have talked to a dozen of her fellow parents as we worked our way out to the car.
When we got to the car, I looked at her, and she looked at me. At the same time, we both blurted out, “This is the first time these parents have thought about how to pay for college.” Approximately fifteen weeks before their kids were to receive their financial aid awards letters, these parents had done little or no financial planning.
As parents, you need to take the lead on this. With the high costs, uncertain outcomes, and the complexity of the financial aid system, it is too much to expect a teenager to handle. You need to become “college” financially literate.
Free Tuition
Who knows, maybe you live right, as in the “right” place. Thirteen states offer some form of a free tuition program for their residents at their four-year state schools: California, Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico. New York, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wyoming.
As a bonus, here are thirteen free or tuition free schools:
The Four-Year College Experience
The four-year college experience is a luxury many families can no longer afford. However, if this is your goal, choosing the right school, an affordable school, is a very big deal. This decision will be one of the major drivers of your financial plan. Your teenager and his high school guidance counselor are not going to be making the school decision. If Junior utters the phrase “dream school,” ground him for a month, or maybe ground yourself. It is your job to manage your student’s expectations.
Junior will be choosing an “affordable” college or university from a list of four-year institutions prepared with your guidance.
To prepare that list, you will need to understand the Net Price Calculator. (Almost every school has one on their website.)
How a Net Price Calculator Can Help You Pick a College
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/net-price-calculator/
- Junior’s credentials meet or exceed 75% of the freshman class. These schools will “want” your student, and he is likely to receive a generous tuition discount.
- Your family is aid-eligible not full-pay.
Go to the library and take out Frank Palmasani’s book, Right College, Right Price and Bonnie Snyder’s book, The New College Reality. In Snyder’s book, you want to focus on Chapter 6.
Branch College
When most people hear “Ohio State,” they think of the huge campus on the northside of Columbus, Ohio, famous for the ‘Shoe and football. It’s less likely that people think of the other Ohio State University campuses – the branches in Lima, Marion, Mansfield, and Newark. However, they are all part of the same university.
Although main campuses may offer more activities, more programs, different classes and a completely different lifestyle than branch campuses, it doesn’t necessarily mean one is better than the other. In fact, there are benefits of branch campuses that students should consider before attending the main campus.
First, the cost is probably cheaper. The tuition is usually much less. There may or not may be housing and meal plans.
Secondly, branches are smaller and offer students a closer experience with professors and students. If students prefer one-on-one connections with their professors and classmates where everybody knows each other’s names, branches can offer this. This can also make for an easier transition for students coming from smaller high schools.
Third, some branches are completely different from the main. Some branches specialize in specific majors – a benefit for students in those majors. (For example, UConn’s Avery Point campus in Groton offers specialization for marine sciences.)
Fourth, regardless of attending a branch campus or main campus, all of the diplomas (at least at most schools) will say the same thing. This can provide an automatic boost to students who may think attending the branch will be a negative on their resume.
The last benefit of attending a branch campus is even if students do not plan to attend the branch campus for all four years, transferring credits will be easier. By staying within the same university system, students are less likely lose any credits because most classes at a branch campus are at the main campus.
Online
The pandemic had a lot of effects on our society. For one thing, we now have a better understanding of “distance learning.”
In-person classes can be more engaging and provide a much better social experience than online classes.
However, we can’t ignore the advantages of online learning, affordability, flexibility, and convenience. In particular, in this post we are focused on cost. The cost of an online degree might be half the cost of a traditional college degree. There are a couple thousand colleges that have online offerings for degrees and classes.
Is Online College Right for You?
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/student-resources/how-to-decide-if-online-college-is-right-for-you/
Competency Based Education
Competency-based education (CBE) is a flexible way for students to earn a degree or certificate that replaces traditional, semester-based courses with demonstrations of competency in their discipline as a way for a student to earn a degree or certificate. Your student may be able to receive college credit for prior learning or transfer credits, which can help them earn their degree more quickly and at a lower cost.
Here are three schools that offer CBE: The University of Wisconsin Flexible Option (UW Flex), Western Governors University, and Texas A&M–Commerce.
Employer Benefit
Your student could find employment after high school with an employer who has a college tuition benefit. Live at home. Scrimp and save. Work and study. Grind out a bachelor’s degree worth $100,000 for pennies on the dollar. This is a tough option that will take a long time. It will require a lot of perseverance. Most young people will give up or lose focus. But it can be done.
Banks and insurance companies are a good place to start looking for an entry-level job with this type of benefit. Don’t overlook the obvious. Some colleges have a tuition benefit for their employees.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
In most families the subject of the FAFSA comes up in the fall of the student’s senior year. That’s way too late—the horse has already left the barn. For example, for FAFSA purposes, your family income is calculated during the “base year,” defined as the last half of your student’s sophomore year and first half of their junior year. That is the full calendar year beginning two years before high school graduation.
Planning for the FAFSA is sort of like tax planning, but more difficult. Somebody in your family, not Junior, needs to become an expert on the FAFSA, beginning now.
You may fail to qualify for much in the way of need-based financial aid, but if you are given advice to ignore the FAFSA, ignore that advice instead. The FAFSA has long tenacles. You would be wise to submit a FAFSA all four years.
A new FAFSA becomes available every year on October 1. File early, some aid is first-come-first-served. You may be offered nothing but federal student loans. That is not good, but we will deal with it later.
It is not too early to begin familiarizing yourself with the Student Aid Index (SAI), an index number generated by the FAFSA. (The SAI has replaced the dreaded Expected Family Contribution (EFC).) You may want to be sitting down the first time you try this. Pick a college—any college. Run your numbers through the Federal Student Aid Estimator and get an SAI.
Federal Student Aid Estimator
https://studentaid.gov/aid-estimator/
The FAFSA underwent a major revision beginning in 2024-2025. You will need an up-to-date book. I suggest The Princeton Review’s, Paying for College (2024).
Improve Your Standard Test Scores
Standard test scores, i.e. SAT and/or ACT, are an important part of the college application process. Often good test scores can lead to significant gift aid. It pays to take this seriously. Be aware that Junior is competing with students who started taking practice tests in the seventh grade. There are fourteen-year-old kids who have scored 35 or 36 on the ACT. If you are reading this when your student is a junior in high school, they need to catch up. They should (1) Set aside a specific period (or periods) of time each week to prepare. (2) Check with their high school guidance counselor on what is available at your school, e.g. practice tests, prep classes, tutoring, etc. (3) Make use of free or cheap materials available online or through bookstores.
If your goals are lofty, you might want to consider professional help for preparation or tutoring.
College Savings Plans
I lied when I told you that it was time to start laying the groundwork for college when Junior hit middle school. When it comes to student loans, compound interest is your student’s enemy. When it comes to saving for college, compound interest is your student’s friend. If Junior was a candidate for college from birth, you should have started a college savings plan. You also should have tried to enlist financial help from his grandparents by encouraging them to open their own accounts.
The most popular option is a 529 Savings Plan, formally referred to as a qualified tuition plan. Not only do many 529s come with state tax benefits, but withdrawals are also tax-free if used for certain education expenses. Qualified expenses include college tuition, fees, room and board, books, supplies and equipment, e.g. a laptop.
Other college savings plans include Coverdell and the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA).
A good book on this subject is Margaret Munro’s, 529 & Education Savings Plans for Dummies.
Grants
Generally, grants are awarded only to students with financial need. This is “free” money and usually does not have to be repaid. Grants are accessible through the FAFSA.
One common grant is the Federal Pell Grant. This grant is usually awarded only to undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree.
Scholarships
Scholarships, like grants, are “free” money that usually does not have to be repaid. Scholarships are given for all kinds of reasons, academic merit, financial need, athletic abilities, artistic talents, community service, leadership qualities, etc. They are available from a myriad of sources, including the FAFSA. A student should begin applying for college scholarships as early as middle school.
For a comprehensive view of all scholarship opportunities, I recommend reading The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2025 by Gen Tanabe and Kelly Tanabe.
Negotiate Your Financial Aid
College admissions offices don’t take too kindly to being lumped in with car salesmen or real estate agents. In particular, colleges get huffy when someone asks if they will “negotiate” a better price. The financial aid staff don’t negotiate, but they will listen to your “appeal.”
Appealing a financial aid awards letter used to be seen as a desperate last gasp. About 75% of financial aid appeals result in the student receiving additional aid, but yet, fewer than half of families appeal their aid award. There’s no harm in appealing: any college that has admitted your student wants them to attend, and asking for more money politely won’t change that. Your odds of success will be better if you understand both the type of aid you’re being offered and the process for appealing.
The best book to read on this subject is Mark Kantrowitz’s How to Appeal for More Financial Aid Award.
You should also try Home – TuitionFit. It is free. TuitionFit shows you the financial aid offers uploaded by other students whose ACT or SAT score, high school or college GPA, and SAI are similar to yours.
Student Loans
Almost any high school graduate can find a college or university that will accept them. Once accepted, no matter how weak a student they are, the government will probably hand them $27,000 to attend college for four years.
Parent Plus Loans/Cosigning Private Student Loans
Borrowing money for your student’s college is a very risky business. You are playing with fire when you take out a Parent Plus Loan or cosign a private student loan.
You have had eighteen years to prepare for this event, yet here you are, thinking about rolling the dice.
Advanced Placement (AP) courses and College Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests are two common ways to “test out” of college classes. If your student does well on their high school AP exams, they may be able to get college credit towards their degree. According to the College Board, most colleges will grant credit for popular AP courses. However, rules vary by college and academic department.
CLEP is not as popular as the AP program. However, about 2,000 colleges accept CLEP test scores.
Ideally, with AP and CLEP credits, Junior could graduate in just seven semesters, saving a boatload of money.
Dual enrollment (early college) is another popular way to potentially reduce college costs by helping your student skip two years of college.
Dual enrollment allows your student to take college classes, usually at a nearby community college, while they are still in high school. Doing so allows them to earn high school credit and college credit at the same time. Ideally, your student will graduate high school with an associate’s, degree, the credits of which will transfer to a four-year institution.
Commute
If Junior can live at home and commute, he can save money. Obviously, you have to be lucky enough to be within reasonable driving distance to an appropriate college. He is going to miss out on much of the “college experience,” but you will save $5,000 to $7,000 per year versus college room and board that runs about $12,000.
Be a Cheapskate
It is common for schools to require freshmen to live in a dorm and buy a meal plan. It makes sense with eighteen-year-olds making the adjustment of living away from home. Making a financial success out of abandoning the “campus cocoon” requires planning and a degree of maturity.
After his freshman year, maybe Junior could find three like-minded, compatible college friends and rent a bare bones apartment near campus. If he is creative and has the discipline, he could save thousands. The trick is to differentiate between lifestyle dollars and education dollars. Skip Chipotle’s and cook at home. Determine whether a smart phone is a need or a want. Buy supplies at Walmart and Target not the campus bookstore. Take advantage of every student discount, e.g. a no-fee bank account. Skip spring break at Cabo. Does this sound dreary? It depends on your mindset. If he is thinking four years into the future and visualizing avoiding $20,000 in student debt, the money he saves will make the payments on a very nice car.
Live on a Budget
Your student is going to need a budget, and they are going to have to stick to the budget.
If Junior has a car and plans to live on campus, at a minimum, have him leave it at home. Most car insurance companies have a special rate for this.
Depending on the school, public transportation can be hit or miss. However, a big plus is the availability of bus service at many schools, exclusively for college students, from campus to large cities. This service can solve the transportation problem for college breaks.
Student Savings
I take “student savings” to mean money set aside for college by the student working during high school. I have mixed feelings about this. The student is working for minimum wage. Unless the student uses a 529 for their savings, twenty percent of that value of that asset is lost in a reduction in need-based financial aid.
I’m a big believer in students having “skin-in-the-game. I suppose student savings qualifies. However, I would rather see a student focused on GPA, their SAT score, and extra-curriculars while working for pocket money.
Student Income
Making a success out of college these days is very difficult. Only 30% of those who matriculate succeed, graduate and score a well-paying, professional job. It is important that your student keeps their eye on the prize–college success is JOB #1.
The number of full-time undergraduate students who work hovers around 40%. The studies show that students can work fifteen hours a week without falling off academically.
If you can show financial need, you may be able to get a work/study job by checking the appropriate box on the FAFSA.
Obviously, during the summer, a student needs to go all out to “make bank.”
Some “experts” suggest taking a gap year to earn money for college. Statistically, that gap year reduces your probability of graduating college from 60% to 40%. In addition, the cost of college is going to increase during that gap year.
Don’t ignore the opportunity for your student to become a resident assistant.
Books
In my freshman year my tuition was $270. Today, books and supplies for a freshman average $1012. It’s worth a little bit of Junior’s time to try to trim that cost. Here are some online sources.
Buy: Abebooks, Textbooks
Buy or Rent: Amazon, Chegg, eCampus
Rent: knetbooks
Some colleges have book exchanges. If a book is only needed for a short period of time, the student can try to borrow it. Check out the local library or campus library. Campus libraries sometimes have textbooks on reserve that can be read in the library. Libraries might also offer e-books on Overdrive.
If your student is going to tackle their textbook expenses, they need to start early.
Get Help from Your Uncle
That is your “Uncle Sam.” If you pay federal income taxes, you may be able to trim as much as $10,000 off your student’s college costs over four years. Check out the American Opportunity Tax Credit on the IRS’s website.
Join the Military
Upon finishing 36 months of service, your student would be eligible for the GI Bill education benefits.
Don’t overlook the scholarships available through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. Offered at more than 1,700 colleges and universities in the U.S., the ROTC program provides participants a paid college education in exchange for committing to serve in the military after graduation.
Community College
It is very common for “experts” to suggest you consider the 2+2 Model, enrolling your student in a community college and having them transfer to a four-year institution to earn their bachelor’s degree. These experts have never bothered to look at the data. The success rate of this strategy is only 14%.
“Hidden” Costs
You need to be aware there are hidden costs that are not going to show up in your financial plan.
Failure to Finish in Four
If you don’t plan carefully, Junior is unlikely to graduate in four years, 60% of undergraduates don’t. The average college student needs five years to complete a four-year degree. Would $80,000 be enough money to motivate you to do some careful planning? That is how much that fifth year of college is going to cost. A year of living and studying on campus at a state university is about $25,000. And, if Junior had finished in four years, he could have gotten a job and earned $55,000.
You can’t rely on faculty advisors to keep your student on schedule. They have no skin-in-the-game. They may well be juggling too many students. I advise parents to take the lead on this, working in cooperation with their student. This is an important subject to cover before Junior leaves for freshman orientation.
Lack of a Career Plan
There are a variety of reasons students don’t finish college in four years, but changing majors is near the top of the list. Sixty percent of freshmen show up at orientation without a career plan. The conventional wisdom used to be, “No problem you have two years to figure out your major.” The cost of an extra semester or two of college has made that thinking obsolete.
Junior needs to choose a marketable major and create an academic plan that will serve as a guide through that maze that leads to a bachelor’s degree in four years or less.
Dr. Kevin Fleming describes the “College Decision Making Paradigm.” Typically, high school graduates choose a college and then a major. Then, at some point near graduation, they start thinking about a career. Dr. Fleming recommends flipping that paradigm by choosing a tentative career first, followed by a major, and, lastly, the college. This is the sequence that makes better sense when it comes to financial planning. For example, you can’t make an intelligent decision about student loans if you don’t have target starting salary.
Middle school is the perfect time to get your student thinking about a future career. There is no time pressure, and, if you keep your eyes open, you’ll see many opportunities, career night at your local hospital, a weekend science camp at a local college, a summer coding class at a local high school, etc.
Conclusion
Funding a college education is really difficult. College is a complex, multi-year, six-figure project. Your teenager doesn’t have the knowledge and skills to manage a financial project of this level of complexity. In my experience, many parents don’t either. I referenced six books in this post. I hope you will read them.
Notes
How to Prepare a Financial Plan for College
The 2+2 Model, a Surefire Path to Saving Big Bucks on College–NOT!
The 2+2 Model, a Surefire Path to Saving Big Bucks on College—NOT!
How to Use a Net Price Calculator
https://collegecost.ed.gov/net-price
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