Educating a child is becoming an increasingly expensive activity. While government schools provide a certain level of education, college tuition and fees are consistently outpacing wage growth. Even private tuition and summer schools are becoming more expensive, so that the sticker price feels like a punch in the gut.
If your family is currently looking at ways to pay for education costs, take a deep breath. Being grounded and knowing the strategies that work can significantly lower your out-of-pocket costs.
So, what can you do to lower education costs? What strategies are available to you?
Don’t let the sticker price of a school put you off
The sticker prices of many schools and colleges are simply what they advertise to the average person online. Sometimes the full cost is only paid by international students. Unfortunately, data show that around two-thirds of families rule out specific educational establishments based on their sticker prices before exploring financial aid and no essay scholarships.
The reality is that most people paying for private education don’t pay the full price. Instead, they calculate the net price after factoring in things like federal grants and institutional aid.
Before crossing the school off your list, you want to figure out how much these grants are worth to you and whether you can access them. You also want to take into account the lower cost of allowing your child to live away from home if they get room and board. While room and board might cost some money, you also save on additional shopping and supplies for your home.
Leverage community colleges
Another highly effective way to deal with education costs is to leverage community college. These allow kids and young adults to complete general education requirements and then transfer to a four-year institution. The introductory math and English at these institutions tends to be quite good, and the price you pay per hour of tuition is far lower than if you went to a conventional college or sent your child to a conventional college or university.
You can also transfer credits from community colleges to institutions that offer bachelor’s degrees. Sometimes this allows you to shorten the length of time your child needs to spend at an expensive institution, perhaps down to one year, reducing the risk of debt in the future.
See Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) as mandatory
Viewing the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) as mandatory is a great way to give yourself the best chance to reduce education costs. Many families assume that they earn too much to qualify for federal need-based grants, but the reality is that many don’t. When they go through the numbers with their accountants, they often find that their earnings are lower than they expected or fall into a different bracket.
There are also other programmes available, including work-study programmes, which require an FAFSA on file. These can be helpful for obtaining non-need-based aid and merit-based aid. It may also be helpful when you need to borrow money, and you may receive better consumer protections when you operate this way compared to bank loans. Where possible, look for credit instead that doesn’t charge high amounts of interest.
Grants from the government are probably the best example of this, and scholarships are also essentially free money to encourage a more diverse array of students.
Rethink sending your child out of state
Another thing you might want to do is rethink the idea that you need to send your child out of state. While it might be an attractive option for them to travel a long distance and go to a public university in another location, it also means paying tuition premiums that are really worth the long-term debt.
Right now, most states have high-quality educational establishments, so the necessity to travel is minimal, especially if it’s a choice between two equal universities or institutions of equal quality. Public in-state universities often highly subsidised tuition for local residents. This means that you can find top-tier research opportunities nearby for degree-aged children instead of paying a massive premium for the perceived lifestyle of going out of state.
Think about how your child is going to respond later in life if they have to leave college with overwhelming monthly loan payments. Sometimes these will eat up their entire early career disposable income and mean they have to live at home with you anyway.
Tailor your application to where you’re wanted
Another important piece of advice is to strategically tailor applications to where your child is wanted. This might sound like a strange strategy, but many educational establishments look to diversify their student base in order to meet certain internal and external requirements.
Let’s say that your child’s GPA scores place them within the top 10% to 15% of a college’s applicant pool. If this happens, they’re much more likely to accept your child, while also increasing the likelihood that they’ll be able to obtain a scholarship or grant of some description. You’re much more likely to receive a standard financial aid package with institutional discounts.
Ultimately, the goal of any parent worried about education costs is to think about the financial situation carefully in advance. Scholarships aren’t guaranteed, but they can be a great way to cut costs considerably. You may also want to look at your lifestyle and income potential and see if you can move the needle in either direction.
If educating your children is really important to you, then you might want to downsize to a smaller apartment or accommodation. You could also look at increasing your income by taking on a side gig or looking at ways you could advance in your existing career. Often, moving laterally from one company to another is the best way to increase your income.
If you’re struggling to find scholarships available in your area, there are now plenty of platforms online that categorise all of the grants available for specific institutions. These range from high schools to universities across the country.
