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A few weeks ago, Stacy wrote a post about What the Bible Says About Debt and boy did it cause some “discussion” among readers. There were a few key schools of thought based on the comments and feedback from that post:
- Amen, preach it!
- You’re wrong. Debt is good and God wants me to be in debt.
- I want to live debt free, but I don’t see how you can get through ___(insert major life event)___ without debt?
image by j.o.h.n. walker
Since I don’t want to try to convince those in either of camps 1 or 2 differently (hey, everybody’s entitled to an opinion, right?), I want to aim this article at those who landed in camp 3. Most who had that thought mentioned college/higher education or buying their first home as the life event that couldn’t be done without taking on debt. This week, I’ll address the issue of college and student loans. Next week, I’ll get into buying a house without debt.
When I was in high school, there were two sets of my peers who were looking at college: the nerds who were going to get a college scholarship to any school they wanted and the “normal” kids who were going to get student loans. I fell somewhere in the middle based on my grades, but I had no intentions of getting loans for college so I got a job and also started looking for grant money for college. As I went through my Associates, Bachelors and Masters degrees, I learned a few things along the way that helped me graduate with no debt. I believe most of you can do these things too.
- Grants and Scholarships – Yes, if you have a high GPA, you’ve got a better chance at these, but if you’re a minority or have anything unique to offer, this may be a good opportunity for you to pursue. I joined one club at my local community college (costing me $50) and I got a half-off-tuition scholarship my first semester at the private university I transferred to (making that $50 investment worth several thousand). There are all kinds of places to search for grants/scholarships. Go to your guidance counselor’s office or even do some internet research and you’ll find all kinds of options.
- Work Part-Time – I held a job throughout my high school and college career. At one point in my second year of college, I had three part-time jobs. It was hard, but it was possible and it gave me the much-needed income to pay for it all without debt. Whether you work on campus (work-study or internships) or in “the real world”, working during school is not nearly as bad as the people who whine about it make it out to be.
- Go to Community College – I believe this is one of the best college decisions I ever made. I spent two years at a local community college before transferring to the private university I wanted to attend. I got a lot of the core classes out of the way, learned how to study (college is much different than high school), saved some money and worked to improve my GPA so I was a better scholarship candidate.
- Ask for Community and/or Church Support – If you’re active in the community and/or your church, it is not uncommon to get support from them. I spent a summer semester in Russia, studying at the Russian-American Institute in Moscow and virtually all of it was paid for by sponsors in my community and church. I asked for help and in return, I shared my experience by speaking to several groups on my return. It was a great experience in fundraising, public speaking and character building.
- Seek Employer Reimbursement – Time for me to fess up. I have had one student loan. When I went to graduate school for my MBA, I got a student loan because my employer wouldn’t pay anything until after I completed the semester with a B or better average. So I’d get the loan in the exact amount of what my employer would reimburse and then pay it off as soon as the reimbursement came in. Good plan? NO. I learned as I was finishing up that program that if I had simply gotten a letter from my employer stating what they would pay and under what conditions, the school would have waited to bill me until that time. So I got a loan when I didn’t even need to! See…live and learn. If you have an employer who will offer any type of school reimbursement, check into it. Where I worked, I had 80% of my MBA tuition paid just by filling out five or six pages of paperwork each semester and getting decent grades.
There are lots of other ways you can avoid college debt. Yes, there are educational programs out there that cost $100,000 or more for a degree. Don’t use those as an excuse to avoid trying to stay out of debt for school. Even though I know some of you will chide me for saying this, I truly believe if it is important enough to you to stay out of debt, you will work hard and find ways to make it happen.
NOTE: See the comment below from Cy about CLEP exams.
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*This post is linked at Frugal Days Sustainable Ways at Frugally Sustainable, at Finer Things Friday on Amy’s Finer Things, and at Works for Me Wednesday on We Are That Family.
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About Barry
Hi, I'm Stacy! Welcome to Stacy Makes Cents! I'm a naturally-minded, frugal living mama, who likes to blog about living debt free in everyday life. Delicious (and healthy) recipes, money tips, and frugal living posts abound here! Enjoy your stay. Romans 13:8 
I completely agree with you!! We are debt free, and we plan on paying for our next home with cash. But, I just don’t know how I can possibly go to grad school without student loans. I pay for my undergrad in cash, but pharm school will be about 35k a year for 4 years. That’s cheap compared to some schools, but still impossible. And working is not an option.
I guess I’ve kind of resigned myself to it…. I don’t know what else to do.
Jessi, I agree it is VERY hard to raise that kind of cash without loans, but break the number down to how much you need per month/per day and set goals based on those bite-sized chunks of cash. Once you’ve done that and found out how much you might be lacking, check into work programs that will pay for school in exchange for working for them once you graduate. It isn’t just the military that will do that kind of thing. You can go to school and sign an agreement that you’ll work with them for X number of years. Those programs exist, although I admit I’m not sure about how to track them down. Something to think about and start asking around to see if you can get the benefit.
Also, check your public library or nearby college/university library in the Pharmacy book & textbook section for a catalog of parmacy specific scholarships/grants. I did this for nursing and there, hidden in the stacks was a 500 page book that the library buys every 3rd year (so you don’t have to) with every possible scholarship/grant opportunity available at the time. The book lists the information by type, level of study, and date due! My cousin is getting ready to start Pharmacy School and I know it’s a grueling program! Blessings & Good Luck!
Leah, GREAT comment! I love all the free resources that are available at libraries! Thanks for chiming in to give readers even MORE opportunities to get an education debt free!
CLEP exams are an incredible way to save money on college that not enough people know about. CLEP stands for “College Level Examination Program.” Essentially, CLEP offers multiple-choice exams in many different subjects. If a person passes one of these exams, college credit is awarded for that particular subject.
Most colleges and universities will accept at least 30 credit hours of CLEP credit. And there are some schools….like Liberty University, Troy University, University of Wyoming, and others….that will accept up to 60 credit hours of CLEP credit.
The best thing about CLEP exams is how cheap they are. Each exam only costs $77. So if you acquire 30 credit hours of CLEP credit, this only comes to $770. Cheapest college credit ever!
Another interesting thing about CLEP exams is the fact that a few of them are worth up to six credit hours each. Pass one exam for six college credits? You bet! You don’t even have to be a genius to pass a CLEP exam. There are many CLEP prep guides available at your local bookstore or on E-Bay.
CLEP exams are open to anyone who wants to take them. You don’t even have to be currently enrolled in a college/university to sign up. And if you do happen to fail an exam, no record of the attempt is made. You just wait six months (required) and take the exam again (if you want to).
http://clep.collegeboard.org/exam
Cy, you ROCK!
Thanks for passing along that information! I’ll make a note in the post for people to check out your comment.
Cy, this is yet another reason people need your info! I had no idea the details about the CLEP Exam. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Stacy: you may delete my weird post above.
Cy, I wish I would have known all about CLEP 3 years ago. I was told that I could CLEP through my english classes, but those were the only “fun” classes, so I wanted to do them anyway.
I would have loved to clep through some other things…
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Done!
This is fabulous advice. These are all things I wish I had known BEFORE I started college way back when
Greetings from the ocean shores of California, Heather 
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Heather
I completely agree with the community college thing. I recommend that to SO MANY people. Honestly, employers don’t care where you took your core classes, they just care where you graduated from (and that you graduated!) Can you imagine a job interview where they say “Well, I see that you graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, but I am interested in knowing where you took Freshman English? And where did you earn your 6 credit hours in physical education?”
You’re SO right! And for the most part, even your graduating college doesn’t matter (unless you’re wanting to be a lawyer). Like you said, they just want to know you graduated. The forms always say “what was your highest level of education completed?” Not “where did you get your diploma?” lol
Yes, hindsight is always 20/20 and so is God’s grace!
Thankful that I now “know better” so my children will know differently! Great post, Barry!
Train up a child…
Looking back over my college experience I see many ways that I could have changed things and not taken out the massive amount in student loans that I did. Between my husband and I we have a mortgage worth of student loans. We talk to our children constantly about education and how to get an education without taking out loans. We have also talked about how getting an education doesn’t mean going to a college always. As long as they learn a skill that will allow them to support themselves and their families that’s the important thing. We don’t want them to start out life under the massive amount of debt that we did.
Amy, I agree 100%! Barry and I have always said that we didn’t care if Annie went to college – but we did want her to learn a trade….it’s usually more useful anyway.
What a great thing to teach your children!
When can we expect to see the post on buying a house debt-free? This has been a big debate between the hubs and I since early in our dating days! And we are both waiting with bated breath to read your thoughts and tips. We WANT to own a home, but we don’t think God wants us to be in debt up to our eyeballs in order to do so. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Boy, I wish I had read this post years ago, before I took out a ton of student loans!! I worked all through college (sometimes as many as 3 part-time jobs), but that just helped pay my rent and groceries – and I went to a local community college for 2 years. I currently owe a little over $20,000, but it might as well be 20million.
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Nikki, don’t give up on kicking this debt’s butt! I don’t know your financial situation, but I’m sure I’m counseling plenty of folks who are in it a lot worse. Make a plan, put it into action and make the debt go away!