“I’m basically going to be paying these back for a long time” my friend says as he looks at me with melancholy eyes. “I made $3,000 dollars this summer, but that maybe covers room and board, so I have to take out most of the rest in student loans.” Knowing what the college that he attends costs that “rest” ads up to more than $10,000 a semester or more than $80,000 for his degree.

     College is expensive. It can drag your life into chains before you’ve really started it. Let’s take a quick look at what is so many people’s reality, and what very well could be my friends. You graduate from college, one of the happiest days of your life, you had fun in college, but you met someone special in college and wanted to get a job before you got married. You get a job and make that special someone your wife or husband, you have a great apartment and a nice car, but something doesn’t feel right. Then you get it not only do you have the cares and cost of your new household weighing on your shoulders, but you also have four years of college expenses wrapped around your legs. You look a little closer at your college debt thinking that it couldn’t be that much, to your horror not only did you have college debt, but so did you significant other your combined debt comes to a total of $60,000. More than you and your wife make in an entire year.

     Unfortunately college debt takes couples and families years to repay. Depressing isn’t it? Just because this is what so many people choose to take on debt to grow through college doesn’t mean you have to too. Yes I understand that making even $3,000 a summer isn’t a possibility for you and your parents can’t help you pay for any of it. Its okay let me show you what you can do to keep yourself out of debt. 

     Before I go on though let me tell you a little about my story. My name is Justin Powell I grew up in a rural farming community in Ohio. I was homeschooled since what seemed like the day I was born. Mom always had a way of continually adding learning into everything we did. I enjoyed my homeschooling time. When I was a senior my mother had pretty much taken me as far as she could and since I had 5 younger siblings, she was pretty busy anyway.  So my senior year of high school  I decided to go to a local community college to get a year of general elective credits out of the way before I went to my regular four year college. This was a great experience, I got a year out of the way and saved $25,000 in the process. After my year at the community college I want off to the college that I planned on spending the last three years of my college experience.

     Looking back on my college experience I laugh sometimes at the expectations and plans that I had. Here I was thinking that I would spend three years at college, have a great time, graduate, and go my own happy way. That’s not what happened. Long story short God opened some doors and led wise counselors in my path and I’ll end up graduating from a completely different college than the one I started with, I’ve spent time in Washington D.C. observing the 2008 elections, and the best part is I’ll graduate just two years out of college with no debt. When I look back on the circumstance that led me to where I am I can’t help, but stand amazed at the gracious hand of God that led me to the right people and places at the right time.

     College is kind of one of those funny things, people pay colleges $100,000 and think that the college is being benevolent for teaching them. This needs to stop. Students need to think of themselves as the consumers that you are. As a consumer you need to find the best deal for your money. Your are paying for a service, would you pay more than you have too? Don’t get me wrong go to your dream school, but let’s go to it for as cheap as possible. Also just because you don’t take all the classes from your dream college doesn’t mean that you still don’t get the college experience or your degree from that school. Your object for classes should be to get as much knowledge as you can from college classes no to sit through dry boring professors who care to be there less than you do (and there will be those professors). Here are some major methods for getting lots of college credits and learning a lot without breaking the bank and sitting through unnecessary classes.

        CLEP Tests

     If you know what you want to do going into college and are proficient (which nearly every homeschooler is) in the basic general elective subjects of reading, writing, math, and the sciences you can CLEP out of them. CLEP tests are proficiency exams that students can take to get credits for knowledge they have already acquired. These tests are highly recommended for students who know a lot about a particular subject or who are good self studiers. These tests can save you a lot of time, and since you usually pay only$80 for the test, which if passed gives you anywhere between 3-6 credits, can save you a lot of money as well.  With practice and some study, any good student should be able to pass at least on semester (15) worth of these tests. Taking these CLEP tests instead of going to a regular college for an extra semester will save you on average $9,600($80 per CLEP times 5 CLEPs gives you 15 credits and expenses of $400, Average college cost per semester in the US $10,000). I don’t know about you, but I would rather take my $9,600 and go on a trip to Europe rather than spending it sitting in a class room learning things I already know.     

College in High School     

     College brings many challenges, the prospect of moving away from home, being in a class room setting for a change, and growing up can be absolutely frightening. All these changes don’t have to take place at once though, experiencing some college classes in high school is a great way to kind of ease into the classroom.    

     My sister, a lifelong homeschooler, is 16 with a couple years of college already under her belt. She plans on graduating high school and college at the same time. You might be thinking, “Justin that’s fine for geniuses like your sister, but I am just not a genius.” Dear not a genius, I understand I am not a genius either, but I was able to go to a community college my senior year of high school and get one year out of the way (which saved me $25,000). If I can do it, a very average student, so can you.      

     Most states have a program where you can go to college while in high school, and your credits will count for both high school and college. My sister didn’t want to go to the local community college or any school for that matter, it’s okay this programs pretty flexible, she found a respectable Christian online University (Liberty University) to get her degree through. There’s lots of different options with this program, you can go full time or just take a couple classes, you can go through a local school and get the college paid for by the state or you can pay for it yourself and keep your kids unenrolled, the options are limitless.

Supplemental Online Classes

     Online classes are a wonderful way to supplement credits you’re taking in class into your four (well was four years) year school. Online classes are a lot less expensive than regular in class classes and many times online classes only lasts half the length of a traditional semester long class. With these online classes you could take 15 credit hours at your regular college and then take two online classes for eight weeks a piece and come out with 21 credit hours for that semester.  The wonderful part about online classes is that you can get the benefit of some of the best professors in the world. The average savings for this plan for each semester: $1,200 a semester ($200 a credit for online classes, times two six credit classes is $1,200 or $400 a credit for traditional classes is $2,400).        

Summer Internship 

     Colleges and universities love to give credit for work experience, so during one of your summer breaks instead of working as a waiter or migrant worker find a job in the field that you might eventually want to go into and work the summer there. It’s not uncommon to get anywhere from 6-12 credits for a summer internship. You might not make as much money for the summer, but if you can get credits for your internship it can cut a half a year off your college time (which means having your degree a half a year sooner). Also if you do a really good job at your internship, you have a good chance of getting a job there after you graduate.    

     Another one of my college friends received an unexpected check not too long ago for $1,000. I knew he was paying for college with loans so I figured he would pay off some loans, in fact I practically begged him to do so. One brand new guitar and his $1,000 was gone. This semester I found out that he couldn’t afford to come to college, hmmm I wonder why? This young man did not understand the value of a dollar, the likelihood that he ever worked for one isn’t real great. He will someday, though, and sad to say since he won’t have a college degree he’ll probably have to work a lot harder for it. 

    Let’s not let this young man become you.  As a homeschooler you have to much potential to let college debts tie you down, just because everyone else goes into debt doesn’t mean you have too. If you write out a plan for your college years that tells what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it I can assure you that this young man’s story won’t become yours.