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What are some ways to minimize costs while attending a college or university?

I plan to enroll at Eastern Washington University which has an estimated cost of attendance at $88k for four years. It's a lot of money and I would at all costs prefer to avoid loans. #college #scholarship #savings

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Rosie’s Answer

I worked several part-time jobs around my class schedules. Needless to say, I rarely slept. There are also thousands of scholarships that are available online, and every $100 scholarship can add up to thousands of dollars.

Rosie recommends the following next steps:

Do a quick Google search for scholarships.
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Fatimah’s Answer

Live at home or with family instead of in the dorms. Have a work-study job on campus. Get a part-time job off campus. Work as an RA in the dorms (your housing is free while you are an RA). Buy used books.

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Sam’s Answer

  • Try to buy all of your books from people who already took the classes in question (juniors, seniors) instead of a bookstore
  • Get a part-time job on the weekends or flexible hours at night (restaurants, bar-backing, work-study)
  • Meal prep and cook if you have a kitchen available
  • Learn the local bus system (cut down on ubers, etc.)
  • Save 25% of every paycheck
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Nicole’s Answer

College can be really expensive but scholarships can always make it a little cheaper! Many websites offer easy to apply for scholarships and those can really add up! One of the websites I used to find scholarships is Niche. I would apply to a bunch of scholarships, no matter how small because it will all help!
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Katie’s Answer

Before purchasing textbooks, Google to see if there are free or price-reduced PDF versions that you can use instead of a hard copy. Just be sure to check if they are a similar edition/publishing date as the one being used for class to ensure the information is the most up to date. Time permitting, join campus organizations that will often have free food during meetings to save on meal costs (and bring a tupperware in case there's extra that you can bring home for later!) Depending on where your college is, getting a job at a local restaurant may allow you to earn more through tips than you would earn at an on-campus job.
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Ken’s Answer

It really does not matter what school you attend, as the most important factors are how well you do with the school work, which is an indication to an employer about what kind of employee you will be, and the effort that you put forth in your networking to set up networking connections that will help you throughout your education/career journey. Here is an important video for you to watch: ## http://www.ted.com/talks/julie_lythcott_haims_how_to_raise_successful_kids_without_over_parenting?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=talk&utm_term=education ##


Here are some good tips for reducing costs in college. Too many people spend way too much on an education unnecessarily and end up with very high debt that is very difficult to repay and does not really balance out when looked in a cost benefit analysis: ##  http://www.educationplanner.org/students/paying-for-school/ways-to-pay/reduce-college-costs.shtml

Ken recommends the following next steps:

Many people, including myself, have gotten a good start at a community college.
The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and at the local community college who tracks graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
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Brandon’s Answer

The cost for education can be very overwhelming. While you do have the options for student loans, I would personally not recommend that method until it is your last option. As many people that have already applied have stated, scholarships are the most likely the most common way that you can help pay your tuition. Using scholarships, they can help you reduce the amount of money you pay by thousands if you look in the right place. There are many different types of scholarships as well all from differing amounts.

From what I have seen in my experience, it might be good to apply to a varying amount of large and small scholarship prize amounts. With the larger amounts, they can be more competitive and the chances of someone getting it becomes slim. With the smaller amounts, less people apply for those, but you would need to win many of these smaller scholarships in order to gain even a small portion of the large scholarship amount.

You could also try getting a part-time occupation and applying for financial aid, which can tremendously lower the potential cost.

What I've done is go to community college first before going to University for my degree. This can be a lot cheaper, and you can also get your Associates degree (depending on what major you are going for). Depending on the college you can use the credits you get from community college for University.
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