Is it possible to get a 4-year college degree debt free?

February 5, 2018

The short answer – absolutely 100% YES you can graduate with a 4-year college degree and remain debt free!

If my 18-year-old daughter can make it through 4 years of college debt free, you or your child can too. Just read below for exactly how she is planning to do this.

One of the best things about being a parent is teaching your child important life-skills. The other best thing is when they actually use these life-skills. And let me say, our daughter is doing just that.

She achieved her Certified Nursing Assistant certification at the age of 16. This was offered free of charge through her high school. No big deal, right? Wrong. This allowed her to not only enter the “official” workforce, but at a rate that was much higher than minimum wage. She was paid nearly twice as much since she was a CNA as she would have gotten through other means of working.

At the age of 18, she became a Certified Fitness Trainer through a nationally accredited association. We paid the $500 fee for her, but she worked her tail off to make sure she passed. Again, no big deal, right? Wrong! She now owns her own business, collaborates with area gyms and fitness centers, and makes somewhere between $30 – $50 per session.

The latest achievement? Besides getting accepted to college, she started her own blog to teach others about fitness, nutrition, and other health related advice. In addition, she is a summer softball umpire and cleans office buildings for a couple of hours per day for extra cash. She has already achieved 4 to 5 streams of income by the age of 18.

Needless to say, I’m incredibly proud of this girl for setting goals, following good advice, and working for it instead of wishing (or whining) for it. I wish I was this far ahead at this age as she is! Now… on to paying for her upcoming 4-year undergraduate degree.

The Must-Do’s

1. Shop for a good tuition rate.

This may mean you need to go to a public school or an online school instead of a private school. Honestly, it’s not so much the school that matters, but how you apply what you learn that does. Choose an in-state college or a nearby state college that offers attendees from your state, in-state tuition rates.

2. Hunt for and apply for scholarships.

They are out there; you just need to find them. Search for local scholarships, state scholarships, scholarships relating to your major, and scholarships relating to your financial need and demographics. If you don’t do this, you are simply leaving free money on the table. Fastweb.com and Scholarships.com are good sites to start your search. While most scholarships are for incoming freshmen, we did find several that require at least one semester of college before you’re eligible. Keep track of these and make sure you apply for an extra potential boost of cash mid-first year.

3. Work and save money.

This is huge for getting ahead and staying ahead. Open a college savings plan for tax benefits. Ask family to give money or college savings contributions for birthdays and Christmas. Even if this isn’t in place before your child goes to college, working and saving will need to happen while they are in college.

The Costs per year

Here’s the breakdown for my daughter’s public, four-year college of choice:

College Tuition: $8,772
Books: $1,200
Housing: $4,114
Food Service: $3,558
Total: $17,644

Now, let’s trim!!

College Tuition: $7,677 versus $8,772 – saving $1,095 per year by taking 5 college classes while in high school
Books: $400 versus $1,200 – planning to save $800 here by renting, sharing, or buying used books
Housing: $4,114 – no trimming here as this is already the cheapest option…
Food Service: $3,154 versus $3,558 – saving $404 here by cutting the plan and purchasing cheaper alternatives
New Total: $15,345

This saves a total of $2,299 per year or $9,196 over the course of her four years at college!!

Plus, she expects to see even more savings when able to live off-campus and reduce the costs of housing and food even further. However, for the sake of this post, we’ll use the $15,345 per year cost.

Year One

This is the “get-ahead” year. Year one is bringing any cash, grants, scholarships, savings, and any other spare change to the plate to knock down the college costs bill. Even though you have extra financial help this year, it is critically important to work a part or full time job in year one. The goal is to not only pay down year one costs, but work enough to cover a good chunk of year two costs.

Here’s what our daughter is throwing at year one:

$15,345 room, board, books and tuition

-$3,500 scholarships (hoping to have more)
-$3,800 college savings plan
-$2,000 graduation cash
-$2,300 savings account and birthday money
-$3,800 mutual funds
-$9,784 planned funds from working

978 hours equals 41 weeks of work at 24 hours per week (three, 8 hr days per week). This is calculated using a payrate of approximately $13/hr which should be easy for her to accomplish using either her CNA or Personal Fitness Training certification.

$25,129 total debt kicked! $15,345 done for year one plus $9,784 for year two.

Year Two

$15,345 room, board, books and tuition

-$9,784 earned during year one
-$1,500 renewable scholarship
-$800 birthday and Christmas cash
-$9,784 planned funds from working during year two (same number of hours needed as year one)

$15,345 done for year two plus $6,523 for year three.

Year Three

$15,345 room, board, books and tuition

-$6,523 earned during year two
-$1,500 renewable scholarship
-$800 birthday and Christmas cash
-$9,784 planned funds from working during year three (same number of hours)

$15,345 done for year three plus $3,262 for year four.

Year Four

$15,345 room, board, books and tuition

-$3,262 earned during year three
-$1,500 renewable scholarship
-$800 birthday and Christmas cash
-$9,784 planned funds from working during year four (same number of hours)

$15,345 done for year four.

DONE!! FOUR-YEAR DEGREE EARNED DEBT-FREE!!

Where there is a will, there is a way. If you shop around for the best tuition rates, hunt for any and all scholarships, trim costs where possible, and WORK your tail off, there is no reason you should graduate in four years with much, if any, debt. Your 18-year-old adult child should expect to take this college investment seriously, focus on their studies, spend their spare time working, and graduate on time. What a great way for your child to take ownership of their future and set themselves up for financial success.