Just Say "No" to Debt and "Yes" to Savings

By Ellie Kay © 2011

College financing experts receommend avoiding any college funding plan that includes a home equity loan, a HELOC (home equity line of credit), or the refinancing an existing home mortgage with a longer term. Thousands of families who went this route of funding college before the great recession ended up losing their homes when the housing bubble burst and the stock market tanked. “Parents don’t want to deprive their children of top-notch education, but neither do they have to borrow from their own futures to fund their child’s future” says Larry Shover, the author of Trading Options in Turbulent Markets (Bloomberg Financial, 2010).

It’s also important to consider saying “no” to all the “extras” in a dorm room or an apartment when you can get them for free. Daniel, from Fort Worth said, “I was able to graduate debt free from school by trying to furnish my place with a lot of free things. I checked freecycle and other websites where I could trade items or get them for free. It really helped a lot.”

Once a student has been accepted to college, settled into the dorm and stocked the mini-fridge, the expenses don’t stop there. Besides tuition and boarding costs, the next largest expenditure is textbooks. Students can also say “no” to the average $600 expense that most students spend on these critical resource materials.

A quick and easy way to save money is to head to the on-campus bookstore and review the variety of affordable choices including new, used, rental and digital. By renting, students can save 50 percent or more on textbooks. Audrey, from Quartz Hill, CA said, “We rented textbooks for the first time this year and saved 51 percent. That’s a huge savings that will really help our family.”

These on-campus stores also maintain the largest used textbook selection in the industry. Furthermore, by paying for books with a campus card, students can make the most of financial aid. And by purchasing at your on-campus bookstore, your money is being put back into the very university community that provides you with an education for your future. A final way to say “no” is in the area of shipping costs by shopping online and then picking up course materials at the on-campus store.

Ellie Kay is a national radio commentator, a regular expert on ABC NEWS NOW Good Money Show, a popular international speaker, and the best-selling author of fourteen books including her newest release, The 60 Minute Money Workout (Waterbrook, 2010).