Other Ways to Pay for Your Education

Submitted by: Freman

So it seems that you can't pay for your college education because you don't have the money to pay for such an expensive tuition. Don't worry because there are other ways to pay for the education that you so well deserve. These options usually fall into three different categories: Free money, student loans and work-study. So as long as you can get out there and start applying, it is still possible to pay for that expensive Ivy League school of choice.

Free money is basically what it sounds like. It is money given to you to be used for your education that you never need to pay back. These usually come in two types of forms and those are either scholarships or grants. Scholarships are given usually by organizations that support some theme which you have to qualify under to be even eligible to receive the scholarship. But don't worry, there are hundreds of thousands of different kinds of scholarships so there is bound to be several that you are qualified for. The second type of "free money" is known as a grant. There are usually given by the government, federal and state, by the school itself and sometimes by private organizations. The most popular grant to college students is the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant or the FSEOG. To be eligible for this grant, you must fill out an application for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid more commonly known as the FAFSA application. These grants usually come by a first come first serve basis so it's best to fill out and turn in your applications as early as possible.

The second way to pay for your college education is by student loans. And as the name gives it away, this type of money is a loan so you need to pay it back with an interest rate which is usually fixed once you are finished with your education. Unlike scholarships and grants which grant you from a range of a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars, loans allow you to borrow a lot more from the government or the private organization. Two of the most common types of loans are the Federal Stafford Loans and the Federal Parent PLUS Loans. The Federal Stafford Loan is a simple-interest loan where a student borrows the money in their own name and the Federal Parent PLUS Loan is a low-interest loan that allows the parents of the student to borrow up to 100% of the total expenses to their child's education. To be eligible to receive these loans, a FAFSA application must be filled out and turned in.

The third and last way to pay for your education is the work-study program. How a work-study program works is that you will work off your expenses on or nearby campus while attending your college or university at a rate starting at minimum wage or higher. There are an extremely limited amount of positions available so there are given out at a first come first serve basis.

Now that you know there are other options out there for you to receive that education you so earnestly deserve, get out there and grab it with your own hands.