College on the Cheap – How the Sardonic Family Does It

The basic premise. Kids that graduate debt free. And pay for 100% of college themselves. That’s right; we don’t help them with tuition, room and board or books. (or cellphones, iPods, cars etc...)

First some history, we have 13 kids and they are all homeschooled through high school. We graduate them from high school at either age 16 or 17. That depends on how much they have worked ahead. The ones that finish 2 years early have skipped 8^th grade and done 11^th and 12^th grade concurrently. Why stay in high school longer than you have to? (In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller - “It's a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school.”) Plus they can get an early start on college, or whatever else they want to do with their lives. Graduating high school early is also a plus if you need to spread out your college education over 5-6 years due to finances.

During their last year of high school, in January, our kids fill out the FASFA form to get some wealth redistributed their way. Hey if the government is gonna steal…I mean tax…people’s money and give it away for free, my kids might as well get a slice of the pie. The FASFA form will tell you how much Pell Grant (the free stuff) money your kid qualifies for. It will also tell you how much student loan money they can borrow, two kinds, subsidized (lower rate) and standard (regular rates). We avoid the student loans like a prom date with body odor.

You will also want to check with your local politicians for scholarship money. My kids all get $200 per semester from two different state politicians.

While we don’t feel that college is a must, we do encourage them to at least go to community college for 2 years. After that if they want to get a job, go to trade-school, start their own business, be a beach-bum…it’s up to them.

After high school, the kids all go to community college for 2 years. Community college is MUCH cheaper than a 4-year University. We have a great community college about 25 minutes from us. We also have one 15 minutes from us that is even cheaper, but it’s in a not-so-nice neighborhood and has a bad reputation, so we choose to drive a bit further. The one we use is nationally ranked. The community college, in addition to being affordable, is linked into all the public universities in our state. (After CC our kids go to a state university). The community college insures that the courses they take will transfer to the state college they want to attend.

Another plus of community college, if the kid ends up being a dropout, very little money has been wasted.

And yes our kids go to public colleges, not Catholic ones. We don't see what $50,000 per year and a degree in philosophy gets you...other than a job at Starbucks and living in your parent's basement. The public universities our kids have attended have all had Catholic student groups on campus, some better than the others. And some used more by one kid then the other. But all the kids have kept their faith while in school.

Community college costs either $3,000 (in-county) a year or $6,000 (out-of-county) a year depending on which one is attended. The $3,000 one is in the ghetto, so we do the “out of county” $6,000 a year one with the great reputation and the great teachers. If you lived in our area you would understand. My kids all get between $4,000-6,000 in aid and scholarships each year during their community college days (more when attending a university). So the most they have to come up with is $2k per year. And since they have all been working throughout high school, this is not an issue. They have also been encouraged to save their money, it does them no good to work if they are blowing it all.

After 2 years of community college they move on to a 4-year state university. Some go to one close to home and commute; they get free room and board that way but have commuting costs. Others have chosen to go to a school farther away and live there which adds to the expense, obviously. They finance this by: using their savings, summer jobs and on-campus jobs. Plus whatever financial aid they have received, in some cases the aid/scholarship package has been enough to cover the costs.

State Universities in our state are around $8-$10k for tuition and about as much for room and board.

They buy their books used online. From places like Amazon, eBay and Textbooks.com. They get creative with ways to save money if living on campus. Like finding cheap housing and learning how to make inexpensive meals. Keeping a junker-bike to ride around campus. And other ways to keep costs down.

The results:

• Child #1 graduated 2 years ago with her Master’s degree at age 21 and debt free. She also had a job upon graduation.

• Child #2 will be a senior this year and graduating next May. He is 22, but was in seminary for 2 years after high school so he got a later start on college. He will be graduating debt free.

• Child #3 will be a senior this year and graduating next May. He will be graduating debt free.

• Child #4 has completed 2 years at community college and starts at her junior year at a State University in a few weeks. No debt as of yet and none planned.

• Child #5 graduated high school in the spring and is starting community college in a few weeks. So far she has the money to pay for school this year but needs to get her tush in gear and start working more.

So that’s how it has gone for the oldest 5 kids. They are doing great so far and setting a good example for their younger siblings.

Even if we could afford to pay for their college we wouldn't. Kids that pay their own freight party less and study more than kids that have momma and daddy pay for it. I'm proof of that.

***all posts applying to my family only - your results will be different***