In this book, written in 2019, Oneal tries to debunk the thought that student loans are the only way to pay for college. He talks a lot about preparing for college beginning with the middle school years and how that can save a family money for college. He said that sometimes parents feel guilty for not saving for their child’s education so they might take out second mortgages, borrow from their retirement, or take out high interest rate loans. Those decisions can hurt the family for years..
By allowing the student to “have some skin in the game”, it helps them to learn the value of money and getting a college degree. Some ways to do that include having the student work part time during high school, put some time into searching for scholarships, getting good grades and test scores. All of these things can also keep student loan down.
Oneal puts a lot of emphasis on career exploration, saying that the more students can explore careers, the more focused they can be in college (not changing majors as often) and thus save more money. He mentions that 40% of those who start college do not earn a degree within 6 years. He also says that 70% of adults do not love what they do. Thus the importance of career exploration during high school years.
Some specific ways he mentions to keep loan debt down include the following:
1. Select a less expensive school (less expensive meaning lower out of pocket cost and better scholarship offers)
2. Working part time either through the work-study program or an off campus job
3. Become a resident assistant in a dorm (usually get free room and board)
4. Select a lesser meal plan or work in dining hall on campus (possible free meals)
5. Apply for more scholarships
One of the examples he gives about applying for scholarships is a student that dedicated 1 hour per day while in high school to look for and apply for scholarships. She earned $88,000 in scholarships!! He suggests that if a student can spend 1 hour a day on social media, they can spend 1 hour per day looking for scholarships…
He also mentions that some students think they will be able to pay off their student loans after graduation through loan forgiveness programs. He shares a statistic which states that less than 1% of those who applied for loan forgiveness actually received it! This is mainly due to all of the requirements which must be met in order to qualify.
This book is a fairly quick read, only about 200 pages. I found it interesting that Oneal writes about many of the things that we at ICAN recommend that students (and parents) consider when planning for post-secondary education. I recommend this book for parents of students of any age. It offers some good points to think about and hopefully act upon.
If you need someone to bounce ideas off of when it comes to planning for life after high school and keeping student loan debt down, feel free to contact us at ICAN!
John - ICAN Waterloo and Hiawatha Centers
