By Christopher Maag
There was a time that getting a college degree was considered a necessity for a financially successful life, and while it may hold true that college graduates earn more than high school graduates, skyrocketing tuition, the accompanying student loan bubble and an anemic economy means that higher education can pose a financial risk. A big one.
"We're at a point where student debt is crowding out other kinds of spending, making it impossible for people to buy a house or a car," says Mitchell Wiess, a former banker who co-founded the Center for Personal Financial Responsibility at the University of Hartford. "It's not sustainable."
That's especially true for middle-aged students. People who return to school after age 40 have fewer years of employment to help repay expensive school loans, and they also need to be setting money aside for retirement.
"How do you compete with a 25-year-old with the same master's degree, and you're middle-aged?" Weiss says.
One way to compete is to minimize your costs from the outset. Here is Weiss's seven-step plan for students -- middle-agers and younger -- to reduce or eliminate their student loan debt.
Perhaps the best thing about both AP and CLEP tests is that students who score well enough can submit their scores to their college or university. Many schools accept the tests in lieu of taking (and paying for) classes. At most schools, students can swap tests for up to 12 credits toward graduation, Weiss says.
That means you can save yourself a semester's worth of tuition simply by taking a few tests.
"When you're paying for it yourself, that's a big deal," Weiss says.
But there's a way to get the four-year degree without paying four years of astronomical tuition: Transfer in. Most elite colleges and universities accept up to two years' worth of credits from less prestigious (and less expensive) schools. It's the same route followed by one former student who spent two years at Columbus State Community College (tuition: $3,555), and transferred the credits to Harvard (tuition: $37,576), says Will Kopp, a spokesman for Columbus State.
"As an employer, I care more about where they end up than where they started," says Weiss, who hired workers for the financial services companies he led until retiring four years ago.
"And you don't have to knock yourself out," Weiss says. "Just take a class at a time. That way you still get to have a vacation."
Here's another way to think of it. If you don't load up on credits, and stick with the normal 12 credits per semester, "You're paying 50 percent more per credit than if you take 18," Weiss says.
What happens when you're feeling burned out from an 18-credit semester? Take 10 credits the next. Dropping just below your school's definition of a full-time student also means you pay much less than full-time tuition. Weiss advises students to take this waxing-and-waning approach as a way to graduate faster, stay sane, and save money.
Many college administrators don't like it when students play such tricks. Weiss's advice: Fight back.
"The schools like the current system because they get paid," Weiss says. "You have to advocate for yourself."
Here's the advanced version: Apply for small scholarships. Many students apply for big ones, which offer tens of thousands of dollars a pop. But there's far less competition for smaller ones, which may five only $250 to $500 each.
That means you have a much better chance of winning. Weiss knows a student who strung together a number of such small awards to cover almost $5,000 of his first year's tuition.
"It was a pain in the ass," Weiss says. "But he had a great strategy."
This means that for people in middle age, the most important decision you make about college may have little to do with college itself. It may come years before, when you decide where to apply for work. Don't consider just the up-front pay, Weiss advises. Employers who offer tuition reimbursement also tend to value their employees, and give workers the schedule flexibility they need to attend early night classes.
"You want to know that your employer has a stake in this," Weiss says.
And if you're roundly spurned by employers, you may discover that your degree isn't taking you where you want to go (before you're on the hook for several years' more of tuition).
"Apply for the job first," Weiss says. "You want to know you're going to get a return on this investment you're making."
This article originally appeared on Credit.com. Christopher Maag is a contributing writer for Credit.com.
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GOP ties Obama to NH student debt, ignores origins
Also, the final piece of advice is almost comical. I am a recent graduate myself and literally every person I knew who was not going on to grad school had been looking for a job at least a few months before graduation, if not longer. I haven't really heard of anyone who waited until after graduation to apply to jobs.
Mitch Weiss