I’m headed to college and will be paying $21k a year after scholarships. How do I avoid going into debt?

When I was applying to colleges, I knew it would be on me to cover the bulk of my costs. So when I got a $10,000 annual grant to the university that was my top choice, I was ecstatic — until I ran the numbers and realized that even with a partial free ride, I was still looking at roughly $100,000 in student loans.

Instead, I said no to my dream school and stuck with a state school. Between working, a little bit of grant money, and affordable student loans, I managed to finish paying off college in my 20s and move on.

But college today is even more expensive than it was back when I attended. So I feel for this Reddit poster, who’s looking at spending about $21,000 per year on college after scholarships. The poster wants to avoid student loans as much as possible and is wondering how to pull that off.

I have some bad news for the poster. Avoiding student debt completely may not be possible. But that doesn’t mean they can’t keep that debt to a minimum.

Keeping college costs low

The poster doesn’t offer much details about the school they’re planning to attend, so I don’t know if it’s local or not. If it is, I’d suggest living at home and commuting to save money on room and board. Or, if it’s allowed, they can research off-campus housing and see if it’s cheaper than a dorm room. Whether that’s the case depends on their school and location.

Some colleges, however, may require that non-commuters live on campus their first year. So the poster may have no choice there.

One thing I’d definitely suggest that this person do is get a job during college. But I don’t necessarily recommend a work-study program.

I did one for a period of time but the pay was awful. I was able to make a lot more money through a job I found on my own.

These days, college students have lots of options to earn money thanks to the gig economy. So I’d suggest that this person try to work as much as reasonably possible to minimize the amount of money they have to borrow.

However, that requires a delicate balance. It’s not a good thing to fall behind on studies, so they should, if possible, commit to fewer hours to start off with and then see about working their way up to more.

It’s a matter of borrowing smartly

Although I had a five-figure student loan balance to pay off once I graduated, one thing that helped me tremendously was sticking to federal student loans. The poster here might have to borrow some money for college. But if they take out federal loans, as opposed to private ones, they might pay a lot less interest, making that debt more affordable and easier to shake on a whole.

Also, federal student loan borrowers get certain protections that private lenders don’t offer. These include income-driven repayment plans and forbearance options.

I also think that if the poster here is going to take out loans, they need to understand what their payments will look like after college and have a plan for paying them off so they don’t drag on. To this end, I’d suggest that they meet with a qualified financial advisor for guidance. A financial advisor can offer recommendations on not just managing student debt, but making the process of attending college more manageable from start to finish.

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