-Schedule your classes around your job. While I was in college I managed to have a Tuesday/Thursday class schedule for most of my time in college so that I could work on the other days.

-Consider transferring from a junior college. I wish I would have done this. It saves you money and you enter college at a more mature time. It gives you time to fully consider things before leaping into college.

I did a little of everything discussed in this post and did not have a traditional experience. I am in debt right now, but I have a plan that I’m following. My advice would be to work, plan, and stay away from student loans and credit cards at all cost!

Kimmy B. “The Prosperity Blogger”
http://www.prosperityblogger.org

I worked up to three part time jobs at a time during school, and I definitely noticed a difference at college between the students who were responsible for their own bills and the students whose parents were footing the bill. The students responsible for themselves were more likely to be in class, more likely to study hard, and more involved in student activities. Since they had a time *and* money investment, they tended to take it more seriously.

Also keep in mind that just because a school is out of state doesn’t mean it’s more expensive. I grew up in Pennsylvania, a notoriously expensive state for higher education. I attended the University of North Carolina, and there were a lot of fellow students there from Pennsylvania. The out-of-state tuition was cheaper than in-state tuition at even the cheapest public institution in Pennsylvania. And if, like me, you were able to lease an apartment, get a local job, and establish residency in North Carolina, the savings were really incredible.

STUDY YOUR A$$ OFF FOR THE PRE-SAT!

This is the tip I got the hard way (my 3 older sibs didn’t do it and learned). Why is the PSAT more important than the SAT? Well that’s the big secret. National Merit Scholarships are based on PSAT score, because they know that most people do better every time they do the test, so the PSAT is the “most real” version.

I knew I’d be fine on verbal, but math was my weakness, so I did an SAT prep workbook for about 10 – 15 minutes every day for the few months before the PSAT. I set a timer and just did it. And guess what, I got a National Merit Scholarship!

The actual scholarship is pretty small ($1500 if I remember right), but it opens doors big-time because universities love to brag about that statistic: ‘our freshman class has 3 National Merit Scholars.’ Some schools actually fly Natl Merit Scholars down for set weekends (I knew one guy who was flown to Virginia from Alaska, another from North Dakota) to try to recruit them, and give them full rides plus. Natl Merit is BIG MONEY, folks. I ended up with a full tuition scholarship, the National Merit stipend, and two other small scholarships for trips abroad. I still had to work for living expenses and, ok, beer, but I didn’t graduate with a crushing debt… or any debt at all.

If you have kids, put a shock collar on them if you have to – make them study for the PSAT!!

(um, just kidding about the shock collar, you can put it down now)