Denver Parents SAVE BIG on College Costs

Scholarships:

Apply, apply, apply.  Applying for a lot of scholarships does
not have to be a burden.  Your
child’s school guidance counselor can be a big help. Being creative is also
another way of obtaining funding. Universities earmark funding for students in
certain counties.  If no other
students qualify some of the funding may be available for
you.

In the process of filling out your
applications, you have already done a tremendous amount of work, continue on and
apply for scholarships because so many of the components are
identical.

Low cost
schools:

Look for a technical college closer to home
that will transfer credits. When you transfer, your (future) employer will see
the college you graduated from, so it doesn’t really matter where you did your
first two years.  This approach
works best when students thoroughly research course requirements well in
advance. They should ask about the school’s relationships with community
colleges and its expectations for those who wish to transfer credits.  A lot of students attend more than one
college these days.  If they think
strategically about this, they could significantly reduce their
costs.

More tests mean smaller
bills:

Less time on campus means fewer tuition
bills, since colleges usually charge according to the number of courses
taken.  Advanced placement tests
provide a way to cut back on the hours-and the dollars– spent pursuing a college
degree.

Many students have caught on to the
idea:  2.1 million students took AP
exams in 2005, up from 786,000 in 1995. 
Students with proficiency in one of 35 subjects can cut their collegiate
hours just by showing what they know in a College Level Examination Program
(CLEP) test.  This too is growing in
popularity: 140,000 non-military students took CLEP tests in 2005, up 32% from
106,000 in 1995.

Shop around to
save:

There is work involved in shopping around
and comparing.  When seeking out a
loan, students should compare not just interest rates, but also payback
benefits, such as rates that drop with a certain number of on-time
payments.

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