If you’re trying to get your college education while taking on as little debt as possible, one of the best ways to do this is by working your way through. This can not only help in paying for school related expenses, like tuition, books and fees, but it can also cover immediate living expenses, like housing, transportation, food and entertainment.

But as good as that sounds, attending college full time and holding a job is a difficult mix. This is especially true if you’re taking a heavy course load or working toward one of the more challenging majors.

How do you balance a job with college?

Live at home where family runs the household

If you’re going to school and holding a job you probably won’t have time for doing much else. That will include running a household (cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, etc). By living at home, you’ll have family members to do most of the chores. After all, if you aren’t home much then no one can expect you to do chores!  Also, living at home will help you save money so you won’t have to take any quick loans out to cover your rent payments.

One other benefit hereâ”college campuses aren’t the most conducive environments for study and work. You can easily be distracted by other students who maybe don’t have to work their way through school or who prefer to rely more heavily on student loans.

Attend school at a local or in-state college

You’ll have to do this anyway if you live at home, but attending a school close to home has a major benefit when it comes to jobs. Where you’ve lived the longest is also the place where you know the largest amount of people. It’s also where you know the lay of the landâ. Simply put, you’ll probably find it much easier to land a job on your home turf than you will be in a remote college town.

Also, college towns tend to have high competition when it comes to the jobs you’ll be looking for. Thousands of kids in a college town will be competing with you for the jobs you want, and that raises the chance that you won’t find one. At home, you’ll have a better chance of finding a job, and a replacement job if you lose that one. Unless of course your home town also happens to be a college town.

Take courses in summer to even out the course load during the school year

During my college years I usually took a couple of courses over each summer. By doing this, I was able to take four courses instead of five during the fall and spring semesters, which made it easier to hold a job. One summer I even took four courses so that I could catch up from a very light fall semester the year before.

If you take summer courses, it’s best to take easier ones. Because they’re shorter, summer courses tend to by concentrated and that can be a problem with meatier subjects. A philosophy sequence would work well, but a physics sequence could defeat the purpose.

Get a job that blends well with college

The last thing you need when you’re a full time student is a job that requires a lot of hours and leaves you drained. That could lead to burnout in short order. The better course is to find a job that will blend better with school. That will mean a) considerable flexibility when it comes to scheduling, and b) one that isn’t physically, mentally or emotionally draining.

One job I found to fit the bill perfectly was being a security guard. I worked a lot of hoursâ”which meant a larger paycheckâ”but it was always on the weekends and in the evenings and never during school hours. There’s virtually no stress in that kind of job so it didn’t take away from my school efforts.

The job had another benefit that any college student can appreciate. Because of the low stress and long hours, I had plenty of time to do my homework! As a security guard, I was mainly being paid to be on site just in case something happenedâ”a mechanical breakdown or a fire for example. None of that ever happened, so most of my time was spent doing my homework. In fact, it was like getting paid to do my homework! I never did my homework at home while I was attending schoolâ”I did it all at work.

There was plenty of company at that job too. Most of them were other college students like me!

You don’t have to work as a security guard (though I highly recommend it for students) but if you can find a job that’s similar, it can really help you in paying for school. And it can do it without pulling you away from your studies.

How are youâ”or how did youâ”balance a job with college?

photo by jimmyharris

There was a time when it was impossible to get a credit card if you didn’t have a proven means to repay the debt. No more. Credit card lenders learned something a couple of decades ago that they’re using for all it’s worth: extending credit cards to college students guarantees customers later in life.

Today, nearly every college student has one or more credit cards. Most will handle the arrangement responsibly, but many will experience some sort of credit problems either during their time in college or shortly after. And there are several reasons for this.

There’s no way to pay them back

If you’re in college and you don’t have a job, it’s unlikely that you’re paying on your credit cards. And if you aren’tâ”and your parents aren’t eitherâ”chances are that the balances on them are snowballing to higher levels with each passing month. That’s what happens when you have no way of paying them.

Students are often the world’s greatest optimists when it comes to their future income potential. But four years of credit card debt can be an enormous burden to carry into your adult life when you finally get there.

Credit can discourage working

Heavier reliance on credit is freeing up students to devote greater time to schoolwork. Working to pay some or even most of college costs isn’t as common as it once was.

One of the under-appreciated aspects of college life is living expenses, the kind that aren’t covered under student loans. This can be money for food, transportation, entertainment, travel to and from home and even cell phone service. The money to pay those often comes from credit cards.

Excessive use of credit cards in college can discourage working as a way to help pay for college expenses. It’s an easy pattern to get intoâ”borrowing is easier and less time consuming than work, and the bill doesn’t come due until much later.

Credit cards + student loans = big trouble later

It isn’t so much that credit cards or student loans are bad for your finances, but rather when the two appear in tandem.

Student loans create substantial long-term debt, while credit cards hit you with relentless short term debt (they don’t call them revolving❠for nothing!). It’s a matter of stacking a double dose of debt on a person who either isn’t employed (pre-graduation), or does have a job and is struggling to get out of the starting gate of adult life.

Difficulty paying credit cards can wreck credit for a long time

If you’ve ever had serious credit problems then you know how hard it can be and how long it can take to fix it. If a student is graduating with debt, they’ll have their hands full dealing with that alone. But when you add bad credit to the mix, it can be a long, lonely climb into adulthood.

The mix of student loans and credit cards can set the stage for this exact problem.

While it may be necessary for a young person to borrow in order to make it through school, the fact is that they will also have needs when they graduate that will make borrowing necessary. A first car after graduation is one such need; making a geographic move to a distant city for a new job is another. That will be harder or even impossible if you’re credit has been wrecked before you even graduate from college.

Lack of maturity

I realize that this is painting with a broad brush, but at age 18, 19, 20 or even 21 many students lack the maturity to handle credit cards. Add that to the fact that the whole concept of credit cards is largely set up to encourage spending and it could be a recipe for disaster.

In addition, if the student isn’t fully responsible for paying the credit cards the connection between using them and paying for them may be vague at best.

It’s no coincidence that credit problems often hit early in lifeâ”it’s the combination of need and immaturity in the early years of adulthood. For that reason, credit cards should be seen as a last resort in an emergency, rather than a typical way to transact business.

There are different opinions on this subject of course; what do you think?

photo by scobleizer

Most articles about eliminating student debt are written for people that aren’t students anymore. We often approach crushing student debt once school is already done. I see a major flaw in this. I was able to finish school without any debt. I’m no nobody special and I didn’t do anything extraordinary to get there. I partied on the weekends like everyone else and I consumed my fair share of caffeine.

However, I can proudly say that I walked on stage with no student debt to worry about. I’ve been able to travel and do whatever I want now that I have no loans to worry about. I’ve been blogging and working a part-time job because I feel no stress.

How can you kill your student debt in school?

Focus when everyone else is out.

I know that college is supposed to be a large party. Don’t get me wrong, I had my share of fun. The thing is that you need to pick the activities you participate in. A Friday night out is fun– when all of your work is done. A random Monday afternoon party can throw you off gear and screw up your priorities.

My trick has always been to focus when nobody else is. I’ve spent many weekends doing homework and blog work. In return, I could save money and get better grades. The result of this was more trips after college. It’s all about focus my friends.

Take advantage of paid internships.

Internships are by far the best way to get experience in your field and make some money at the same. How can you go wrong?

Unfortunately for me, the internships in my program flat out sucked. However, I saw many of my friends thrive through paid internships. My  one friend was able to do one term in class, the next term working, for his final two years. It took him longer to graduate, but he graduated without any debt. He also built some serious connections in the field.

Work in the summer.

How do you plan on spending your summers in college? I partied and worked like an animal. I literally worked all of the time. I also went out all of the time. How’s this possible? When you’re 19 years old you should be on top of the world. I’m not here to feel sorry for you. If your young and healthy, you should be full of energy. Why not work during the summer instead of lounging around?

Work while in school.

I always worked while in school. Everyone hates this one. We all say that we’re too busy to work in school. You know, we study all day and then build houses in Africa on the weekends. Any student that says they have no time is a liar or horrible at time management (aside from law or medical students).

Most degree programs will at the very least allow you to work on the weekends. Working a few hours on the weekend will add up. Even if you only make a few hundred dollars per week, you’ll still have money coming in. Money coming in beats money going out constantly.

Maintain a realistic lifestyle.

Always remember that you’re still a college student. This means that bottle service and brand name clothing isn’t your friend. You need to be realistic with how you live if you want to get out of college without any debt. The beauty of being realistic with your finances in college is that most students are also poor. You won’t be the only one. There’s no need to pretend to be the campus baller if your pockets feel lonely.

As you can see it makes much more sense to start dealing with your student loans as a student. There’s no point in waiting. Why wait until you’re done with college? Are you going to graduate from college without any debt?

photo by jimmyharris

You finally landed that first gig in school. You’re a college student and you found yourself a job that pays you a decent amount, allows you to get out, and helps you pay the bills. Now you just need to figure out what to do with this money. You need to make some smart moves so that you don’t waste our pay check at the bar as soon as you get it.

What should you do with your check in college?

Figure out your expenses.

The first thing you need to do is to figure out where you need to spend your money. Where does your money absolutely have to go? What are your financial obligations?

There are two types of expenses: fixed and variable. Fixed expenses are things like rent, insurance, and anything else that’s a steady number on a consistent basis. It’s easy to figure out these expenses because they never change. When figuring out your fixed costs you just need to add up rent and everything else that you absolutely have to pay each month.

Variable expenses are things like your food and entertainment for the month. This is variable because the money spent here all depends on how often you consume food or go out. This also depends on how much money you have left. For example, if you have $200 in your bank account after rent, you might have to watch what you eat or how often you go out.

Once you figure out your fixed and variable expenses, you’ll see how much money you have left over for other fun in life.

Consider your goals.

The next step is to decide what to do with your money. Do you have any goals? Do you want to save up for a trip in the future? The reality is that you won’t be making six figures as a student. While you shouldn’t stress too much about saving money, it helps to at least build the habit of having financial goals.

For example, if you want to get into the habit of saving money you can try to plan an annual trip. I did this in college. I haven’t missed a Spring Break since 2006 (this year included). How do I do it? I put aside $20 a week for the whole year. This is usually enough money for a week away.

Once you see results from saving money, you’ll be motivated to save more and for different goals. Do you want a new car? What about a new wardrobe? We all have different lives and different financial goals.

Create sub-accounts.

The fun part of saving money is creating many sub-accounts for your various goals. I used ING Direct to create a few different accounts for my goals. For example, I always have a “vacation” account that I put money into. When I make a little bit more money, I put it into this account. I want to travel as much as possible. This is why I create sub-accounts so that I have a visual reminder of where I want to be really spending my money.

Make more money now.

Now it’s time for you to make some money. This is a topic the deserves its own post. What are a few more ways you can make money in college?

1. Start an online business.
2. Sell your crap online.
3. Ask for a raise.

There are many more ways to increase your income. The point is that you find ways to increase what you’re making.

That’s how you can spend your first pay check in college. These are just my humble suggestions. You can try them out to see if they work for you and your unique situation.

You did all the right things: studied hard, got good grades, had a plethora of extracurricular activities. You applied to a range of colleges across the nation, from safeties to dreams and many in between. You received the acceptance letters, and a few weeks later, the financial aid package arrives in the mail.

It seems unfair that students who did all the right things can’t afford college because of deteriorating financial aid packages. In such a harsh economic climate, everyone is suffering, especially hopeful high school seniors.

My younger brother, a senior in high school, saw his dreams of attending his first choice school shattered when his financial aid package required him to take out $30,000 in loans per year. It’s not realistic to expect a student to graduate with $120,000 in debtâ”essentially condemning him to a lifetime of debt payments.

According to CNN Money, the average student currently graduates with approximately $25,000 in student loans. And that’s for four years of education.

After a mini-meltdown, I sat down with my brother and we came up with ways to afford college now. Here are six ways to afford college now:

Think about your options

Perhaps your first choice is out of financial reach. Start to seriously consider the less expensive schools you applied to. State schools are often more affordable than private schools. There are other programs you can find online like  Kendall education degrees  that offer quicker degrees for people who want to teach. There are a variety of different schooling options online you can research.Smaller and older private schools may be able to offer higher financial aid packages. Start to think seriously about your other options.

Community College

Community colleges sometimes get a bad reputation but they are great for getting your basic two-year requirements out of the way. Paying for community college as you go essentially leaves you with only two years’ worth of school to pay for when you transfer to complete your last two years of school. While community colleges do cost money, they aren’t nearly as expensive as private or public schools. Consider attending several community colleges concurrently to ensure you get the classes you need in a timely manner.

Start working NOW

If you don’t already have a job, get one now. Don’t go out spending the money, but build up your savings to pay for books and tuition while you’re in school. It’s tempting to have fun and be out spending money with your friends, but you’ll be the envy of their eyes when you graduate with little to no debt.

Consider living at home

I know it seems glamorous to live in the dorms, but you’ll save thousands per year by forgoing dorm fees and meal plans. Between work and school and extracurricular activities, you probably won’t be spending much time hanging out in the dorms anyway. Living at home would save thousands of dollars.

Consider working while in school

It’s hard but not impossible to maintain a job and go to school at the same time. During college, I worked an on-campus job 10 hours a week and babysat an additional 20 hours a week, giving up many precious Saturday nights in order to make money. Sacrifices need to be made in order to afford college.

Put college off for a year

If all else fails, consider putting college off for a year. Maybe the best solution is to take a year off and work as hard as you can to create a little nest egg that will help you get through four years of school.

Afford college now

Going to college doesn’t have to be out of reach for anyone. Your first choice school may not be the best option financially, but it’s important to open yourself up to different possibilities and consider other options.

We still don’t know which path my brother will choose. But we know the only decision being made right now is not to go $120,000 in debt for the sake of a college degree.

The following is a review of a cool new company called eCampus.com that rents our textbooks so you don’t have to buy them!

For the college students out there, how many of your textbooks have you actually kept since graduation?  Not too many, I know.  I’m in the same boat!  They’re attracting dust in my closet and have no plans to touch them again!  It’s a shame because I spent literally thousands on those textbooks.  Unfortunately, real life sometimes has nothing to do with what you learned in college. For me it’s the case and I’m sure it is for most of you too.

College textbooks = SCAM

Purchasing textbooks is a scam in my opinion.  Colleges charge an arm and a leg for them and expect you to always have the most current edition.  Do we really need the lest edition?  Heck to the no we don’t!  But if you want to pass your courses you have to because the professor usually mandates it.  Complete nonsense if you ask me.  Textbook publishers are in the business to make money and will create a new edition each and every year whether you like it or not.

eCampus is the solution

What if I told you that there was a solution to this problem?  Ever heard of eCampus?  Textbook rentals are their game and they’re great at it.  Renting is oftentimes even cheaper than buying a used textbook.  Use eCampus for all your textbook rentals and you can save big.

Plus, renting a textbook is much much easier than having to track them down to purchase.  So, not only does a service like this save you money but it also saves you tons of time.  If I had to go back to college this is what I would do.  No more buying textbooks for me!

Site layout

Their site layout is awesome.  The moment you go to their homepage, you’ll never feel confused about where to go.  eCampus makes it easy for you to browse hundreds of textbooks.  You can even use a textbook’s ISBN to do a quick look-up.  There are associated fees with late rentals so you’ll need to read the fine print at checkout to ensure that you don’t get dinged.

Don’t follow the herd

Saving money the smart way is sometimes not the most popular thing to do.  If it’s your goal to graduate debt free like I did a year ago, then use eCampus to help you save some serious coin. Another cool benefit of using eCampus is that you can sell your used textbooks back to them!

High tuition, meal plans and parking feesâ”college life sure adds up!

When students see a college campus, they see possibility for a better future. However, when those running colleges see students, they often see walking, talking ATMs. It’s true; college life is expensive and barely affordable for the average student. Myself, I ended up leaving university with $41 thousand dollars in student loans. I started my professional career in so much debt, that I’m just starting to see the light at almost 40.

It doesn’t have to be that way for current students however. Most of the high priced items on campusâ”such as textbooks, meal plans and student parkingâ”can be avoided if you know about the alternatives. And because I don’t want you leaving college with a huge student debtâ”beware of the following high-priced college cons on your student campus:

1. The textbook rip off

Truly one of the highest and most unfairly priced items you will encounter on campus are textbooks in the good old campus bookstore, which is where you would assume to find the best student prices, right? Hardly, you’ll be lucky to leave the campus bookstore with your shirt if that’s where you expect to buy the semester’s required reading. This is the college’s way to make an extra buck. Did you know that most of the required❠textbooks in your courses were actually written by your instructors? On top of that, many include accompanying lab notes, CDs, and supplementary texts that only inflate the price moreâ”oh and by the wayâ”you probably won’t even crack the cover. Avoid the campus bookstore and seek out books from these sources:

• Rent textbooks online
• Purchase used textbooks from last year’s students or post an ad on eBay, Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, etc.
• Split the price of textbooks with a friend or group and make photocopies to study from

2. The student credit trap

You see it every frosh week, credit card companies just lining up to give students their first credit cardâ”tempting you with their free gifts and promises. You probably won’t believe how they are just throwing themselves at you so you sign up. Did you know they are just hoping that you’ll max out your credit card? That’s why they want a parent to cosign after all, so they’ll bail you out when you can’t afford to repay the debt you’ve racked up. Credit card companies prey on ignorant college students who are living independently away from home for the first time, just hoping that you’ll go on a shopping spree with your free money❠or buy take out every night. If you’re responsible with money and you want to sign up for one credit card, it will support you as you build your credit score for the future by:

• Making your credit card payments on time
• Resisting the urge to sign up for multiple credit cards
• Using one credit card to pay off another
• Ask credit companies to freeze your credit limitâ”they will raise your credit limit without notifying you

However, if you’re not responsible with money, avoid credit card companies and their promises like the plague.

3. The high priced meal ticket

Campus dining usually works by issuing all students a dining card that works via a point system. So whenever a student purchases a drink, a meal or a snack at the cafeteria (or one of the campus restaurants) your card has points deducted. My university had a cafeteria, but the more delicious options, e.g., Harvey’s, Wendy’s, Starbucks, and Dominos, were not included so if you wanted a Starbucks coffee and muffin you paid out of pocket. Doesn’t seem fair does it? To avoid having to buy extra food on top of the meal plan card you’ve already paid for:

• Read the campus meal plan rules and know what restaurants are included
• Be aware of cafeteria hours and eat within them or you might be hungry after hours
• Put a small dorm fridge in your room so that you have breakfast and snacks on hand when needed

4. The campus parking trap

When I ask friends who have college-aged kids how much they pay for campus parking, I’m told between $300 and $500 per year. However, if you don’t arrive early to campus, you won’t find a spot. The truth is that campus parking authorities sell more passes than they have spots allotted. And if you get caught parking in a no parking zoneâ”the campus cops will slap a ticket on your vehicle. Avoid being ripped off by campus parking by:

• Commuting to campus by bus, bike or walkingâ”it’s much cheaper
• If you need a car, strike up a monthly parking deal with a business who will probably allow you to park much cheaper

(This has been a guest post by Tina Jacobs, a registered nurse and freelance writer who has written for numerous print and online publications on topics ranging from education to money saving tips for college students such as how to find cheap textbooks. Tina is a proud Georgetown University and plans to expand her portfolio while she waits to take her nursing licensure via the NCLEX exam. Most days, Tina can be found studying or writing in her beautiful bay window with her cat, Oscar, for company.)