How I went to College for (Almost) Free: Education Redux 

Photo by Pang Yuhao on Unsplash

After graduating high school, I did what everyone around me did and went to a 4 year degree with little to no thought of how much it would cost or what my post-graduation career would be. I applied for a couple of local scholarships and was able to get around $1,200, which purchased my first laptop. While this was extremely helpful, I should have put more effort into researching the cost of a few more local colleges and applied for scholarships more aggressively. I definitely should have had more conversations with someone regarding the goal career path and expected income related to that path.  

Instead, what I did was mess around for 4 years and get decent grades but dig myself into a pretty substantial hole of student loan debt. I worked throughout college and made enough to cover books and other living expenses but didn’t bat an eyelash every year when I took out more loans. I gave almost no thought to what I’d do after school.  My semester abroad, I decided I’d do social work and graduated with an acceptance to a local social work school. I found out towards the end of the first semester that this wasn’t something I was a good fit for, and completed my semester, then withdrew from the program. 22-year-old me thought it would be quitting to withdraw in the first two weeks and get my money back but I could kick myself for “sticking it out”. The alarm bells that were ringing in those first few days only became louder, until I couldn’t ignore them any further, but by that time I had lost my $6,000. 

I then moved back to my college town for love, and picked up a couple of server jobs, sold cars for a short (and stressful) stint, then stumbled into a public safety job. My only goal through this time was to pay my bills. When I got my first big girl job, complete with all the benefits, I felt like I had made it. I was doing the thing I was supposed to do and providing for myself. It didn’t take very long to figure out that there wasn’t a ton extra at the end of the month. We buckled down hard and paid off all student loan and consumer debt, and lived in a 560 sqft apartment, which lowered our living costs. At some point, we decided to start a family and figured we’d make it work. We did make it work, but just barely. When I utilized the FSA for dependent care, my take home check was $600 biweekly. It was at this point that I started to think about how to better my part of our situation.  

With some information and encouragement from a friend, I started to ponder Nursing School, which turned out to be a boon. Below are the steps I took to get my second education for (almost) free.  

1. Community College- As an adult student, I was able to attend community college for a very affordable price and there were lots of scholarship opportunities that are specifically for adult education.  For nursing, the only degree needed was an ASN, which saved me a significant amount of money by skipping the 4 year degree until I had some help from employers.  

2. Apply for Scholarships- I spent an insane amount of time applying for scholarships. As a result, I was able to get a substantial amount of money from the community college and from random single scholarships available with a little bit of research. If I had done this the first time around instead of messing around on Facebook, I would have been in a much better position. 

3. Leverage employee benefits- After I got my ASN, I utilized the tuition reimbursement perk of my employer and got a couple thousand dollars every semeter to contribute to my BSN/MSN. They also had a scholarship but it required a 3 year commitment to stay after graduation and for me, this benefit did not outweigh the cost.  

These were the steps I took to get my second degree for almost free. For the ASN, I paid around $2,500 for the leftover tuition costs, books, and clinical costs. For the BSN/MSN, it cost around $3,800 per semester and I was able to complete the ASN to BSN bridge program in 2 semesters with a BSN along the way. I think for this program, I paid $2,600 out of pocket. That means I was able to get an ASN, BSN, and MSN for $5,100. This was spread out over the course of 4 years so I was able to cash flow it with little difficulty.  

While I can’t go back and change the poor decisions I made early in life regarding college choices, I can make things right by talking early and often with my kids about options for further education, how to pay for education, and what to consider when picking their career paths. The top considerations we will discuss are :  

1. What are your strengths? What do you like to do? How can you harness these skills in a way that makes you the most money for the least amount of stress? Money isn’t everything but it certainly smooths things over when you can pay your bills, save for the future, and have a little left over to treat yourself and others along the way. Starting from your passions/strengths and finding applicable jobs, THEN considering salary is a good combination of honoring passions and living costs.  

2. Is college the best path to your chosen career field? Is trade school an option? Is there an option to get an entry level degree and leverage employee benefits to pay for further degrees or certifications? Good enough is good enough. If you want the Masters, see if there are other ways to get it besides paying out of your pocket.  

3. You don’t have to have it all figured out at 22. I went back for my second degree at 28 and found I was a much better learner, was much more motivated, and picked things up much faster. There is no right or wrong time to get an education. Earlier may be better but not if you don’t have a specific plan for the path you want to take.  

4. Get your degree before you have babies. While this is not a deal breaker, it is SO much easier to get assignments done and have time left over for yourself when there aren’t little people relying on you to help them with everything. We made it work but it was a very HARD 2 years working 40 hours a week, going to school 16 hours a week and doing 16 hours of clinicals a week. Art kept the family afloat while I spent every waking hour working, studying, cooking, doing laundry, or playing with Elle. I wouldn’t have been able to do everything if I didn’t have a job where I could study during downtime. Even with that, I felt like I barely got to see my family. When you don’t have a family to support, there are more options for working part time or working weird hours between school. The more responsibilities, the less flexibility there is to cut back on extra because every cent is needed. 

5. Live at home- Housing and food costs for college are insane. Even renting an apartment with others is costly when you make minimum wage. I will be encouraging the girls to stay at home and save their money. While it may be tempting to fly the coop and live independently, the $800+ dollars they’d each be saving monthly will hopefully motivate them to stick it out with us and either save money for future housing or put that money into retirement while they’re in school. 

6. Keep the beater- I hope they will listen to us when we tell them to keep the cars they have and drive them as long as possible. There is no reason to upgrade to a new car just because you’ve completed your education and have your first big kid job. Right out of college, when I started working at a car dealership, I almost played myself into buying a brand new Subaru. If I’d done this, I would have not been able to pay off my debts in a year or save for my second round of college. I am so glad that Art talked some sense into me before I threw myself down that path. Hopefully the girls will see us drive our cars forever and emulate that behavior. 

Well, those are my words of wisdom for the day. Let me know what worked for you in cash flowing your education, what didn’t work, or what you’ll be discussing with your kids.