There have been two important moments for me that really opened my eyes to the possibility of helping kids get through school without student loans. The first was when I was introduced to the concept of "College Pre-approval" from Joe Messinger, a well known Financial Planner in the college planning space. The idea that students and their families should first figure out how much they can afford to pay for college before shopping for schools makes so much sense to me. Once you know what is affordable and understand how to shop for schools, you're much more likely to end up in a healthy financial place when it's all said and done.
As a financial planner, I used to tout private scholarships as a way to pay for school. Helping my son look for scholarships, I became aware of how difficult it is to find opportunities for certain types of students. Learning how to find scholarships has been another huge development for me. It takes a tremendous amount of work, and he's just started the process, really. The beauty of it is - if he really wants to go to an expensive school (instead of in-state where he can go for next to nothing) he will put forth the effort. If he decides its too much effort - he can fall back on the state schools. I'm off the hook!
There are plenty of ways kids can get through college without student loans. The College Cost and Planning Solution is flexible and designed to build a plan that makes the most sense for your family from the available options out there. If you want help figuring out what's best for your family, comment "How do I make it happen?" below.
