Getting Ahead in College

in College Life


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Are you an average college student? I was curious to see what the statistics are for U.S. college students. It doesn’t look great:

Average College Student graduates with:

Don’t be average! That’s $22000 in debt before graduation. While you can get federal student loans at lower rates, you’re still stuck with the monthly payments for around 10years!

How can you minimize these two burdens? It takes a plan, time, and self-discipline. Here are some ideas from the around the web:

Start a Budget!

Find a system that works for you.

Build an Emergency Fund:

This fund is to protect you against Murphy’s Law and dipping into/deeper into debt. Be ready for when bad things happen.

Eliminate High Interest Debt:

  • Prioritize your debts: Find a way that works for you and eliminate your debts.
  • Call the debt collectors and negotiate a payment plan.
  • Take a part-time job and dedicate that money toward paying off debt. Perhaps using your summer semester time and working full-time.
  • Create a debt elimination plan. Motivation is the key here, so use something that will keep on you on this program until your debt is eliminated.

Find Untapped Scholarships:

Give/ Volunteer to a Worthy Cause

  • If you can, donate (money, gently used items, time, etc) to something special to your heart.

I organized some tips together in an ever growing series called Rich College Student (It’s not the most creative name). It’s a list of topics that can help you graduate in style.

Rich College Student Series:

Photo Credit: Eldar

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{ 3 comments }

1 Jake Stichler March 10, 2008 at 4:24 pm

How in the world does the “average” college student graduate with only 19k in student loans??? I didn’t even graduate, dropped out after 3 semesters, and my student loans are pushing 30k.

Not to mention the fact that I have’m far beat with my $7100 in credit card debt :-D

2 Green Panda March 10, 2008 at 6:20 pm

We all have stuff to work on. I’m definitely on average with student loans :( .

3 FMF March 11, 2008 at 8:41 am

Thanks for highlighting my post!

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