College 101
Money You'll Work For Article Type: Quick and Dirty
You're young. At this point in your life, retiring to a villa on the south coast of France is just a distant dream. You've got decades of work lying in front of you, so why not get started now?
- Scholarships. So, we may have called scholarships “free money” at other points in this text. That's...that's kind of true. Where it's kind of not true is that many scholarships require you to do something in order to keep the money flowing. Maybe you have to keep your GPA at 3.5 or higher; maybe you have to take your school's baseball team all the way to Omaha. In other words, you may be required to put some work in to actually earn the sweet, sweet cash that's paying for you to go to school.
- Loans. Buy now, pay later: that's what a loan is. You're buying your college education with borrowed money, which you will have to pay back once your bachelor's degree is hanging on the paper-thin wall of the your first apartment. Unless you win the Powerball (and if you do, can we have some?), you're going to have to get a job and work to pay off your loans.
- Federal work study. It's all in the name. Put in the work, and the U.S. government will funnel you the funds to help you pay for the small but necessary items (like books) you need to complete your college education.
- Jobs. Working a summer, part- or full-time job while you're in school can seem like a crime against humanity. However, the money you bring in may significantly whittle down the cost of college. You might also be able to finagle a part- or full-time job at your school...with benefits...like partial or full tuition coverage. Work like that is hard to find, but it is does exist.