Debt-free College Movement

Tim Ferriss’ popular book, The 4-Hour Work Week, is a step-by-step blueprint to structure your life to bring more enjoyment to your week and not rely on weekends or retirement to create the life you dream of. It is inspirational as much as it is an employment guide, helping readers ask the question: What exactly is it that you want out of work and life, and why?

Parents can ask these same questions as they guide their students toward graduation. Technology and policy changes provide students with opportunities that many are finding extremely rewarding. Location is no longer a barrier to educational choices or employment opportunities. Students can study from anywhere and many jobs today don’t require your physical presence.

These same principles are leading the debt-free college movement.

Stacking the Odds In Your Favor

Treating college as a destination can quickly lose its appeal once students understand the implications of the debt required to live that lifestyle. Yet many college graduates are trapped by student loan debt.

Gambling (also known as betting) is the wagering of money or something of value (referred to as “the stakes”) on an event with an uncertain outcome, with the primary intent of winning money or material goods. ~Wikipedia

Financial aid is not a certainty and the scholarship system is designed to favor colleges. Students are required to take the financial risk during the application process since there are no (legal) ways to guarantee being the recipient of a sizable scholarship. This is by definition a form of gambling!

Gone are the Gatekeepers

Sometimes a shift in thinking feels like a light bulb moment. Other times, it happens slowly as we peel away layers of ideas that were laid down through the years.

Gatekeepers: Systems, rules, or people put in place to regulate access.

Admissions advisors, financial aid counselors, scholarship committees are all types of Gatekeepers within our education system. To achieve a debt-free degree, more students than ever are taking a path that does not require them to be granted permission to pass from the traditional keepers of these gates.

Check out the ChooseFI podcast Episode 239: The GateKeepers are Gone and follow it up with Episode 238. You will be inspired.

Winning the Game

Designing a plan that combines dual enrollment, CLEP, DSST, degree planning, and career exploration puts control back with the student. This strategy is at the heart of the debt-free college movement.

There is no better time to create a blueprint from middle school to high school to debt-free college: Quick Start Guide to Homeschooling High School

• In many states, homeschool parents define their own high school graduation standards and no other agency is required to sign your student’s diploma.

• Education (policy), teaching (delivery), and learning (student directed) are intertwined, but not synonymous. Whether your students are 6 or 16, parents can build a rich and rewarding learning environment. Include trips to the library, garage time with dad and how-to videos, and volunteering in the community. 

• Online and classroom learning both have limits; one is not inherently better than the other.  

• It is okay, and sometimes best, to use high school-level texts even though your student is middle school-age or vice versa.

• Clumping or stretching out the number of weeks it takes to complete a study allows students to achieve more by working their own pace. Sometimes this means previous knowledge can be built on and what is offered as a full semester college course can be completed in a matter of weeks. For other subjects, student can spend more time as needed.

• Parents are the best career and college counselors for their own students and parents can guide learning in upper-level courses. We won’t “ruin them”.

• Holding a degree is not a replacement for practiced skills. Students with an eye toward employability are recognizing skills are as valuable as a degree.

Cheri Frame is author and founder of Credits Before College.  

Category: Blog, Creating a Plan