3 Ways to Get a Degree While On a Budget | brokeGIRLrich
The amount of money you make and the amount of money you spend are just a couple of things that are on everyone’s mind these days. How can you make more money? How am I supposed to spend less is just one of the questions you might be asking yourself when trying to stick to a budget. Even when you are on a budget and possibly thinking about going back to school, do you know what options you have available to you? Going to get your degree while on a budget might seem like a challenge, but the options are out there and I am going to cover them now.
Online Schools Are a Great Option
The first time someone mentions an online school for your degree, you are probably thinking, “how is that going to save me money”, right? Well, the best part about online schools is the fact that they have fewer expenses to pass along to the students and that brings the cost per credit down significantly, passing the savings to you at the end of the day. Online schools are very popular these days and even some of the biggest names in the college world are offering online masters in counseling courses to make it easier and more affordable to get a degree.
Living At Home Never Hurt Anyone
One of the main costs when going to college is finding and paying for a place to stay when you are not allowed to stay in dorms. Apartments around colleges are generally priced accordingly and when you are already on a budget, another few hundred dollars can seem like a million when you are trying to make it all happen without debt. If you live at home with mom and dad, you can at least save that money and put it towards your college expenses, giving you less debt when you graduate.
Apply For Grants and Scholarships
Even if you think that you will not get a scholarship or grant for college that does not mean you should not apply. Fill out the applications and allow the colleges to make that decision. Each year there are millions of dollars left on the table that is never applied for and that is easy money that can help you get by on a budget. In almost all cases, grants and scholarships do not even have to be paid back so the money is free and clear to use for your online college degree expenses.
At the end of the day, it does not have to cost you an arm and a leg to go back to school to get your degree. With these few, easy tips, you can get a two or four-year degree without graduating in a pile of debt. That debt is the one thing that hurts new graduates, as they navigate the employment world looking for more money just to be able to survive, with college loans holding them down.
If you’re looking into grad school, you can also get a free degree if you’re willing to do some legwork. I have friend who graduated with History, Math, and English degrees who didn’t pay anything except fees because they worked as a teaching assistant.
Most science grad degrees also come with various financial aid packages depending on your thesis project. Mine came with full funding to pay for my research, trips to conferences, and even salaries for working as a research assistant when I wasn’t working as a teaching assistant. I ended up making like $75,000 from the deal over three years because I was paid to do the work. I got a tuition waiver, so all I had to pay were fees, where weren’t a huge issue since I was making so much. Biology grad degrees generally operate more like apprenticeships than traditional MBA-type degrees.
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Wow – further proof I wish math had made more sense to me 😛 Stipends are usually a lot better in STEM programs that Arts & Humanities. That’s a pretty good deal you had there!
Right now I am in a staff position at a university, and one of the benefits of my employment is tuition waiver for one class a semester. Admittedly, it would take a long time to finish a degree one class at a time, but it would put a huge dent in costs.
While I was in grad school I received a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship to support my language learning. It came with full tuition remission and an outrageous stipend. There is money for degrees outside of STEM-but who knows how long this type of funding will last with the current administration.
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Getting a scholarship is really a big help to everyone who wants to save up a lot. These are all great tips. Thank you for sharing 🙂
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