How'd you pay for college?

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didn’t pay them off yet, since I went to community college it was relatively cheap. If you’re planning on sending your kids though college send them through CC because it’s a great make Or break test. If they fail it’s not as much debt.
 
Did my first two years at a community college to get my Associate’s and finished my last two at a university to get my Bachelor’s. @eatler is correct that it’s a good way to save money by going to CC first and transferring over. Payment was a mix of scholarships, Federal and Pell grants and out of my own pocket.
 
Did my first two years at a community college to get my Associate’s and finished my last two at a university to get my Bachelor’s. @eatler is correct that it’s a good way to save money by going to CC first and transferring over. Payment was a mix of scholarships, Federal and Pell grants and out of my own pocket.
Exactly.

I might add that sometimes a trade school is a more profitable (and realistic) choice in the short to mid term. Then CC and then transferring to finish.

It takes much more time and is way less glamourous (you end up graduating in your late twenties to mid thirties). But, by then you have enough work experience to be comfortable with the prospect of not enduring too much time in the workforce before being independent. And let's not forget the prospect of very low to nil debt.

I did it that way, and the only reason I haven't abandoned the workforce is because I've gotten pretty well paying promotions (that sometimes, depending on the industry, is a near-impossibility, and depends on too many horseshit factors).
 
i worked through college as a dev, but that's a job i got because of my dad's best man. it's not something you can typically do, i was pretty fortunate on that front
 
I was in the military so I got to go for free.
Same. I did military, went back to school at 24 when I was considered a dependant and because the military paid like shit I got good financial aid, did community College to get my lower division and GEs out of the way, then use financial aid for the upper division. Used the GI bill for my masters
 
Kept costs down by going to a nearby state school and working. At the time, tuition after aid was around $12k annually. I also went a few years late and had some savings to dip into.
 
Loans and credit card debt. Its not worth it. just don't fucking go and learn shit on your own. College has taught me that part time proffs are cancer and the tenured proffs are the only ones holding the entire tower up and its slowly leaning and about to fall over.

Learn how to learn by yourself.
 
Two full time jobs and starting with community college. Ended up being a waste of money, since I dropped out before really getting anywhere, but I did it without acquiring debt.
 
Worked 30-35 hours a week through most of high school and saved practically all of it because I didn't have a life. Got pretty good academic scholarships at an already affordable state college and continued to work during my time there. I frontloaded my coursework and graduated early, so that saved me $$ too.

I graduated very recently so I don't know if it will pay off or not yet but I'm just happy I'm coming out of school debt-free (with a solid chunk of savings to draw from still) with a decent degree. A lot of it was luck, though (starting college at the height of COVID actually helped, for example), and if I could do things over again I probably wouldn't go. I really didn't learn anything.
 
Loans. For graduate school, I was an assistant for a professor so I got my tuition waved for all but that first semester. Now I've got 7k left and I'm wiping out a grand a month.
 
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