Paying for your first child’s college tuition can be extremely difficult. While all parents want to help their children with college costs, not every family is financially equipped to do so. Here are four creative ways to help your first child pay for his or her college tuition.
Get Family Members to Help
Paying for a child’s tuition is often a family effort. If you can get grandparents, aunts and uncles who are financially able to chip in, you can raise a significant amount of money. While you shouldn’t lean on your relatives for your son or daughter’s entire tuition, getting the whole family involved can reduce the financial burden.
Take Out an Educational Loan
While most educational debt is held by students in the form of student loans, parents can also borrow money to help offset the amount of debt their children will need to take on. Private loans designed for parents can allow you to borrow money toward your child’s tuition. These options can be especially attractive if you have good credit, since you may be able to borrow money at a lower rate than a child can secure through ordinary student loans. Just make sure you do some research on how to get a lower interest rate on student loans.
Sell Things You No Longer Need
When you need to raise money quickly, selling off items you no longer need or use is still one of the best options. Hold a garage sale or list your old things on eBay, and you should be able to get at least several hundred extra dollars fairly quickly. If you have an old vehicle that nobody uses, you can also look into getting money for your junk car to pad out the amount you’re able to raise.
Take a Part-time Job
If you’re really dedicated to helping your child as much as possible, you might consider taking on a part-time job and putting your earnings toward tuition costs. Working evenings and weekends, while your child is in school, can be a major commitment, but it’s also one of the best ways to consistently offer help with tuition. If your child is still in high school, you might even consider starting a second job during his or her senior year. This will give you some time to save back extra money to put toward tuition and help pay for textbooks.
While you probably won’t be able to completely take the financial burden of college off of your child, these four simple methods will allow you to offer considerable support. With a little help from you, your child can make the most of his or her college years without constantly worrying about money.
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