Money Crashers: How to Afford Private School Tuition for Your Kids

In the U.S., a year of private school tuition costs $12,350 on average. But the average cost doesn’t have to be the cost you pay. 

Several years ago, I wrote a piece for Money Crashers on the relative costs of private and public school for your kids. This year, my editors had me split that older piece in two. The first part now offers a broader comparison of the pros and cons of public and private schools, weighing factors like class size, teacher qualifications, and extracurricular activities as well as cost. And a new companion piece delves more deeply into private school costs and ways to minimize them. It discusses how to find lower-cost private schools, apply for scholarships and aid programs, negotiate tuition costs, and apply for loans. If you're a parent interested in private school but anxious about the cost, this piece is for you.

How to Afford Private School Tuition for Your Kids

Money Crashers: Where to Buy Cheap School Uniforms for Kids and Save Money

I realize that school has already started for most parents, so this article is coming a bit late. And for many parents, it may be irrelevant, since most public schools don't have uniforms, and those that do may not be requiring them for remote learning. But for anyone who is currently worrying about how to send the kids back to school in the required dress while money is so tight, this new Money Crashers article is for you. It covers a variety of shopping strategies to find school-uniform-appropriate attire — both secondhand and new — at a price that won't break the bank. (And, for those whose kids don't wear school uniforms, I've got another new piece on clothes shopping for kids in general that should be coming out soon. I'll keep you posted.)

Where to Buy Cheap School Uniforms for Kids and Save Money

Money Crashers: 3 new articles

In the past week, Money Crashers has popped up three articles of mine that are only tangentially related to ecofrugality. So I've decided to just cover them all in one post here, with a brief rundown of what they're about and how they could help you put, or keep, more money in your pocket. (There's also a fourth one which should be popping up shortly that's much more along ecofrugal lines. I'll give that one its own post.)

The first piece is for those who are considering going back to college as adults, but can't figure out how to afford it. It explains how many of the financial aid programs available to "traditional" (i.e., young) students are also available for adults, including grants, scholarships, loans, and 529 plans. And it explores other options adult students have that aren't available to teens, such as targeted scholarships for older students, tuition benefits from employers, credit for past work experience, and discounted college classes for senior citizens. Finally, I discuss online learning and how it could help you earn your degree at a lower cost.

How to Afford & Pay for College as an Older Adult 

The second article is for everyone who has ever struggled to stretch their money until the end of the month (which includes more than 40% of Americans, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). These are the people who are most likely to take out costly payday loans, the dangers of which I've outlined in a previous article. In this piece, I discuss a modern alternative: apps that can give you access to the money you've already earned at work without having to wait for payday. They're not a long-term fix for an ongoing budget shortfall, but they can give you the cash you need to get by while you whip your budget into shape. 

9 Best Paycheck Advance Apps to Help You Make It to Payday

And lastly, a piece about how you can turn all that time you spend on the Internet into a money-making opportunity. I discuss a whole host of ways to earn extra cash online, from the quick and easy (picking up a few bucks' worth of cash back for your online shopping, or boosting your return from savings and investment) to the complex and lucrative (selling products, services, and content online). With these techniques, you can use the Internet as anything from a piggy bank you dip into for extra cash to your primary source of income.

5 Ways to Make Extra Money Online (on the Side)

Money Crashers: Income Sharing Agreements (ISA): A New Way to Pay for College

My latest article on Money Crashers is part of what you might call my Making College Cheaper series. I've done pieces on tuition-free colleges, the pros and cons of paying for your kids' college education, and free or cheap college classes for senior citizens. And in this piece, I'm tackling a relatively new way to pay for college: income sharing agreements (ISAs).

First pioneered in the U.S. via Purdue's "Back a Boiler" program, ISAs are now available at nine U.S. colleges and universities, as well as some non-degree-granting programs. These schools, in essence, offer to cover your tuition costs for you in exchange for a cut of your earnings after you graduate. But is this really a good deal for students? To be specific, is it a better deal than a traditional student loan?

The answer to this question, it turns out, depends on several factors, such as your college, your major, your chosen career, how much you need to borrow, and what your other options are. This article explores those points, along with the history of ISAs, how they work, and where they're available. It should tell you what you need to know to decide whether you, or the future college student in your life, should consider this financing option.

Income Sharing Agreements (ISA): A New Way to Pay for College

Money Crashers: Free & Cheap College Classes for Seniors

I've often thought that my college years were the best time of my life. Don't get me wrong, there are things about my life now that I love and wouldn't want to give up, including my husband, my house, my cats, and this blog. But there were two great things about college that I've never had at any other time in my life. First, I was living in the same place with all my friends, and we all had pretty much the same schedule, so we could hang out together any time—there was none of this calling and e-mailing back and forth just to find a night we're all free to play games. And second, what we called work back in college was studying—reading books, writing papers, learning interesting things. In other words, the kind of thing I have to make a special effort now to make room for in my schedule alongside all my actual work, the kind I get paid for.

When I've thought about how I'd like to spend my retirement, I often think that what I'd really like to do would be to go back to college, or at least someplace like it, where I could live with all my friends and take classes for my own enjoyment. I'm still not sure if there's a way to manage the first part of that, but I've discovered that the second part—taking classes—is not only possible, but could actually be free if I play my cards right.

It turns out, there's at least one college in every state in the country that allows senior citizens to take classes for free, or for a steeply discounted cost—usually just to audit, but sometimes actually for credit. Most schools have rules establishing that these non-paying seniors can only take classes that aren't full, so they aren't taking space away from full-paying students, but that still leaves lots of fun little obscure classes to choose from.

On top of this, there are "lifelong learning programs" at lots of colleges that are specifically for seniors. And there are even whole retirement communities located on or near college campuses, so the residents can hang out and take part in college activities—sometimes including classes.

I've rounded up all the free and discounted college options for senior citizens that I could find in my latest Money Crashers piece: Free & Cheap College Classes for Senior Citizens (By State & University). I realize, of course, that a lot of these programs will probably have changed by the time I'm ready to retire—but it's still something to look forward to. And for any readers who have reached retirement age already, it could be something to check out right now.

Money Crashers: Cooking for College Students

When I went off to college lo these many years ago, one of the things I took with me was a little "hot pot." This mini kettle allowed me to enjoy General Foods' instant mocha (which I practically lived on at the time) and, in a pinch, ramen noodles, at any hour of the day or night. I didn't aspire to any more elaborate cooking than this, since I had a meal plan that provided me with 20 square meals a week (including brunch on Sunday).

However, the students of today might not be so cavalier about it. The price of a college meal plan, like everything else connected with higher education, has shot up since my school days and now works out to around $18.75 per day. By contrast, the average American spends only $7.80 per day on food—about 42 percent as much.

Ergo, students can save a lot of money by doing some or all of their own cooking. In an apartment or a dorm with a communal kitchen, that's easy—all you need is a cookbook and a few basic tools. But even if you're living in a dorm room, it's possible to make a surprising number of dishes with just a microwave, a mini fridge, and maybe a couple of other tools like a toaster oven or coffee maker.

My latest Money Crashers article delves into the fine art of dorm cooking. I address such topics as communal-kitchen etiquette, tools and techniques for dorm-room cooking, grocery shopping on a student budget, and recipes you can make in the dorm for every meal of the day.

Now, I realize I probably don't have that many college students reading this blog (do I? If you're out there, give a shout in the comments). But these recipes can actually be handy for anyone who's living in a small space, shopping on a tight budget, or trying to prepare meals on a busy schedule. And who doesn't fall into at least one of these categories?

Read all about it here: Cooking for College Students – Easy Recipes for a Dorm Room

Money Crashers: Should You Pay for Your Child’s College Education?

In our progress toward financial independence, Brian and I have had one big advantage over many of our peers, which I can sum up in one word: DINK. For those who aren't familiar with that term, it's an acronym for "dual income, no kids." Basically, it means we're like the owners of the second car in this XKCD cartoon.

Kids are, let's face it, expensive. One estimate from 2015 found that the tab for raising just one child comes to more than $233,000. And that's only for the first 17 years, so it doesn't include the real killer cost: sending that kid to college. According to the College Board, the average cost of a year of college ranges from $3,520 at a public two-year college to $45,370 at a private, four-year college—so the total cost of a four-year college degree could easily come to $180,000 or more.

All this has got some folks our age asking the once-unthinkable question: "Is sending my kids to college even worth the cost?"

It turns out, that's a pretty complicated question to answer—so complicated that I've devoted a whole article on Money Crashers to exploring it. First, I outline both the advantages of footing the bill for your child's tuition (such as tax benefits and better job opportunities for your kid) and the disadvantages (such as sabotaging your retirement savings and, surprisingly, perhaps your kid's grades as well). Then I discuss some of the alternatives to paying your child's way through college, such as having them work through school, financial aid, free colleges (covered more fully in in this earlier article), and alternative careers that offer a respectable salary without a degree.

To help parents decide which decision is best for them, I provide a list of questions to consider, such as, "Are your finances solid?" and "What are your child's career plans?" And finally, I outline some strategies to help reduce the burden on parents who have decided to shoulder the cost of tuition.

For all my peers out there behind the wheel of the other car in the cartoon, I hope this will be useful.

Should You Pay for Your Child’s College Education?

Money Crashers: Top 13 Tuition-Free Colleges

As the old joke goes, the best way to succeed in life is to choose your parents wisely. Brian and I are a case in point. We were both lucky enough to have parents who could afford to put us through college, so we didn't emerge into the real world carrying a huge load of student debt like so many of our generation. And since we don't have kids of our own, the ever-higher cost of college tuition isn't a problem we've had to worry about since then.

However, I know that many others aren't as fortunate. There are plenty of folks in my age group who are now facing the daunting prospect of dealing with sky-high college costs for the second time with their kids—sometimes while they're still working on paying off their own student loans. So for them, I've written a Money Crashers article that explores an unusual and intriguing solution to the problem of college costs: tuition-free colleges.

Schools like this are rare, and they're not easy to get into. Some of them take only top-level students; others are limited to low-income students from specific areas of the country. Some of them focus specifically on training students for a particular career, such as music, the ministry, or naval architecture. And most of them require students to work in exchange for their free tuition, either while they're at school or by committing to some form of service (for instance, in the military) after they graduate.

However, if you or your offspring are lucky enough to meet the strict requirements for one of these schools, you have a chance of hitting the jackpot: a college education at no cost. (Okay, most of these schools aren't 100 percent free; while there's no tuition cost, they do charge a fee for room and board. But in many cases, you can pay for that with a scholarship or some form of work-study, as well.)

In this article, I describe 13 colleges across the U.S. where you can—with a bit of luck—earn your degree for free. For each one, I outline the requirements to get in, areas of study, and features of campus life. I also discuss the free tuition movement in a growing number of states, which aims to offer at least two years at a community college at no charge to in-state students.

Read about it here: Top 13 Tuition-Free Colleges: How to Get a Degree for Free

Back-to-school "needs"

It's been many years now since I had any reason to do any back-to-school shopping (although, as I mentioned back on the old blog, it took me over a decade to shake the impulse). So I was completely taken aback to read in the electronic pages of my Tip Hero newsletter the claim that the average family with kids in school will spend about $688 on school shopping this year. That's the amount per family, not per child, but the average American family with kids under 18 only has 1.86 of them, so that's still nearly $370 per kid. My mind boggling, I tried to cast my memory back to my own school days. What kind of supplies did I buy at the start of a new school year? I remember the teachers sending us lists of things we'd need—a notebook for each class, some pencils and highlighters, maybe a calculator or a compass for math class. I might have had a new backpack or lunch box if the old one was worn out, but I didn't automatically get a new one every year. How could that kind of stuff possibly add up to $370?

I consulted the National Retail Foundation, the source of the statistic, and found that the items I'm thinking of—"school supplies such as notebooks, pencils and backpacks"—add up to only a fraction of the total. Parents expect to spend about $95 on these items (which still seems like a lot), but a far bigger share is going toward "clothing, accessories and electronics." The average family with kids in school expects to spend $246.10 on clothes, $217.88 on electronics and $129.20 on shoes. Nearly 60 percent of these families, according to the site, will be buying "some sort of electronic device" for their kids.

I suppose it's possible that my parents used to spend the equivalent of $375 a year (adjusted for inflation) on clothes and shoes for me and my sister, but I don't recall that being a back-to-school expense specifically. We got new clothes and shoes (or, as often as not in my sister's case, hand-me-downs) when we no longer fit into our old ones, not when it was time to start a new school year. In fact, I personally don't see the point of going out and getting your kid's entire wardrobe for the upcoming school year in August. If the kid isn't growing very fast, then last year's clothes may still fit, and if he is, then the clothes you buy now might not fit by the time it gets cold enough to wear them. Yet somehow, sometime between the time I reached my full height and today, a new school wardrobe every fall became the paradigm.

As for the electronic devices, it's true that these are something I didn't need back when I was in school because at the time, most of them weren't around. I did get my first computer in junior high—a gift from my grandfather—and I did use it increasingly throughout high school, but I also had to share it with my sister. Maybe nowadays parents assume each kid needs his own computer, but surely they don't have to be replaced every year, do they? I can see how the cost of a couple of computers, averaged over their useful lifetime, might work out to $218 per year—but that doesn't explain why six out of ten parents expect to spend some money on electronics in any given year. Clearly there are some other kind of gadgets involved, but what? Cell phones? MP3 players? How do these qualify as back-to-school items?

I can't help thinking that there must be some sort of inflation here of the list of items being defined as back-to-school "needs." On a recent trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond, I picked up a copy of the store's "College Checklist"—an illustrated booklet of a dozen pages—and found what struck me as a ridiculous number of items to be checked off before your kid can be deemed ready to start college life. In addition to your basic sheets, blanket and pillow, the "sleep checklist" includes a mattress topper, duvet cover, bedside table (for apartment dwellers) and a mattress protector to keep out bedbugs. And that's just one of the six checklists in the book; there are separate ones for organization (of the closet and dorm room—the study space gets its own list), cleaning (including an iron and ironing board, which is wishful thinking on the parents' part if I ever heard it), eating (which apparently they figure students won't be doing primarily at the dining hall), and relaxation (my favorite, including such items as iPod speakers, iPod accessories, and "room fragrance." I think this is a modern term for what used to be called "air freshener," possibly changed to reflect the fact that it doesn't.)

I'm not trying to suggest that the tips Tip Hero had to offer on ways to save on all these back-to-school purchases aren't useful. I'm sure they are, but I think perhaps parents could save an even bigger chunk of change by taking a good hard look at their back-to-school shopping lists and then taking a hatchet to them. The Center for a New American Dream apparently agrees with me, as their latest blog entry suggests cutting back on back-to-school spending (and the aggravation that goes with it) by keeping it simple. They point out that multiple copies of the same item (such as pens) will just get lost, while a smaller number will be easier to keep track of, and that basic versions of most supplies will work just as well as pricier ones. And they offer the modest proposal that, you know, if your stuff from last year is still good, you can actually keep using it.