In about 22 months I’ll begin my quest to slay the college dragon. My problem is that I’ll have another one to start slaying just 12 months after that. Two in college a year apart. Ouch. It’s gonna be tough but here are some of my plans to pay for college without draining my bank account.

Paying for college

^[2] I don’t know if you’ve checked out what a college degree costs these days but it isn’t cheap. Depending on who you ask (and which site you Google), in state college costs average $15,000 per year for tuition, room and board with out of state costs roughly double that amount. I have managed to squirrel away some cash, but since my two oldest children want to go to an out of state school, I have some strategizing to do.

1. Search for scholarships

There are four ways to find scholarships ^[3] that I know of:

• Online sites such as Scholarship Zone ^[3] or Fastweb ^[4] where you enter your information and you’re matched to money that’s available
• Your high school’s guidance counselor
• The college you’re planning to attend
• Networking ^[5] through friends ^[6], co-workers, and community service organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc), or other students

The key to getting a scholarship ^[3] seems to be – simply ASK … and ask early.