How to Afford College & Get Money Towards Your Education

Updated Dec 20, 2024

College can be expensive. With rising tuition costs, even families with healthy college savings are looking to reduce the cost of a college degree. Our goal is always to work within a family’s budget and to help families pay less for college. After helping thousands of families pay less for college (and often pay nothing for college!), the crew here at Class 101 have a few “secrets” to share. Hint – they aren’t really secrets! You’ve likely heard of some of these secrets before, but the important thing is the follow-through and be intentional about timing. Don’t wait until Senior year to implement these secrets – getting a head start can make all of the difference. If you or your family have questions about how to afford college, need help applying for scholarships, or other college prep services, find the nearest Class 101 location near you.

Tips for How to Afford College

There are aa few different ways to make college more affordable and get some money for your education, which we will review below:

Start by Making a College List

One of the first steps to affording college is to develop a college list.  Making a college list helps to narrow your focus on the schools you are most interested in and rule out any colleges that may not be a good fit for you. Some critical areas that need to be addressed are the size of the college the student is interested in, the location, major, size of the city, and extracurricular activities.  Once you have your list, you can begin to do the things that can impact your acceptance and scholarship at those institutions, like demonstrate interest, research scholarship opportunities and the requirements for those scholarships, make campus visits, etc. When making your college list, we recommend narrowing it down to your top ten colleges and universities. Be sure to consider the following when looking for colleges and save the information in a spreadsheet – your future self will thank you!

Grades & Test Scores

The first way to make college more affordable is by your grades and ACT/SAT score. While some colleges have moved away from requiring test scores for admission, most institutions still take test scores into consideration when it comes to awarding top scholarships. The higher your GPA and test score, the better chance you have of getting merit based scholarships. To start, you need to know your baseline test score. You can get a baseline score by taking a practice test that mimics the real test. While it’s not usually the way any teenagers we know want to spend their time, it is a very important first step in developing a plan to achieve the best test score you can get. Practice tests allow a college advisor to capture your testing trends and dial in on opportunities for improvement during SAT or ACT prep courses.

Improve Your College Resume

The second way to help afford college tuition is by building a solid, well-rounded college resume.  Colleges like to see a student with excellent grades that also takes AP and advanced classes, involved in leadership activities, and is involved in volunteer and community service. We recommend starting your college resume as early as you can, ideally starting freshman year. You can add onto your resume each year as you accumulate activities, volunteer hours, work experience, internships, etc. To have a competitive chance at scholarships, we recommend aiming for ten activities, five honors, and including at least one leadership role.

Financial Aid (FAFSA)

Another way to get money for college is through financial aid.  While applying for financial aid may seem like an obvious way to pay less for college, we have been surprised at how many families do not complete the application. Regardless of your family’s financial situation, we always recommend completing the FAFSA application. Completing the FAFSA is the only way to take out student loans and qualify for certain types of financial aid. It is critical to fill out the FAFSA in order to be considered for need based financial aid which can help you afford school.  The money you get for school could come in a few forms; grants, work study, or loans.  Families with middle to higher income can receive financial aid depending on the price of the school, age of parents, how many children in college and other factors.

Secure a Scholarship

The final way to make college more affordable is to apply for scholarships. Putting yourself in a position to be competitive for scholarships is one of the most effective ways to get money for college without using your own funds.

We recommend conducting research on area scholarships to be aware of and utilizing online scholarship finders like the College Board’s Big Future search starting Junior year. With GPA being an important factor in merit-based scholarships, the foundational work for scholarships starts Freshmen year. There isn’t a short cut for getting good grades and putting in the work to take a challenging course schedule across four years of high school. In addition to merit-based scholarships, many companies such as Best Buy, Target, Burger King, and many more offer scholarship opportunities for students to help pay for college.  While it is a very unpredictable way to pay for college, outside scholarships do exist. There are also local scholarships from organizations in your community which you may qualify for that can help pay for college.