College Tips for Parents

College Parent Patti, has some excellent suggestions for saving money on college expenses.


College tuition and fees are on the rise because of a reduction in government funding and the rising cost of living. There are ways to reduce those costs, though, and my daughter and I have implemented a few.

1. Room and Board: One of the biggest chunks of your educational dollars will go toward room and board. We found a way to reduce one semester of room and board from our daughter’s educational costs. When she graduated from high school, she enrolled in two transfer level courses at the community college over the summer term. The courses applied to her degree and were significantly less expensive at the community college than at the university. Then, she continued to take one more courses at the community college over the summers. By doing so, she will graduate one semester early, eliminating the need for room and board for one entire semester. Another possibility would be to pursue your university’s online courses while your student is home during the summer break. The key to saving is to make sure that they complete enough credit hours or classes to fulfill one semester of their college requirement.

2. Internships: If your child will be working part-time while attending college or during the summer, investigate the opportunities for their work experience to be an internship, where they will also receive college credit for their efforts. Bear in mind that some internships are non-paying, but there are many who offer both income and college credit.

3. Apply for Scholarships: Your child doesn’t have to be a valedictorian to get a scholarship. Many scholarships are geared toward more than grades and are based on things like community service, academic programs, extracurricular activities, or even organization affiliations. For instance, a union organization might offer a scholarship to its members’ children. Our daughter received a $250 scholarship (renewable each year) to help pay for books simply because she was the only applicant! That’s a total of $1,000 off of her college education costs. (FYI: Many scholarship deadlines are early in the year and require that you have completed a FAFSA application.)

Places to look for scholarships:

Organizations like the VFW, Knights of Columbus, American Legion, union halls

Local politicians often offer scholarships based on community service or other
non-academic standards.

High school counselors have scholarship applications and information.

Colleges and universities have their own scholarships, which can usually be found on their website.
Local businesses offer scholarships to students who are pursuing degrees in their field. This information can be found through guidance counselors or local newspapers.

4. Leave the car at home: Did you know that once your child takes a car to school, most insurance companies raise the rates? That increase is often dependent on how far campus is from your home address. You can save costs by sharing rides with other students from your hometown and using the campus bus system (many of which are very good). You’ll also save on gas, which keeps rising, and on parking. Most campuses require a parking permit, which can be costly. The bonus: If there’s no car on campus, there won’t be any parking tickets, either. Students inevitably run late and have to park in massive parking lots a great distance from their destination. They often attempt to park in no parking or reserved zones to save time and walking. However, campus police are very good at finding them and writing tickets. Those fines aren’t cheap, and colleges have a way of enforcing payment. Leaving the car at home, at least for one year or two, is a great way to prevent unexpected fines.