Trying to finance a college education can be a pretty daunting task these days. Somehow the college fund that we all should have started when our kids were three years old got spent during a period of unemployment before that child got out of grade school. Or even if those contributions got made we just did not believe the expenses would rise the way they have, and the college savings fund is, well, underfunded. Right now, when you add in tuition, fees, room, board, books and other expenses for a public 4 year university, and that is with resident tuition rates, it is easy to look at a bill that pushes $20,000 a year! Multiply that $20K by 4 years, and you can see that a student, and his or her family, needs to come up with about $80,000! A private school will cost even more, and many start at $30,000 a year, or even more! Now consider that most families do not just have one child, but must help multiple kids get through school.

Many families, or students, need to take out loans. These loans, usually, do not have to be paid back until the graduate has been out of school for 6 to 9 months, and so they do give a person a chance to get established in a new job. However, some come with hefty interest rates and leave the recent graduate with a large burden of debt.
(more…)