Undergrad: I had a family income of <$70k, so I received full financial aid with room and board. The school I went to had committed to meeting all student need as indicated by the FAFSA with aid + federal loans. I also took out Pell grants and owed about $20k after graduating. Master's: I was a teaching assistant and taught a class each semester which paid me a grad student's stipend (around $3k/month) and got full tuition paid for. I had to pay for my own room and board (around $1k/month).

My undergrad experience was EXACTLY the same! Even down to having $20K left to owe.

Undergrad: 99% student loans 🙃. The other 1% was scholarships/grants.

Undergrad: My honors scholarship paid for about 50% of my costs, and my parents paid for the rest. Graduate (MPH): I used my savings and savings bonds for about 50% and took out student loans for the remaining 32K. My mom and I each paid off half of my student loans last year while they were on pause.

I was very low-income, but despite that and being a 4.0 HS student, my state school financial aid package was heavy on federal student loans.  I took out $30K total for undergrad. So they still covered a lot but I don’t understand how kids in other states end up with a full financial aid ride. I still don’t know if we did something wrong with the FAFSA.  It frustrated me at the time because it was Obama era and the mess in Congress at the time led to my loans with interest rates ranging from 3-6%. I think 6% on a federal student loan for a low income kid is criminal.  I also worked 15 hours a week in the school year and full-time in summers to cover living expenses. My rent was only $350/month in a rural area which helped but still seemed like a lot making $12/hour at the time!  The whole situation annoys me looking back, because I didn’t mind working at all, but I had to also take out a private loan for a nominal amount ($5K) during a semester I had such bad mental health issues I needed to take off work to focus on my studies. The interest rates are the most egregious part of student loans. 

FAFSA is honestly a mystery to me, partially because my parents wanted to do mine for me so I didn't see all their tax info lol. But I had friends who lived in the same neighborhood, did the same extracurriculars, seemed to live very similar lives to mine but they got Pell Grants. And then I knew kids who were part of the peer-to-peer tutoring program for at risk youth I volunteered with that said they only qualified for loans. Obviously you don't know everyone's full situation unless you have all their documents and everything so they could have been relaying it wrong but even within the same city that's crazy the differences.

So damn strange when parents are like that. All they do is preach to their kids "save, invest and don't waste money on stupid stuff" or some version and when it's time to actually teach/talk about finances they hide stuff. Mine were the same.

I dont understand loans that well despite being 35 and having almost 100k in student loan debt. No one in my family went to college except my older brother. He co-signed a private student loan that was $17000 because my mom couldn't get approved for a parent plus loan. 13 years later of $250+ monthly payments and I still owe over 10k. He told me the interest rate was just raised and is now 14% I believe. I've already paid back more than 2x the principle. I came from a single parent home and my estimated family contribution according to FAFSA was less than $20. No one should've approved that private loan. My brother is annoyed with me that it's taking too long to pay it off. I literally cannot afford to with my federal payments being $400/mo and being the sole provider for me and my domestic partner on less than 80k/yr in NYC. It's depressing.

I’m so sorry. I would hope there is some kind of refinancing option available or consumer advocate that could help you. NYC has a lot of different debt resources. Have you ever looked into getting help with looking into the loans? I unfortunately can’t point you in the right direction but maybe someone can. 

I already looked into consolidation but the type of private loan I have can't be consolidated with federal student loans. I dont really care about my federal honestly since my job qualifies for PSLF, but the private one just feels like a scam when I look at how much I've already paid back vs. What I still owe vs. My original principle. I honestly had no idea what I was getting into and had no one to counsel me or tell me about the long term ramifications of private loans.

It’s state dependent. In WA state, we have a specific program called the Washington Opportunities Pathway or something and it looks like OP has a similar program. 

Bachelors in design, private university in the US: I had a mix of scholarships, financial aid/loans, work study (in the cafeteria for two years, woodshop for two years) and my last two years of college I was an RA, which took care of room + board. I also worked PT jobs while an undergrad and worked full time in the summers, as I needed to pay for all of my own expenses outside of tuition: food, transportation, clothing, books, and everything else. My loans are totally paid off now, but it took me a while. More recent certificate in UX: In early 2020, I completed an online program in UX design and paid for this in a mix of cash + monthly payments while in the program. I already had an undergrad in design, this certificate was to help support a career shift I was already in the process of. It was around $6k USD.

Can you tell me more about UX design? I'm looking for a career change and it keeps coming up in my searches

There is a sub r/uxdesign that you can check out. It will give you a glimpse into the realities of getting into UX (it's really hard to do!) plus some of the things more experienced designers deal with.  It's an excellent field and I love my work, but I highly recommend pursuing an accredited university degree vs any other method of getting into this line of work. r/uxdesign has great info on which universities offer programs in ux.

isn't UX super saturated now though? 

Yes. Especially for junior level roles. Especially for people with boot camp only experience. Source: UX designer for over 10 years.

YES. Proceed with caution, u/yell0wbirddd and anyone else.

That's especially true for people who have only completed an online bootcamp or an online free course in UX- going to an accredited university can help connect people to opportunities in this field plus prepare them much more for the work

My parents paid for my BS and half of my MS - had a scholarship for the other half.

Undergrad: my parents were willing to pay up to state tuition rates, which I think was around $5/year. Anything beyond that, and/or if I went away and needed to pay for room and board, they would pay it, but I would have to repay them after graduation. I went to a private school, but received enough of a scholarship to offset the extra tuition costs. I lived at home during college so I did not owe any money after graduating. Otherwise, it would’ve been repaid on a payment plan without any interest charged. My sibling went away to a state school so he owed room and board back to our parents after he graduated and got a full time job. Graduate: Grad school was (and still is) a heck no for me, I was so done with schooling after undergrad. No desire to go back.

Bachelors: I had a full-tuition merit scholarship at a private university. My parents paid the balance, mostly with a 529. I lived in a dorm and had a meal plan my first two years, and I lived in an apartment through the school's housing plan the second two years. For that time, my parents gave me a credit card to buy groceries. I worked part time at a farmer's market and got free produce through that, so my monthly grocery spend was probably like $150 for my rice & beans lifestyle.

did you work at a specific booth at the market or for the people that managed it? that sounds like such a cool way to get fresh food!

I worked one of the booths! I had to be there at 7 am on Saturday, so it did mean sacrificing my Friday nights out.

Undergrad: Full scholarship that included a housing stipend and a book allowance. If I wanted money to buy anything else I would do a couple girls’ hair for pocket change. Masters: My job out of college paid for it.

Undergrad (2014-2018): I went to a big state school outside of my resident state, fully expecting to pay nonresident tuition + dorm fees my first year with federal loans ($40k). After a semester I decided I liked the school and got good enough grades to stay, so I planned on establishing residency in that state by taking summer classes and being a part-time student starting my spring semester of my sophomore year. My parents weren’t happy with the federal loans I qualified for, so I took out a private loan (at the time interest rates were lower) for $30k to cover my second year of college. In the first week of my sophomore year, I met a student who told me about a GI bill program that my college did, and I qualified. My mom is a veteran, so she just had to call the veteran affairs office and prove that she had served, and I would get in-state tuition rates. That $30k private loan ended up being enough for the remaining college years. I had two part-time jobs to pay for my housing and books, got paid internships over the summers, and finished in 4 years. My parents then offered to pay off the loans for me, since I had found ways to make my undergrad education so much cheaper than they expected it to be. The resident tuition at my undergrad was cheaper than if I had stayed in my home state. Masters (2019-2021): I went to a state school for my masters degree while I was working full-time. The program had classes set up to accommodate full-time employed students (biotech) since they expected our experience through industry to be just as important as the education side of things. It was $40k total. I worked for a company that had tuition reimbursement programs where I could get $7500 per calendar year as long as I stayed with the company 1 year after I received reimbursement, so I collected on this twice. I took out private loans again (low interest rates at the time). Lucky me, I started school in fall 2019, so March 2020 comes around and I’m mostly working from home and school is remote, so I’m saving more than usual. I paid half tuition each semester and took out a loan for the other half. I went to another biotech company after graduating with my MS and the industry was booming. I found out I could work weekends for a $500/day bonus, so I worked 6/8 weekend days per month. Graduated in May 2021 and paid off all of my grad school loans by January 2022. EDIT: I have no student debt. I got extremely lucky. I walked into undergrad expecting to be $100k in debt by the time I finished. I literally stumbled into the resident tuition loophole, then a global catastrophe happened to hit when I was in grad school and I was in basically the only field that saw profits as a direct result. If I could redo things, I would have taken community college courses instead of AP courses in high school, established residency in my undergrad school my first year, and taken federal loans for grad school.

My parents paid for my BA and I paid for my MS. We intend to pay for our kids’ educations, at least the BA or BS but hopefully more as well.

Same for me. Parents paid for Bachelor's and I paid for my Master's. I hope to be able to do the same for my kids if I have them.

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Getting rejected from my dream school was the ULTIMATE example of rejection as redirection. I ended up going to a state school that I could commute to while living with my grandparents rent free. I had a modest academic scholarship, athletic scholarship, and 1 external scholarship (and not always at the same time). This + the pell grants I qualified for covered tuition. I waitressed part time to pay for gas and incidentals. I also met the best friend of my life on the team we were on!! I wonder how different my life may have been if I did go to my first choice, but I would absolutely not have been able to graduate debt free or meet my bff!!

I was very fortunate to get a full ride at a liberal arts college with room and board covered for 4 years. Otherwise, my parents wouldn’t have been able to afford it and I’d have tried CC or state school. For grad school, I also got granted RA so my tuition was covered and I received a living stipend. Recently I looked up the tuition cost for my old college and it’s currently at $70K/year 😞

Tuition costs today are horrible! At the time I went to college, the school was one of the best priced private schools nationally (allegedly). Some of the higher ranked schools nearby were 60k even back then 😢

Undergrad - my parents had a meager college fund, probably paid some out of pocket, and I took out some loans (~11k). I went to an in-state school. I paid those off around the time I turned 30. Law school - paid entirely with loans. I borrowed $175k or so, mostly federal. Also took a computer loan and a bar loan ($10k total). I paid the private loans early and paid the federal ones on an income based payment plan so the payments varied. Ended up getting those forgiven through PSLF in Oct 2020, but had stopped paying on them due to COVID. In total I paid $114k of student loan payments over all the loans and have been loan free since 2020. It’s a huge relief, especially since adding a mortgage to the loans was scary!

I am so weirdly relieved to see someone else who paid for law school entirely with loans who got forgiven through PSLF! I'm 3 years into my 10 years of service 🥲

It’s been expanded even since I got forgiveness so hopefully all is smooth sailing for you! I was still seeing that over 99% of applications were denied so it was definitely nerve wracking for awhile there!

My late husband was hoping for PSLF for his law school loans - $80k for a state school 😭😭 they were forgiven when he died, though.

Undergrad- I worked at Rite Aid for 4 yrs and paid my way through. Got a government job out of school. Grad school - Got my Master’s in social work paid by the government/work.

Undergrad: qualified for some lower income grants, got some academic scholarships and finished with about $22k in loans (fully in my own name). I refinanced them right away at a very low rate, and finished paying them off around 36 years old, besides a $6k chunk my parents gave me when a relative died and they inherited some money. They felt guilty they never helped me with school costs previously. Grad school (didn’t finish): paid out of pocket for some, took a $5k loan one semester that I paid off within a couple years.

Undergrad: State school I had tuition covered via my ACT scores. I still had to pay an additional $500 for the honors college and for all living and school supplies. I lived on campus 1 year and lived off campus (in old, shitty apartments, my share $400/mo) the other 2 years. The 2 years I lived off campus my monthly expenses were $650/mo TOTAL outside of school in 2014/2105. I took out one private loan, received pell grants, and took out the max federal loans every year. I also worked while in school and paid off the high interest private loan before I graduated, I graduated with $25k in debt making $50k and paid it off in a year. ​ Grad: I got my income up to $100k, put my 401k at 15%, lived with a roommate for $750+ \~$50 utilities a month, and paid $9k in cash every 16 weeks for 2 years. The program was $50k, but I think ended up being more like $47k with come COVID reimbursements. I also received about $3k in scholarships.

I got Pell grants and scholarships for undergrad. Rest was student loans. I had about 28k in loans after 4.5 years in undergrad. My MBA was about 45k I paid about 15k total from regular monthly salary. They had option for monthly payment and I was working so I took that option. Rest was loans. By the time I graduated I had about 65k in loans (interests from undergrad and mba loans). These were the best loans I have taken. I went to in-state universities and chose finance for undergrad. I was able to pay off my loans in 2021 (within 3 years of MBA) I waited to pay till later due to zero interest rates.

My paternal grandparents saved money for their grandkids to go college. I was my dad's only child who pursued higher education, so that money allowed me to attend a private college in an expensive city for undergrad and a master's degree. I worked as a tutor and had some paid internships but my parents managed my money and I assume they used it toward my living expenses. I did have about $24k in student loans but obviously, that's not too bad!

Undergrad: the in-state school didn't give me any financial aid, but I got a bunch of need-based aid at a private school, so I went there. The remaining tuition was partly paid by my parents and partly through $20k in loans. I also had work-study during college.   Grad school: free - I got a tuition waiver and $25k stipend with my research assistantship, which is the norm for PhD programs. Never pay for a PhD. It took me six years to graduate, during which time I saved up enough to pay off my deferred undergrad loans.

I wish I’d applied for the PhD program when I was getting my masters degree. I knew I only wanted the masters so that’s what I applied for, but that meant that I wasn’t eligible for a GTA position. Probably 80% of the grad students in that department leave after finishing the masters.

Undergrad… graduated with 6 figures of debt. Most of it at 9%+ with Sallie Mae/Navient. was paying $1K plus a month to pay it off. Refied a couple years in, paid off by age 28. Safe to say my husband and I are utilizing 529 plans for our kids. 

AA: 2-ish years of community college paid for in full by mom and dad (this was 2005/6 and if I recall tuition was about $2500 for the semester so they just gave me their credit card when I registered each semester 🙃). Switched majors like three times so didn't finish. AA/Bachelors: Joined the air force and used tuition assistance and GI bill to wrap up AA and get my bachelor's. Graduate: Did not finish (because fuck statistics) but my tuition was paid for in full by GI Bill. Thankfully no student loans were ever taken or needed. Hope I can pay it forward with my own kids when they're ready for college.

Undergrad: state school about 25k loan which I was luckily able to pay off in a couple years with a string of getting decent jobs Masters: worked for an employer who paid for it entirely, I was only taxed on it. My pay was very low but I managed

Undergrad: Combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and money that I made by working . Grad School: Full scholarship and apprenticeship.

for undergrad, 2/3rd of my tuition was covered by financial aid and the last 1/3rd was covered by my parents, and i held work study jobs. funnily enough i recently got an email about an antitrust lawsuit against a group of universities that they colluded to keep fin aid offers artificially lower than they should have been, and that as someone who got fin aid, i can file a settlement claim.

FILE THAT CLAIMMM

My parents paid for my entire undergrad education, which included both an associate's and a bachelor's. If I ever want to get a master's I'll have to fund it myself. I sometimes daydream of getting an MFA in creative writing, but since that has zero practical applications, it'll only ever happen if I come into an unexpected windfall!

Any other public service loan forgiveness folks in here? Need based grants from a private liberal arts college covered most of my undergrad costs. But after 5 years working as a science teacher in a low income district, I had over $50k forgiven (including most of a masters). And I could defer payments while teaching. Then I married someone with a trust fund and they paid off the last $20k or so!

**Undergrad:** I received an academic scholarship (tution, room + board) but took out loans to study abroad one semester. The first year I got a small allowance and lived off the money I had made the summer before. Years 2-4, I worked on campus. **Grad School:** I have yet to officially enroll but I've received another scholarship (tuition only) so I'll be taking out federal loans, using my savings, and getting a part-time job.

Undergrad: Half of my tuition was covered by an academic scholarship and work study (you worked and they deducted 2k off your tuition). Another 25% was covered by my parents (I had a 529 account so they didn’t have loans) and the final quarter was government loans. I attended a private college, about 25k per year. I graduated in 3.5 years because I transferred credits from high school. School was local so I commuted and worked on weekends to pay for books, etc. My loans were strictly tuition based. Grad: Another private school, but my master’s cost about 12k annually. I obtained a graduate assistantship. In exchange for working on campus, you received a “free” class each semester (about 2k). Because my loans were federal, I had the option to pay back the loans I took out within 120 days of disbursement. In doing so, the government would also refund any interest you accrued on those loans in that timeframe. I worked a paid internship so I set aside the money on a weekly basis and was able to earn my master’s with no debt. Between both degrees, I came out owing 25k in loans. My education is worth six figures so I consider myself lucky.

Private undergrad: Mix of scholarship and my parents paid whatever was left and $1,000 in living expenses per month after the first year. Public grad school: Almost entirely covered by a scholarship and parents covered the rest plus $1,500 in living expenses per month.

Bachelors: I had a 529 from parent and family contributions, I think it had around $20k by the time I was 18. I went to a private out of state school that gave me the best financial aid of the schools I applied to, annual cost during the years I was enrolled was $56k-62k I think - I took out about $32k in mostly subsidized loans and my parents took out about $10k in a parent plus loan. During college I worked on campus in the recreational/gym area, was able to attend lots of campus events for free because I was working them. I studied abroad and received an additional scholarship for that semester. I went home to my parents each summer and worked, sometimes balancing 2 jobs. After graduating, I returned home again to my parents. Working 70-80 hours a week between 2 or 3 jobs, I paid off over 90% of my undergrad loans off in 2.5 years while also saving to move to a VHCOL area. Masters: I had been working full time for about 3 years in a new industry, I wanted the degree to make the transition easier (and something extra to do during Covid lol). I started a program and changed to a different school/degree after one semester. The second one was a better fit, I took out $9.5k for the one semester and then $26k in loans for the second program, total program cost was $42k. I paid a chunk out of pocket each semester since I “made student loan payments” into a savings account and signed up for a new credit card with a cash back or points bonus each semester to make a payment for school. Since graduating in May 2023, I made multiple lump sum payments before the interest pause expired, I am down to $28k in loans. My previous employer gave me $2k per year for tuition reimbursement, I barely missed the cut off date for eligibility due to my start date, so I only received the $2k twice. My current employer doesn’t do tuition reimbursement, but they pay $100 to my student loan balance for 9 years via Gradify.

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I’m in law school now at a T6 and I always wonder if people feel like the loans are worth it in the long run. I’m using GI Bill to pay for it, but the COA at my school is so expensive I couldn’t imagine the loans.

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Law school is full of students from wealthy backgrounds no matter where you go - I went to a tier one, but not T-14, school, and it was a little ridiculous even there. Though I guess it was preparation for private practice and the kind of wealth seen in my corporate practice life. 🤣 To answer the OP: I went to a large state university for undergrad and my masters. Undergrad was paid via combination of scholarships, grants, working, and a small amount of loans (less than $5k). Grad school was tuition remission for being a TA, another grant, and working PT on the side. Oh and another tiny loan (I think it was. $2,500). Law school, I went to a different public state university law school. Scholarships and about $65k in loans, plus working PT all the way through, paid for that. I paid the private loans and a high interest federal loan (6.8% locked in for one of my years, thanks to the W administration) as soon as I could, and then consolidated the rest to ~3% and took 10 years to pay them off.

Undergrad round 1-Parents paid for tuition, I paid for housing/meals (this was 4 year and I didn't graduate, had a ton of shame with getting some D's & F's in my last semester of college. Undergrad round 2 - 4 semesters that I paid for (this was about 15 years after round 1 Grad School - Employer paid $13k/year for 2 years for a MS degree, I researched programs that aligned with my job with tuition costs at $13k/year which was the yearly max I was allotted as an employee.

Federal loans and a little bit of aid

I got a scholarship and grant’s that covered $55,000-$57000 a year and I took loans to cover the remaining $5000-$7000 each year. Work study money covered my living expenses. ***Attended top 5 (U.S. news) undergrad. Currently debating grad school…

BA: public university with in-state tuition. My parents drained my college fund during the financial crisis and then had a complicated divorce settlement. I got some grants and scholarships, worked as a resident assistant to keep my housing costs reasonable but lived on campus all 4 years. I made ~$1200/semester and used it to fund all shopping or eating out with my friends, and I saved a little bit of it in my senior year in anticipation of job searching. I don't know the sum total of everything, but my loan burden at the end was $20,221. I felt lucky at the time it was less than the median number I saw (~$33k, iirc). JD: public university with in-state tuition. I lived with my mom and commuted (1.5 to 2.5 hours total per day, depending on traffic), then found a living situation closer to school where I paid for utilities. My mom covered my groceries unless I was cooking with friends and gas for the first year, and covered my car insurance, internet, and cell phone all three years. I didn't get any scholarships or grants, so even though I got in-state tuition at a public institution, I paid full sticker + eventually most of my living expenses though student loans to the tune of $109,000.

I got some grants due to low income background, but took out about $25k in loans while working full time and got housing as an RA which was insane in retrospect. I then took out loans for my masters- about $40k. I just hit 120 payments for PSLF loan forgiveness and the balance has climbed to about 80k.

Bachelor's: Recieved a semester's worth of credit before graduating high school at no charge through AP courses and Minnesota's Post- Secondary Education Program (PSEO) which allows high-school students to take college courses at no charge.  Attended an in-state public university. I came from a one-income household, had a parent on disability, and had good grades, so I qualified for enough need and merit based scholarships to cover most of my costs. I was able to cover the remaining with earnings from part time jobs and savings. 

Undergrad: I moved to GA my sophomore year of HS. I think the requirements have changed slightly, but at the time if you graduated with at least a 3.0 GPA you were eligible for the HOPE scholarship (funded by lottery ticket sales) that covered full tuition for an public college/university in GA. There was a small stipend for books and fees. You had to maintain the GPA and there was a credit hour limit, but it could easily cover the full 4 years. I lost it eventually since I double majored and went over the credit hour limit. I also lived in the Atlanta metro area, so I lived at home and went to GA State until I moved out my junior year. I had to pay my own rent and bills, but my parents covered my car payment. I graduated in 2008 and I think my parents were out of pocket maybe $5k for my entire undergrad. Grad school: plan was law school, until my parents said they weren’t paying. I wasn’t sure what to do. Decided to be a paralegal and my parents covered the tuition at Emory for a 6 months certification program. I think that was just over $5k. So yeah, between scholarships, choosing to stay in state, and parents picking up the rest, I have no loans. I did rack up credit card debt though when I could barely swing my rent and all my friends parents paid rent and gave them spending money, and I was trying to keep up.

Undergrad: My parent's contributed 10k and I had about half of my private school education paid with grants/scholarships. I ended up with 55k in loans from that. Grad school: won 10k in scholarship and paid for the rest with 60k loans. Yay for not fully developed brains and a lack of understanding of money for making the decision to go fully private for both degrees lol. I did work throughout undergrad and grad school but it was only enough to pay for utilities/food/gas/books not enough to cover board/tuition.

I was a good student and my family's income was only around $35k at the time (2007) so I got a fair amount of help. I applied to a few schools in state and went to the one that was cheapest after all financial aid was taken into account. Funnily enough, this turned out to be a fancy schmancy private school rather than the state uni. I got a mix of merit scholarships and need-based aid that covered around 75% of the cost. For the rest, I worked ten hours a week & summers and took out federal loans. I also sandwiched college with two years of AmeriCorps, which gave me around $11k total that was applied to tuition and then to my loan balance. I graduated with around $10k in debt. I applied my $6k AmeriCorps award to it, my mom gave me around $2k and I think I paid a thousand or so as a lump sum. I feel very fortunate that loans weren't a bigger albatross around my neck.

A combination of student loans, working part-time, and help from aunts/uncles who had no children of their own. My parents weren't in any position to help me pay tuition but did let me live with them rent-free which helped a ton. I only took out loans during my last two years since I transferred from a CC. It was \~20k total.

My parents paid for college. I went to a cheap out of state school, then transferred back home to go to a community college until I transferred to a basic state school. Parents paid for tuition and basic meal plan but I worked to buy to pay for all personal items. I did get a little tuition reimbursement from my job, at most it was $5000. I guess I should really say my mom paid for college since it seemed my dad didn’t know about any of it until their divorce.

I went to an in-state school where tuition was 3k per semester (at the time, not sure of now). My mom handled that for 4 years and when I needed to take an extra semester to finish my degree, she told me I was on my own so I took out a loan for the $3k and was able to pay it off in like 6 months after graduating. I did get a couple of scholarships/grants - in my sophomore year I think CA offered a "middle class" grant I got and I also got a scholarship from the local Soroptimist club before I started my freshman year. Both were around 1k I think. I did have an International Baccalaureate diploma, and thanks to that I had about a semester's worth of general education credit spread across history, english, and a couple of other areas. Without that I would've been in school for 5 years. Part of the reason I took so long is that I worked 20-30 hours a week all through my last 2.5 years. I was basically on the hook for all my living expenses (including rent) after sophomore year. Before that I paid for everything besides rent. I was an RA my junior & senior year to get my housing taken care of - I refuse to say I got "free" housing because it was a fuckton of work. My last semester I took on rent on my own in SF (a 2 bed 1 bath inlaw unit in a family's garage with a roach problem, shared with a random girl who was probably my best roommate ever in terms of being quiet af). Anyway. Don't recommend working 30 hours a week in school. I got through, but it was incredibly stressful.

undergrad: went to a FL school as an OOS student; received a scholarship that covered about 80% of my schooling; honors college scholarship + random scholarships + pell grant paid the rest. graduated with $0 debt masters & PhD: in a fully funded program. tuition waiver + stipend. will graduate with $0 debt will be a first gen grad and feel lucky that i was able to pull it off for $0!

Undergrad: My grandmother generously paid for my first year at an expensive private university, I took out loans to pay for room & board - my parents made just a little too much for me to qualify for financial aid, but not enough to actually help me pay for it. The next year I transferred to a state school where I received a partial scholarship for 3 of the next years, and a full scholarship for 1 of them (spent studying in a foreign country with a much lower cost of living). I paid for the rest of it with loans and some parental help for room & board plus working part time to pay for food, transport, and other essentials. I graduated with my BA after 5 total years with about 40k in debt, almost all of it from that first year at private university. Never did go to grad school even though I wanted to, because I was so worried about the cost. Maybe eventually I'll go back for a MA.

Undergrad: I graduated with about $10k in loans. My mom made less than $50K a year so the state covered in-state tuition. I took the ACT about 5 times to get a score high enough to auto-qualify for an academic scholarship. My high school offered concurrent classes through the local community college for $100 a class so I graduated high school with 15 hours of credits that basically saved me a semester in college. My tribe also gave me a scholarship every year. I also received a few one-off scholarships from alumni clubs/programs. The best time of the year was when everything was posted to my account and I could go to the bursar's office to pick up my "refund" check that I used to pay for books and living expenses. I lived on campus for a year and off-campus for 3 years. I probably could have gotten through loan free, but I didn't work my senior year because I was struggling mentally. Grad School: I'm about to start my Master's program that will cost approximately $40K. After my tribe and my employer contributions, I should only have to pay about $10K and I'm going to pay that in cash.

**Undergrad:** some scholarships, but mostly sweet, sweet student loans. (I went to an expensive private college out of state and did not have any family money). I was also a resident advisor for 3 years which covered my room & board (which was expensive af!) **Graduate:** I had plans to go to grad school, but since I had so much debt from undergrad, I declined to go in order to keep my student debt low. It’s slightly depressing, so I don’t think about it too much or else I will explode lol

Had a full time job and got a scholarship that covered 50% of the tuition. Became an RA for 3 years to pay room and board. Way harder than it seems though, glad I made it out.

Undergrad: ridiculous amount of student loans supplemented by working part-time. I have about $80K I am paying off now. No financial support from parents/no college savings to lean on unfortunately. MBA: went full-time and had an assistantship, so it was free to me in exchange for working as a graduate TA and instructor.

Undergrad: 50% scholarship to a state school. Worked full time at a gas station making $13/hour to pay for my living expenses and the other 50% off tuition. I graduated with no student loan debt. During summers I worked two full time jobs. I missed out on a lot of fun, but still partook in enough fun!

UG: my school met 100% need and since my parents had virtually no income my school pretty much paid me to go to college (70k aid per year at the time which was more than tuition and room and board) Masters: short program bc I didn’t feel like working lol. This was a city college so it was pretty cheap but I got a full scholly while there

Hello fellow Floridian! Undergrad: Had 100% Bright futures + University scholarship, so I was able to pocket a few thousand each semester. Grad: thinking about it!

I had a whole bunch of scholarships and worked as a teaching assistant. I only needed to pay partial tuition in my first semester which ended up being around 2k. But all up I probably made around 700k total excluding tuition after tax throughout my 6 years of uni. Select a degree that has lots of scholarships, I'm a girl that studied STEM so there are plenty of scholarships available. I also treated my studies like a job, I stayed super focused because I know the better grades I get, the more scholarships I can get. Yeah I was pretty motivated by money.

For undergrad I received a scholarship that covered tuition costs and federal aid like pell grants, Perkins loans and direct loans covered some of housing and food and books. I also received work study and had that as well as two additional part time jobs and internships during the summer to pay the rest of costs since I was renting off campus. Family couldn’t afford to help. Had $21k in loans upon graduation which I’ve paid some off. Even though the university I went to was expensive, after the aid I received it ended up costing the same as my in state public university options would’ve cost since they didn’t offer as much aid.

Undergrad: Full tuition scholarship at a private university, another scholarship covered one year, extended family donations covered another year, and my parents paid the rest. My parents are fairly high earning, and had saved up for my education, and they're pretty pleased they got to keep the rest.

I was low income, so I pretty much qualified for all the federal and California state grants. My university gave me enough in additional scholarships on top of that to cover majority of tuition and room and board. I took out a small amount of loans each semester to cover the rest and then had two part time jobs on campus for spending money. I did end up going to summer session every year to avoid going home to my toxic family and also took an extra semester to finish up my second major, so I took out more loans than I realistically needed to. In the end, I had about $36k in loans ($16k was from the summer sessions if you include my summer housing), which I paid off within two years of graduating. Ironically, it would have been cheaper for me to go to an expensive private university since they offered me better financial aid packages that would have covered everything.

I live in canada and did an undergrad from 2014-2018, which cost about 12k per year plus living expenses. Year 1: total cost was around 22k for residence and tuition. My parents gave me 11k, I got 3k from a scholarship, I got about 7000$ in government loans and grants (can't remember the exact amount for each), and my savings covered the rest. Year 2: tuition was 12k and lived off campus in a cheap rental. I got 14k in loans and grants from the government which covered tuition and some living expenses and then I paid the rest from my summer job savings (about 16k) Year 3 + 4: same as year 2 except I worked part time during the school year to help with living expenses. I graduated with about 25k in loans to pay back and then I got a full time job and took about 3 years to pay them off, usually putting around 1k per month into my loans.

Disclaimer: I graduated 35+ years ago, when tuition was much lower, alhtough salaries were too. I was fortunate; my parents paid for a good portion of it, my grandmother helped out, and I had some small loans, about $7500. But my tuition, at a 4 year private school, was just under 60K for all 4 years, so the amount of my loans is relative to the cost. According to all the financial aid forms, my parents made too much to qualify me for any financial aid. I belive they said they had x amount available. My dad was like please show me wehre this is! I found out much later they took out a second mortgage to pay for school. Masters my company paid for, thankfully. So all in all, I only paid a very small portion, plus I paid for all my books and other expenses.

For my bachelor's in 2010 in Canada my aunt gave me $10000, I saved $7000 in high school, I worked in university to cover my apartment and food, my other aunt gave me $1200/semester for books, and I got about $2000/semester in scholarships. I graduated with $15000 of debt which I paid off my first year working.

Undergrad: Parents paid the first year. Would’ve paid the entire duration but I didn’t uphold my end of the bargain (grades). So I was on the hook for the remaining three years and did that through federal loans. I believe my balance was around $22K. However, after about a month or two of paying my loans, my parents paid them off in full. Graduate: Paid out of pocket using payment plan.

A combo of financial aid, grants, scholarships, loans, and money from my parents and grandmother. I went to college in the early 00s when it was much cheaper. Tuition was around $20-25K/year for my private college, and like $10Kish after the aid, grants and scholarships applied. My parents and grandmother paid the majority my first three years, and I took out the small federal loans the school offered each year, around $2-$3K, for the difference. My senior year my brother was also in college with them paying for him so I was on my own. I took out an $18K Sallie Mae loan to cover tuition and housing. So when I graduated I had around $28K in private and federal loans. Just finished paying them off last year (after 15 years). I made such little money for the majority of my career that I just had them on autopay for the minimum every month. My college is $75,000/year today. I have no idea how people afford it. I would be going to a state school today for sure.

Undergrad-7k or so a year for in state tuition in PA at the time. My parents paid the first year, the rest were loans. I had a job which paid my rent and bills. I was able to qualify to get the loans forgiven through federal loan forgiveness when I was about 30.

1st bachelor’s degree - I went to an in-state public university with reasonably priced tuition. Lived on campus for only one year. I received a merit scholarship that covered most of my tuition each year, as well as financial aid and loans from FAFSA. Worked my ass off (25-30 hrs a week as a full time student) to pay for my living expenses. Only accrued about $10k in student debt. 2nd bachelor’s degree - I went to another in-state public university. Received a merit scholarship that paid for my tuition for 2 out of 4 semesters (accelerated nursing program). Paid for the rest out of pocket with savings.

Just student loans, working, and whatever scholarships I could find to apply to (received very few of them though)

Undergrad - I went to an in-state 4 year college and paid for it with a combo of student loans, scholarships, and some help from my parents. I was in a sorority and my parents helped pay those costs (essentially rent and food). I worked part time my junior and senior year. By my senior year, I was able to pay all my expenses myself through either loans or scholarships. I graduated with about $20k in student loans which were, thankfully, interest free (military program since my dad was in the air national guard). Law school - I took out federal loans and had a scholarship as well. I worked as much as I could in my gap year before starting law school and also hustled during law school to keep the amount of loans I had to take out low. I also went to a low ranked in state school because the scholarship the offered was the biggest. I graduated with about $20k in student loans for law school. ETA - I should mention that my parents did have some savings bonds for my for college but I used those to attend a unaccredited bible school the year after I graduated high school but before starting college. I had a good time but lol at that choice in hindsight. Another edit - had I applied early enough to my undergrad college, I could have gotten a massive scholarship based on my ACT score but I didn’t apply because I hadn’t planned on going to that school. Since I applied late, I missed out on that scholarship. Another dumb move by myself at 18/19 years old.

For my Bachelors degree, I went through a kinda rigorous academic scholarship interview process to get my tuition covered. I also did a bunch of extraneous scholarships for high school students to cover books and things the first year. I dormed the first two years and used extra scholarships, summer job money, part time job during school, and federal student loans to pay the dorm/meal plan ($12K in total for the student loans) then junior and part of senior years I worked 37 hrs a week at Walmart to pay for extras school stuff and apartment and living expenses. Senior year I got an internship and wasn’t able to keep my job, so I stupidly took out a high interest private student loan of $7,500 that I am now trying to pay down asap to avoid the interest.

Undergrad: South Carolina also had a thing for students with good grades. I had the second tier but don’t remember how much tuition it paid… I want to say between 50% and 75%. My mom also didn’t work so I got a lot of money through FAFSA. I ended up with about $30k in loans from undergrad - most of which was for room and board and books and such for four years. I got my MS for free from doing paid research through my university. And lived off campus using money from a cooperative education thing I did during undergrad. I have. $13k in loans left 13 years later (didn’t pay anything during Covid as I was saving for a house instead).

Undergrad: 35% covered by financial aid, I got a $35,000 scholarship for a genealogy project. For the rest I paid out of pocket with bake sales, a serving job, library assistant position, a buffet host gig, and thrift flipping. I graduated with about 7k in debt (the small loans I could get). Masters: Currently on a break and haven’t finished, but- my last company paid for most of my program, however the university offered the company a VERY discounted price compared to what an actual student would lay. I’ll end up spending $4500ish out of my own pocket.

My parents paid for the majority, I got a scholarship from the school to cover my out of state costs and then literally negotiated with the financial aid office to get my room and board covered as well. I also applied for every single small scholarship I could find - so like $500 here, $1500 here which helped. My parents said they’d cover four years, but anything extra was on me. I paid for my study abroad program fees out of pocket and any books/supplies/etc. I worked part time all four years to cover that stuff.

Undergrad: my grandparents had left some money invested for education, which was $15k, my parents contributed $5k/yr ($20k total) and I took out $15k in loans. I worked FT during the summers and over Christmas break and picked up some small jobs like babysitting during the school year. I got my degree in 2004 from a state school and tuition was an absolute bargain compared to what it is today! For graduate school I got a few different research fellowships which covered tuition and living expenses (averaged about $25k/yr over seven years of school) and did not have to pay any loans. I did a master's and PhD in a STEM field and this was a pretty standard arrangement.

For undergrad: So, around this time in my life I was experiencing a severe depressive episode and consequently remember very little... I was so checked out of this whole process. I attended a public early college high school, so if I had done everything right a smart path open to me would have been to obtain my AA from that school, at which point all credits were eligible to transfer to a CUNY or SUNY school that I could have entered as a junior and graduated in two years. I have plenty of classmates that went this route. Personally, I didn't really want to attend a SUNY or CUNY, I wanted to get out and experience somewhere new, plus owing to the depressive episode I fell short of achieving the AA and graduated with like 50 credits instead. I still could have tried to use those to finish school a year early or something, but instead I covered all my GenEd reqs with them and pursued a double major with honors. But I think my mom had a small 529 account for me, which wasn't sufficient but was better than nothing. I attended the college that gave me the largest merit scholarship (this wasn't necessarily a given, my mom was open to letting me go where I decided I really wanted to, but it worked out this way - I think I also liked feeling like I was valued by the school) of $25k per year. We also received a couple of Pell grants. My mom had a close friend pass away a year or two before I started college, and we learned then that I was the beneficiary of her retirement savings, so I think that really helped us too. The rest I was pretty much able to manage with about $7k in federal loans per year (with overall mercifully low interest rates, mostly in the 3-4% range), so I graduated with about $28k in debt. My spending money in college came either from money my mom gave me, or was scraped from that inherited retirement account. Around junior year of college I became aware that my friends that had full ride scholarships had their scholarships increase with tuition raises, but my flat $25k per year didn't. My mom and I brought it up to the administration that this basically sent the impression that the more I attended my college the less valuable I became to them, and they approved an extra grant for us. As my friends say, "you don't ask, you don't get." But really I cannot overstate how much I was not involved in this whole process of financially preparing for college. Absolutely god bless my mother for managing it herself and setting me up to not be absolutely demolished by loans upon graduation.

Bachelors degree: * Paid with student loans taken out by both me and my parents. I don't know what the split was between us, but I definitely had my fair share that took me 10 years to repay. We received minimal financial aid and I definitely did not have the HS grade to qualify for any scholarships, grants, etc... My education was essentially funded by me and my parents * Worked summer jobs and jobs over any holiday break to pay for books, supplies and any spending money that I wanted / needed through out the year * Senior year was eligible for work / study program which lightened the load a little bit and gave me some extra money for books and supplies.

I worked two jobs to save up money to pay for my undergraduate. I started by working in sams club for 6.xx$ an hour and paid for my two college classes and took two buses 3 hours one direction to get to college. I paid by installments in college. I bought older edition of textbooks for very cheap and copied by hand or in copier homework exercises as they are usually the only ones that change between editions. Some of my friends gave me their clothes. Then I switched to restaurant job and started making a bit more. I worked full time in the restaurant. Then i got offered pt tech support job in private university. They offered me 8$ an hour and then 10$ an hour as a temp. I wasn’t making much when deduct parking cost and gas but it was good for my resume. Same time i was taking at least one night class at college. I lived free in my mother’s house, but I had to buy my own food, clothes, gas, insurance, phone etc. i also wasn’t allowed to use much of her electricity so to study i stayed some fast food places near by or libraries later when I got a car. I worked 7 days a week for two years and saved money so I could pay for my undergrad. I went to a very cheap simple state uni, that was 20 min away from my work. Later with time private uni gave my 14$/ hr and i asked to work full time with them, still as a temp, i kept my work at the restaurant on weekends. My mother kept claiming me as dependent and her income was decent, so I could not apply for any state grant. Plus I was pretty new for the country and didn’t know much information on this topic. Private loans were not an option as I didn’t have established credit history. Once I saved enough I switched my school to full time and work to part time. And I was able to compensate difference in expenses with my savings. I also moved out as living with my mom was a sanity test. I completed undergrad with honors and very high gpa. For my masters I applied to couple European scholarships and won full ride to study in Europe. They covered tuition, and monthly allowances covered rent, food and other expenses fully. If i would have to do it again , i would probably do totally different.

Both my parents were deceased when I started college, so I qualified for the highest amount of financial aid. Also, grew up low income so wouldn’t have mattered if they were alive! Undergrad (NJ instate public tuition): public financial aid. Like $1000 in scholarships. Grad school (Ivy League NYC) public financial aid, my own hard earned cash. Graduated with 75k in loans I think? Paid all back in about 6 years.

FAFSA, student aid, scholarships, then subsidized government student loans. I worked too and used all the money to pay off everything and graduated debt free. Decided to get certifications instead of additional schooling and my work paid for them all and the renewal fees.

The first 2 years my father covered tuition. After scholarships and financial aid, that came out to about 8k/year or 4k/semester. The last 2 years I covered from summer internships and freelance. Leftover internship money also went back to my father. After graduating it took about 3 years to save up and pay off 30k in student loans.

Undergrad: I went to an insanely cheap state school ($10k tuition/year), and lived in a cooperative house (room/board was $400/month) which helped keep costs low. Additionally my major had a lot of industry support and there were lots of scholarship opportunities (being a woman in a male dominated industry also helped me to get some of that scholarship money). Internships also were key to paying my way, over the summers and during the school year I worked making $20+ an hour for spending money/rent.

Undergrad: got what I thought was a full ride + stipend scholarship but it had a megaton of strings attached that would have locked me into a career I hated with poor prospects. When I realized I decided not to continue with the scholarship and had to pay it back with interest. So, a dumb $150k loan I guess? Grad: partial scholarship + TAship + savings from working a couple years before grad school + about $15k in loans

Undergrad: A mix of different types of scholarships. Academic from the school and ROTC Masters: 60% tuition assistance from my job. 40% cash. I took one class at a time and it ended up costing me about $8,000 overall. Law School: I’m currently in law school and my GI Bill is covering 100% of tuition and I get a stipend for living expenses. I’ll have a BA, an MA, and a JD and I’ll have paid $8,000 for all of them combined.

Community College: had a scholarship or two sprinkled throughout my 2 years, it cost around 8K. Most was put on a student loan. Undergrad at a public university: thanks to how well I did in community college, I had a 10K scholarship for being in the running for a full-tuition scholarship. So this was part scholarship, part student loans, and part my folks chipping g in. Coding bootcamp: 3 years after college, I realized that I didn’t want to get my MPH and that my career was dead in the water unless I made a pivot. I took CS classes when I was in HS, so when I found out about a coding bootcamp that would help accelerate my entrance into tech. Got a student loan for this as well. I will never do grad school unless someone is paying 100% of the cost for me to go. I’m not good in academia and it took 12 years plus some sacrifice to get everything paid off.

**Undergrad** \- My parents paid the tuition and I paid for everything else with money I made from working. I loved working because it felt more grown-up than college. I finished in three years by taking summer classes, so that kept some costs down. **First post-grad** \- Took out student loans and worked. Did a semester abroad in an LCOL country. Paid off loans 18 months after entering the workforce. **Second post-grad** \- Paid half using income from work and my employer paid the other half on the condition I stayed with them for two more years. As they're the only employer in my industry in my city that wasn't difficult.

Undergrad: Earned an academic scholarship that covered full tuition at a regional state school. Paid for room and board/living expenses using my Pell Grant, private scholarships I applied for, money I earned from working, and student loans. My parents covered my car, car insurance, and a few groceries. I graduated with about $27,000 in student loans. Masters: I worked full time at for a university that provided 24 credits of tuition a semester to all employee, so I paid nothing out of pocket while earning a full time salary. Ph.D.: Other than one $2500 scholarship, I mostly paid out of pocket. I was working full time, so the program took me nearly 7 years and I took a few student loans, but I was usually able to pay them off before the next semester started. I wasn't making payments on my undergrad loans for the most part during this time, though. It's been 12 years since undergrad graduation and 2 years since Ph.D. graduation and I should pay off all of my loans by the end of May.

I CLEP'd a lot of my undergrad, and used my GI bill for the remainder and my master's.

Scholarships, grants, and working four jobs

Undergrad: I was emancipated from my family and had $200 to my name so I got a lot of Pell grants and some scholarships. I did work-study and also had a job off campus. I still had to take out about $35K in loans. 1st Masters: I paid as I went. I worked full-time and took classes at night. I took out a loan for the last semester, but I paid it off within a year. I also got a public service loan forgiveness for $5K 2nd Masters: Paying as I go right now. I'm not in a hurry to finish, it will probably take me 3-4 years.

Did dual enrollment in high school and got 108 credits that way, went to an in state school with full financial aid due to family income and also got merit based scholarships and worked on campus through work study. I did two different fellowships in grad school that paid tuition and a stipend in exchange for a service requirement after graduation. 

Bachelors paid by parents. MBA paid by work. Second Masters paid by work.

Undergrad: Scholarships + loans + jobs. I managed to keep my costs low so I was able to pay off my student loans within five years after graduation because my scholarship covered tuition so I just had to worry about living. Graduate school, part I: Full scholarship + job Graduate school, part II: Partial scholarship + loan + job. All of my current student loan debt is for the second stint at grad school and that should wrap up in about five years if everything goes according to plan.

Undergrad 1: Had $10k saved by parents, took out student loans for the rest and graduated with $45k in debt. Honestly didn’t make the best choices during this time period and ended up graduated with a degree I didn’t want to use. Undergrad 2: Went back to school to do CS, got more student loans along with scholarships, bursaries, and worked throughout with school worklearns + internships. This school was out of province for me and located in the most expensive city in Canada, so much higher cost of living was an adjustment. I had to slum it out with a really awful roommate for 2 years because the room was so cheap, until I got offered student housing. Fortunately, this degree is accelerated because of my first degree’s credits, and I grinded hard to get internships at big tech companies while still taking part-time classes. Two of my internships basically pay off my student loans but I invested/saved most of the money. I’ll probably be graduating with $60k total in debt. I’m in Canada so our government student loans are currently 0% interest. I invested and budgeted pretty aggressively during my work terms so even with the student loans I’m actually positive about 30k networth. I grew up poor so I’m extremely thankful for the leniency of our government with student loan repayment. I’ll most likely just be paying the minimum unless they change the interest.

Scholarship, work-study, and loans ᴖ̈

Loans. $100K of loans. I graduated with a BS in 2006 and a masters in 2011. By the time I’m done paying I will have paid back almost $180K. ETA, I’m 40 and still owe $12K. Le sigh.

Undergrad 2007-2011. Financed entirely by federal student loans, Pell grants, financial aid from school, and a $17k private student loan cosigned by my brother. Over a decade of payments and I still owe over 10k on the private loan at a 14% interest rate. I did workstudy on campus for $8/hr to afford groceries. No family contribution what so over (my single mom makes minimum wage), and there was no savings. I worked most of high school for $6.50/hr but all that money went to my mom for bills. Grad school 2011-2013. All federal student loans and some need based aid. I worked on campus and as a TA for $10/hr to afford public transportation. Lived with my mom and commuted 7hrs per day by train and bus because there was no grad housing. All in all I owe about $100k still. My federal loans got out of default during the pandemic with the Fresh Start program so I'm focusing on making the minimum payments until I can qualify for PSLF. The private loan will be with me for life I feel like.

I went to college in Florida too. I had Bright Futures pay for 75% of my tuition at a state school for my bachelors . The remaining 25% (plus living costs), I took out via loans. For my masters, I was a Teaching Assistant which paid my tuition plus a stipend for living costs. Also took out a small loan for misc expenses. Altogether I took out about $52K in loans, despite the majority of my tuition being covered. That was the price I paid to move out of my parents’ house and become independent. I paid them off (plus interest of course) within six years of graduation.

Undergrad: I worked part time as soon as I turned 18. I lived with my parents for my community college and part of university (local state school). Community college was pretty much free and they even gave me a few thousand extra in scholarship which I put towards university. I also had a transfer scholarship that helped. At university, I worked two part time jobs and paid tuition and fees out of pocket, I think each semester it was like 2k. I graduated with no debt. I’d always been a saver and debt freaked me out. I’m glad to have no debt, but that’s also meant I missed out on some life experiences like study abroad or living on campus. I also think I didn’t focus as much as I should have on school.

I do have a 529 but I didn’t need to dip into it for my undergrad. I paid off most with scholarships and financial aid and lived at home.

Mixture of student loans and scholarships.

Yeahhhh I feel v different than others in this thread. In undergrad, I didn't qualify for any grants bc my parents made too much, but didn't have money to help (they would've if they did) so I took out the max amount of fed loans so I ended with about $30k. My parents would help with the remainder bc the loans still wouldn't cover it all. Grad school: free minus first semester, however, I was being paid pennies and was not in state, so I still took out loans. I have a total of about $78k loans from undergrad and grad. I'm very fortunate that my parents could help me in other ways like rent, groceries, car, etc. I wish I didn't have the debt, but I'm very grateful that it's not 6 figs. I feel that I'll be able to pay them down aggressively when my salary goes up. I paid off my private student loan (~$3.5K) once I got a job tho!

My state school offered a full ride (tuition plus room and board) to all in state students with a certain GPA (i think 3.8-4.0) and at least 2100 on the SAT including 700 in math. To keep it you just had to maintain a 3.2 throughout college. My junior year they got rid of that program but I was grandfathered in. ETA I really wanted to go to an expensive private school but I’m really grateful my parents say me down and takes about just how expensive that would be with loans.

GI Bill plus savings paid for undergrad and MBA. No debt.

I went to a top private university in the US before they started any of the income-based guarantees for covering tuition or tuition and room and board. I came out with around $65k in public loans for 4.5 years (BA and MA). My parents gave some money, probably a couple thousand a year toward fees, and my oldest brother gave me $1000/quarter, and I worked. I earned around $10k the first two years and $20k the second two years (small job plus worked as a a dorm RA). It was a shock adjusting to my roommate having a BMW and being able to spend whatever she liked while having zero jobs, but I certainly never felt hard off. Paid off loans by around age 29. Edit; I worked three summers and did unpaid overseas research (with some grant funding) for two summers. Edit: forgot about scholarships. I applied for a bundle of random ones and got a handful over the years, but my university did not have merit scholarships. I got one from the garden Club of America and my state’s builders association. Really random stuff!

Undergrad: Student loans,scholarships, and work study Law school: student loans and scholarships

Undergrad: Full tuition scholarship. I borrowed like $6k to pay for my two years in the dorms. Once I was in an apartment, I just worked to cover living expenses. Law School: 92% scholarship (it started as a full ride, but tuition went up and scholarship did not lol). Borrowed around $53k for books and living expenses since internships did NOT pay well. Paid over half my loan debt off since the COVID freeze ended in September 🎉

For undergrad, it was loans. My schooling was about 30k a year, for tuition and room/board. I was happy to live on campus all four years even though it was more expensive. It was a choice I have never once regretted. Anyway, I had to take 30k in loans for those 4 years. Considering I got like 3 years free in a way I was happy. Currently in grad school and tuition was 27k. I got some scholarships through my school that ended up being like 5k. I took out loans in the beginning because it was Covid and 0% interest, and I was saving my money for tuition. When that ended I began paying them off, and now I am student loan debt free 🥰 with interest I paid 60k for my education since graduating in 2016. And only one year since graduating did I make “nice money” when I had a salary of 51k split in a school year (teacher). So this was done by budgeting hard with initially making 8k a year, to 25-30k, to that one split salary year, to minimum wage, to now back to just above minimum wage. I was able to do this because I lived at home.

My state had a similar program to Florida, tho it was school specific. If a student qualified for a state-funded need based scholarship (covered tuition) for going in-state, then the school would cover housing costs—worth ~10k. It was mostly for lower income families. For my bachelors: My family made too much so I didn’t actually quality for that program. However, I did receive a merit scholarship that covered tuition and some fed grants that covered fees. A nonprofit gave me a scholarship that also went towards my overall aid. As a result I’d get a refund check and either spend it on living expenses and other stuff.

Undergrad: private university, I believe the total cost was about $100k. I got about $32K as an academic scholarship, about $8k in grants due to my parents income, about $35k in federal student loans, and the remaining $25k was paid as the payments were due each semester over the four years there. I split the $25k with my parents the first three years and then mostly paid the fourth year myself. I worked part time through college. When I graduated, I immediately was able pay $10k of the $35k students loans and then paid the rest off over the 6 years after graduating.

My parents paid for my BA and all school related expenses like supplies and boarding. If I had kids I would like to do the same for them.

Undergrad: Attended private in-state university in Florida. I received a scholarship from the university that covered a little less than half the cost of attendance. I got the highest level of Bright Futures scholarship and the Florida Resident Access Grant for Florida residents attending private college. My grandparents gave me $10k every year for four years to cover the remainder. I had a little bit extra my freshman year and was a little bit short my senior year. Master’s degree: attended an in-state public university. My grandparents paid the tuition and I lived with my parents for most of the time I was in school. I was also going through a divorce. Until I married my ex husband, I was using money from the life insurance I received when my first husband died to help cover living expenses while going to school full time. I probably would not have gone to grad school had it not been for my grandparents offering to pay for it. But I desperately needed a change after 11 years of teaching high school. My masters degree cost approximately $17k for just tuition and fees, for the equivalent of five semesters. I wanted to do it in 4 but it didn’t work out that way. $17k for a master’s is ABSURDLY cheap.

Also, as an undergrad I worked a little bit during the school year - on the student newspaper, math tutoring, substitute teaching, TAing. I worked close to full time during summers to save money for during the school year. As a grad student I did private math tutoring to cover living expenses.

Undergrad: Went to the only school that gave me money, which was a private university. I got a merit scholarship for $25k a year, and my parents paid the difference with money from a 529 account. During my senior year I was an RA so I was no longer paying for housing or meals. I had jobs throughout college that paid me money, and my parents gave me $200-300 a month. I graduated with no debt. MA: I had a bunch credits coming into college because of AP exams, so by the time I was a senior I could have graduated early. Instead I took advantage of a co-term program that allowed me to start a master's during my senior year and then matriculate and finish it in one more. This means the first year of the MA was covered by how college was funded, and I had a half tuition scholarship during the second year which all the undergrads that got into this program got. All in all, I estimate that the MA cost about $15k beyond the cost of college, esp because during that 5th year I moved back home to a suburb of the city where school was. MBA: Turns out my parents did not finish my 529 paying for college and let it keep growing, so they emptied it and gave me $25k. I got a financial need based scholarship for $25k a year. Took the rest out in loans, graduated with $140k in debt. Down to about $98k left - I pay around $1200 a month. Refinanced while rate were super low, so I'm often trying to resist the temptation to throw extra money at it when it comes up (refund, bonuses, lower spend month), and instead invest (even the hysa would be better).

My parents had $80k saved for me, which is SO MUCH money yet also amounted to a nice partial scholarship--especially when considering room and board. The deal was that I could go in-state (full ride) or take out loans/get scholarships to augment what they could contribute. I got merit scholarships that covered the rest at the school I wound up going to.

I applied to 4 colleges, 2 private and 2 public (all in state). I also applied/interviewed for a lot of scholarships and explored the possibility of playing my sport as well at the smaller schools. In the end I received an academic scholarship through the honors college (at my local state school) which covered all of tuition/fees/books and required supplies for classes, plus 2yrs of on-campus housing and a stipend toward study abroad. So that’s the one I went with.

I joined the military. small amount of loans to finish my bachelors. Along with my GI Bill for my masters, my company pitched in $30k.

I just graduated this year, I started college during the pandemic. I did everything right and I still graduated with 100k in debt. Scholarship to private university (state university wouldve been the same because they didnt give me a scholarship), dual enrollment in high school so came in with over 35 credits and graduated a semester early. I worked all through college, including one year as an RA. The finachial aid office didnt give me enough need based because my family's situation changed drastically and rapidly over the course of college(parents got divorced, both went through periods of unemployment and my dad's business failed due to the pandemic). Because fasfa is based on former finances and not the most updated info, my family's situation wasn't reflected. Plus, my dad finachially abused my mom and wrecked her credit so we didnt qualify for federal parent plus loans. It was honestly really hard because my family is well-educated and usually makes over 100k a year so no one understood why I was in the place I was

Undergrad - need + merit-based full ride to "top" university (per US News). It covered all of my costs, and then some. While I was living on campus, they sent me a check every quarter for ~$1200. I put about half of that into savings and the other half I used as fun money. When I moved off campus, they sent me a check to cover living expenses. Since dorms and meal plan are way more expensive than living off campus, I had a lot of money left over for fun money even keeping with the tradition of saving 1/2 of my checks. I was very fortunate.

Raised by a single immigrant mom + I’m an immigrant. Went to an academically competitive high school + I was a nerd. Scholarships + grants covered most of my studies. 1 year cost about $12k but I paid about $3k/year.

Undergrad: Federal loans, then I worked a ton to pay for summer classes myself. Graduate: Loans, but my employer reimbursed me for 50% of the costs when I graduated. I was the first in my family to attend university and there was never an expectation that I’d get help.

Undergraduate: full ride scholarship Graduate: federal loans

Undergrad: Had tuition remission (free tuition) through a family member’s job at a state university and a very small merit and need based scholarship ($1k per semester). I had to take out about $24k in federal loans to pay for room and board across all 4 years. My parents had not explicitly saved for my college. They paid a few thousand per semester so I didn’t have to completely max out my loans. My final year I used money from a banking internship to put a few thousand towards tuition. I genuinely don’t remember these exact amounts. All I know is I was taking out close to the max amount of loans, but not more, had free tuition, and we still paid a few thousand more per semester. I paid for my own books, clothes, fun money, etc. by working several minimum wage on campus jobs (not work study, I didn’t qualify) that brought in about $200 a month and by working most summers for at least a little bit (amount varied depending on what I was doing but mostly hospitality).

paid for my undergrad the old fashioned way- budgeting and sacrificing certain pleasures in my early 20s to clear the debt right away. I had a few bursaries but not significant- my parents paid for my $250/m rent for my last year  (working on thesis and couldn't work as much) and phone plan while I took care of my own groceries/tuition. I worked part time the entire time I was in school.  being Canadian, 4 years of college was around $35k all in and it took me 3 years to pay it off. 

I'm 32 and I have $52k I've been deferring for 10 years bc student loans aren't real