I like to talk a big talk about completing college degrees without accumulating debt. Often the path is manageable but bumpy – involving a lot of details and decisions and finding ways to be frugal at every turn. That’s because most colleges and universities come with price tags that are complicated. You have tuition. You have fees. You have other fees, more fees, mandatory fees and optional fees. You have basic dorm rooms. You have nicer dorm rooms, single dorm rooms, bedrooms in apartments. Maybe utilities in the apartment too. You have meal plans. You have social activities and the occasional pizza with friends. And the list goes on.

We live in a post pandemic, highly connected world where online learning, once stigmatized, has become entirely legitimate, fully respectable, and often indistinguishable from a campus based college education. But costs vary widely, and big name schools still beckon with their assumed prestige. I once thought those names mattered, but a look around suggests otherwise. Here’s why:

1. What you study may be more important than where. Have you ever seen a job posting stating you must hold a degree in a STEM field from an Ivy League university? Job postings never reference the school.
2. Experience has always been as important as the degree for the vast majority of jobs. Networking, resume, and interview skills are pretty crucial as well. We don’t focus enough on those things as part of a career path.
3. Workers are in short supply. If you are qualified per the job posting, you are qualified.
4. With a 40 year career behind me, I can tell you the conversation about where someone went to school almost never happens, either in interviews or on the job. When it does, there is little indication anyone is really impressed with those who went somewhere “better.” Nowadays it’s just as likely that the leaders at any given company went to community colleges, regional state universities, or online schools themselves.
5. As long as a degree comes from an accredited college, it’s legitimate and it’s part of your qualifications.

Enter University of the People. (www.uopeople.edu) UOP simplifies the financial equation more than any college I have found so far. It appears to be the cheapest degree granting, accredited college I have ever found to pay fully out of pocket without any financial aid.

The short story:

1. First and foremost, it is not entirely free, but it bills itself as ultra low cost.
   
2. University of People is completely online and has an open admission policy. You sign up, you pay the application fee ($60 in March 2023) and you’re in.
   
3. It is a nonprofit. That means it is only trying to generate enough money to survive, not to make more money.
   
4. It is accredited by the DEAC which is recognized by the US Department of Education.
   
5. As of March 2023, there is a cost of $120 per undergraduate course in order to actually earn college credit (the material can be reviewed for free, but no college credit is awarded).
   
6. At the price of $120 per course, an associate’s degree could be completed for a cost of $2,460, and a bachelor’s degree for $4,860. Assuming a normal full time pace of academic progress, that’s about $100 per month.
   
7. To be clear, in all my years of watching college costs and soaring debt, this is the cheapest degree-granting college I have ever seen.
   
8. Even at this price, there are some limited scholarships based on a claim of financial need.
   
9. They offer a very limited, but practical, selection of majors (Health Science, IT, and Business). They are not trying to do more than they can reasonably manage, nor offer degrees that don’t fit easily into an online format.
   
10. They have a generous transfer program that includes CLEP and other alternative credit – thus it can be combined with the Modern States model for even more savings. **Coming soon, a detailed post on how to do this.
    
11. You can first earn an associate’s degree and then a bachelor’s. It just drives me nuts that traditional 4 year colleges and universities do not grant associate’s degrees, thus leaving dropouts with essentially nothing to show for their investment.

This is the short story about University of the People. There is a lot more to explore on their website, but my focus is really cost and overall value. The college is extremely cheap and provides actual accredited college degrees that apply to real world job opportunities.

That’s it for today. Happy debt-avoidance to all!

Welcome to Someday Wiseland. home of Someday Wise.  Here I will share money-saving tips developed over the years.  I was taught financial responsibility from a young age by frugal parents, and it has served me well, albeit at the risk of appearing to be a cheapskate.  I call it being resourceful.

Update Note 2023 – I have let this project go silent for a few years but will be updating shortly. There are many new ways to save money in the modern world, and I am especially passionate about avoiding college debt. I will be updating many of the pages here soon as well as adding more.

I have, in short, a talent for getting maximum value out of every dollar I spend.  In everything I do, in every dollar I spend, I am looking to get MORE than what I pay for. Continue reading “Someday Wise can stretch a dollar” →

Folks, I may not be wise yet, but I do know one thing. Graduating with college debt is a terrible thing.  And as the dollar amount gets higher, the consequences become more and more soul-crushing.

There are so many ways to rack up debt while going to college, and so many ways to rationalize that doing so is a good idea.

I, Someday Wise, went to college back in the 1980’s, when state universities were drastically cheaper than small private colleges.  I still had to work hard to avoid a lot of debt.  Here’s how I did it.

Here in Someday Wiseland, I’ve written not just one, but several posts on avoiding college debt. The why’s, the how’s, the who’s, and the rest of the w’s.  This post is just a sort of overview on a few of those with lots of links below for more discussions on college-debt related topics.

WHY?  When you graduate from college you are very likely to have trouble getting your first job, and earning what you think you deserve.  Trust me.  I will eventually post about how to improve your odds there as well.  For now, however, just assume that you will someday graduate from college with a degree.  Let’s say a bachelor’s degree, just to start the conversation.  Further assume that you will NOT get a high paying job right away in a field that fits your degree.   What are you going to do about the debt? If you don’t have debt, or don’t have very much of it, you can avoid (or at least minimize) this potential problem.

HOW?  So many ways. Bit of an overview here, but lots more detail in follow up posts.

AP, CLEP, and Dual Credit programs are good places to start. Since I originally posted, Modern States https://modernstates.org/ has created a brilliant program to complete enough alternative credit to cover the first year of college, including online classes to prepare, and they cover the cost of the exams. This has made an already good deal an incredibly good deal. **IMPORTANT – most colleges have a limit on how much of this kind of credit they will accept.  Here is a great post on alternative credit: https://study.com/resources/ultimate-guide-to-alterntive-college-credit.html

Another good way to save on your college degree is to complete an associate’s transfer degree at your local community college. Not only do you typically save on living expenses by staying at home, you actually earn an extra degree that most people don’t get at a four-year college or university, and in many cases this may be an easier and less stressful transition than going directly to a 4 year institution.

I will also be talking about scholarships but it is important to realize that when a private college talks about giving you a $30,000 scholarship, you still could end up owing a surprisingly huge amount of money. Same with full-tuition residential colleges that require you to pay for a room and board plan.

There are some online colleges with novel business models that potentially can make your degree very affordable. These are the disruptors. A couple of examples are University of the People and Western Governors University.

WHO?   Who does this, and who should do this? Plenty of people do it.  I knew someone who graduated high school with an associate’s degree.  In fact, my own teenager goes to a public high school that allows juniors and seniors to to to the local community college full time, and they pay for it.  Mostly these kids are just choosing to do senior year, but I expect this to change as people become more aware of the option. Still get to do activities at the high school and graduate with the class.

There seems to be a bit of bias that people without better options go to community college, but that is false.  Smart people who understand money go to community college.  Of course, if you really do have a full ride, all tuition and fees, to a four year college or university, there is nothing wrong with accepting it. But I have known many people with excellent financial aid packages who still ended up graduating with quite a bit of debt.

In my real life, I have discussed this point of view with many people, recommended they consider this path for their own kids. It’s interesting how many discount such an option.

They all have reasons why that would be a bad choice in their situation.  Like me, they don’t want to be told what to do. Maybe their kid wants to study some specialty, like Flute, that the local community college doesn’t really cover, or something about the “college experience” that will only be realized from the full four year on campus option.

And you know what? That’s fine if it’s what they want to do. This advice is not really for people who want to borrow the cost of a home to get a Flute degree in the first place. But if those same Flautists wanted to save at least some money, they almost certainly could do so using a mix of the strategies provided here.

Link to any of the posts below for more information about college debt, and have a nice day!

Let’s Get Serious About College Debt

Opportunity Costs of College

Avoid College Debt with Community College

Community College and Chargebacks

Why get an Associate’s Degree from Community College?

How I graduated college debt free

Become a Doctor without College Debt

Study Abroad Without College Debt

College Debt and Meal Plans

Avoiding College Debt (potentially) with alternative credit

Avoiding College Debt: What if you don’t really need that MBA?

Avoid College Debt: What do you plan to do with your college education?

Call me Someday. Someday Wise.  That’s what I’m hoping for, anyway.  I was young once, and I thought it would be a great thing if I could become wise someday.  Many years have passed, and I suppose I’ve picked up a few tips for wise living along the way, but I’m still a work in progress, to say the least.

I’ll share what I’ve figured out, and you can decide for yourself if any of it is worth the digital screen it’s written on.

Why an alias?  Like many gainfully employed people, I run a risk of conflict between my online presence and my real-life-in-the-office persona.  Now, I happen to love my paid gig and the company I work for, so I have no reason to say anything unflattering about it, and anyway, doing so goes against whatever wisdom I actually possess.

Regardless, you might say it’s wise to keep these two segments of my life completely separated. And I have to use my real name at my daytime job.  So here, I’m Someday. Someday Wise. Or so I hope.