What card would you arrange financing to buy?

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Wanaselja

How does one pay for college without borrowing?

Four strategies that worked for me, my wife, and for our kids (so far - 2nd one is a freshman now):

1a) Attend a school with relatively affordable tuition. My kids and I both went to a private school, but the tuition was/is not a lot. I paid $1k per semester. My kids are paying $3k per semester. Inflation continues to raise the rates, but compared to places that charge $30k per semester, it's tough to beat the value. That may mean going to a state school or spending a few years at community college first. If all else fails, there's the military and the GI bill, which is how my father did it, after serving in Vietnam for 2 tours as a Marine Scout Sniper.

1b) Study hard and get good grades, and apply for academic scholarships. I got a full-tuition scholarship after my first semester, but had to continue to deliver to keep it. My son just received a full-tuition scholarship as well. My daughter, who just graduated, had a 25% tuition scholarship. Apply yourself, and you will find scholarships are available. At the same time, my wife didn't have one, so this one isn't as important as 1a, but it sure doesn't hurt.

2) Work while in school, including during summer breaks. Especially with current wages, most kids can make good money. My freshman son was making $20 per hour over the summer working in a box factory, 8 hours per day, enough to pay for his freshman year. It was hard work and required him to get up every day at 5am to get to the salt mines and put in his time. I made half that working jobs on campus, but every bit helps.

3) Live frugally. It's called a starving student for a reason. You want to drive a pimped out ride, live in fancy digs, eat at hipster restaurants and travel like a Kardashian on a private jet? When you're making 7 figures, sure. But until then, you're slumming it with a used Corolla, eating ramen and rice, and riding at the back of the plane with inconvenient connections at odd hours.

It can definitely be done. I've done it, and so have many others. But it requires effort, sacrifices and compromises, which seem to be in short supply these days.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by raulus

Four strategies that worked for me, my wife, and for our kids (so far - 2nd one is a freshman now):

1a) Attend a school with relatively affordable tuition. My kids and I both went to a private school, but the tuition was/is not a lot. I paid $1k per semester. My kids are paying $3k per semester. Inflation continues to raise the rates, but compared to places that charge $30k per semester, it's tough to beat the value. That may mean going to a state school or spending a few years at community college first. If all else fails, there's the military and the GI bill, which is how my father did it, after serving in Vietnam for 2 tours as a Marine Scout Sniper.

1b) Study hard and get good grades, and apply for academic scholarships. I got a full-tuition scholarship after my first semester, but had to continue to deliver to keep it. My son just received a full-tuition scholarship as well. My daughter, who just graduated, had a 25% tuition scholarship. Apply yourself, and you will find scholarships are available. At the same time, my wife didn't have one, so this one isn't as important as 1a, but it sure doesn't hurt.

2) Work while in school, including during summer breaks. Especially with current wages, most kids can make good money. My freshman son was making $20 per hour over the summer working in a box factory, 8 hours per day, enough to pay for his freshman year. It was hard work and required him to get up every day at 5am to get to the salt mines and put in his time. I made half that working jobs on campus, but every bit helps.

3) Live frugally. It's called a starving student for a reason. You want to drive a pimped out ride, live in fancy digs, eat at hipster restaurants and travel like a Kardashian on a private jet? When you're making 7 figures, sure. But until then, you're slumming it with a used Corolla, eating ramen and rice, and riding at the back of the plane with inconvenient connections at odd hours.

It can definitely be done. I've done it, and so have many others. But it requires effort, sacrifices and compromises, which seem to be in short supply these days.

Curious what private school has a tuition of $3K per semester. Most public schools are more than that.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Curious what private school has a tuition of $3K per semester. Most public schools are more than that.

Brigham Young University

[brunswickreeves]

If you can't afford to buy something twice, you probably shouldn't buy it.

[jeffmohler]

I've been working on my W530 set for about 15 years. The only card I still need is the Wagner. I'd probably be willing to put it on my credit line....

[robertsmithnocure]

Originally Posted by jeffmohler

I've been working on my W530 set for about 15 years. The only card I still need is the Wagner. I'd probably be willing to put it on my credit line....

Here you go:

https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/1...ription-071515

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by robertsmithnocure

Here you go:

https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/1...ription-071515

Why would Heritage not send this back to SGC to be reslabbed/ list such a nice card in a cracked flip? And the crack goes right into Hans’ head! I am a fan of Heritage generally, but I think this may be another sigh of AHs either being too big to mind the details or to care about them.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Why would Heritage not send this back to SGC to be reslabbed/ list such a nice card in a cracked flip? And the crack goes right into Hans’ head! I am a fan of Heritage generally, but I think this may be another sigh of AHs either being too big to mind the details or to care about them.

Maybe the consignor declined to have it fixed? Or spend the money on it?

Or maybe all of the AHs have just gotten so big that they don’t have time for details?

[todeen]

Originally Posted by raulus

Brigham Young University

To those not familiar, BYU is subsidized by church members' monthly donations. Tuition is not subsidized for non-members as far as I know. My wife attended BYU and actually paid her college loan off in 10 years. She also worked during the summers, except the summer she was an intern in DC. I did not attend BYU, but I also don't think I would have been a good fit at any church school.

I attended College of Idaho, private, and the quality of education was worth it. My parents made loan payments for me while I served my mission in Thailand (which cost $10k). I was underwhelmed at academic rigor attending EWU for my second BA. Did not make loan payments while attending EWU. I worked 3-4 part time jobs during the school year (life guard, baker, referee, umpire).

I think my college loans are $60k right now. But I also didn't make payments while getting my MA. And now I'm considering my doctorate. But the profession I'm in is a "more education = more pay" wage ladder. I think it's a racket, but it's the game I chose to play.

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk

[raulus]

Originally Posted by todeen

To those not familiar, BYU is subsidized by church members' monthly donations. Tuition is not subsidized for non-members as far as I know.

For non-members, the cost is about double that of members.

At the same time, if memory serves, the relatively few non-members (maybe 1% of the student body) who attend are mostly on the football team, many of whom have scholarships. From my experience, the majority of the remaining non-members come from conservative backgrounds (including foreign countries) who are looking for a US education without the party culture.

When I was at BYU, in rough percentages, the church paid for about 70% of the cost, with alumni donations covering 10%, and 20% from tuition. It's possible that the percentages have moved over the years.

There's no question that this school is not for everyone. I'm not advocating that someone should attend simply because it's a good deal. But there are plenty of public universities where in-state tuition is in the $3k-$6k per semester range. And most community colleges are less. So it's not like there are no good schools that are relatively affordable.

I will also disclose that my son was also accepted to Stanford. They declined to offer him an academic scholarship, and he didn't qualify for need-based aid. Tuition + room/board at Stanford ~$75k per year. He decided not to attend Stanford, primarily because $300k for an undergraduate education seemed like a whole lot of bread, particularly for an 18-year old boy who changes his major every 2 weeks, and therefore has no ability to assess whether his TBD major is even offered at Stanford, or whether that TBD major is a major where Stanford excels.