Free College - No One Said it is Easy

Want to go to college for free? Seriously, do you want other people and organizations to pay for your tuition and possibly even your living expenses?

Its possible, but its not exactly easy. If it was, everybody would be doing it but instead most students rely on student loans and increasing levels of employment while enrolled.
As costs have steadily risen at an alarming pace, many students work full time while attending college and pursuing a degree.

Scholarships are out there - literally billions of dollars worth of awards - and the federal government is also providing billions of dollars in financial aid for financially needy students. Subsidized loans are still debt, but they have a lot of advantages over debt and in many ways serve as a source of free college money.

So why don't more students get free college funding?

There's a lot of work involved in finding the opportunities, being motivated, and staying determined despite the interruptions, rejections, and frustrations that are sure to be involved. Maybe its even safer to spend that time you could be chasing scholarships and grants with a solid job in the industry or sector you want to major in and pursue a career with. The value of that experience can not be measured with mere dollars - you might even realize from your work history that its not the exact sector you want to be in - or maybe you'll find the specialization within the business that interests you the most and reignites your passion for the subject.

To achieve free college funding, you'll need to focus in on the scholarships, grants, and contests that reflect your personal skills and talents. You have to balance the specificity of the award program with a large volume of applications. Most applications will get rejected, you may send out 10 or 20 for every award you can expect to actually receive.

If writing 100 or 200 financial aid applications sounds like something you can reasonably accomplish, then free college is a real possibility. If those numbers scare you, at least fill out a FAFSA to see if you can get some grants and cheap loans!