The Secrets to Real College Savings
If you have made your way to this site, then you probably already know that a college degree now costs between $50,000 to over $200,000. How in the world are you going to manage that size of an expense?
Does it make you angry that colleges charge enormous sums of money knowing people can’t get ahead in life without a degree? Aren’t you frustrated that the cost of a college degree goes up at 2 to 3 times the rate of inflation?
Here’s an eye-opener for you...
- In 1980, the cost of a year’s tuition alone at the University of Virginia was $665. For 2009, the cost was $9,505; an increase of 14.3 times. And that’s not even counting all the other related expenses.
- In 1980 the cost of a new Chevy Camaro was $7,263. The new cost of a Chevy Camaro today will average about $27,000; an increase of 3.7 times.
Holy Buckets! In 29 years, the cost of education has increased over 1,400%, while the cost of a new car hasn’t even increased 1/3rd that much.
They typical American family finds themselves at a loss of how to pay for college when just one degree often has a price-tag bigger than their house. $50,000 to over $200,000 is the typical cost of a college degree these days. How is a family supposed to pay for that? How are they going to pay for it when they have their mortgage, their electric bill, their grocery bill, their retirement… and the list goes on and on.
The problem lies in the “common knowledge” that people have listened to for years. As it is true in many other cases this “common knowledge” is far too common and not real knowledge. Are you familiar with this list?
The “Savings Solution”
The first place you are told you will pay for college is out of your savings. They assume that when your first child was born you went down to the bank. You opened up a special savings account. And you got one heck of a great interest rate on that account. Now 17 years later, you’re sitting on a quarter of a million dollars and wasting your time reading this.
Did you do that? I doubt it. The average American family has only saved a little more than $10,000 to pay for all their children’s college. $10,000 will not pay for one year at the average state university, let alone an entire degree. Savings is not where you are going to pay for college.
The “Borrowing Solution”
The next place you are told that you will pay for college is you’re going to borrow the money. Imagine this scenario… your son comes to you and says “Dad, I’ve got everything taken care of but for $10,000. Can you help me out this year with $10,000?”
And you figure, ok, it’s his college degree. So you go to the bank, pick up a loan for $10,000, pick up a monthly hit to your cash flow of $100, and your son is out the door and off to college. It’s only $100 a month… right?
So the next year rolls around. Your son needs help with another $10,000 and you try to help by taking out another $10,000 loan and another $100 a month. Now you’re up to $200 a month. But that still doesn’t seem too bad.
The third year rolls around. You get another $10,000 loan. You’re now up to $30,000 in debt and $300 a month. But now your daughter wants to go to college and she needs $10,000 as well. So now you’re up to $40,000 in debt, $400 a month in payments, and you don’t even have one student half way through college. Suddenly, what you’ve been sold about borrowing money for college doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Borrowing money for college may sound smart initially, and in some cases it is. But what you have been told about borrowing money for college and how it is sold to students and parents often makes no sense at all.
The “Scholarship Solution”
Many of you have arrived at this website looking for information on scholarships. After all, there is millions and millions of dollars available to students in scholarships… right? All they have to do is fill out the right applications and enough applications so that they can get the money no one else applied for. After all, there is a lot of scholarship money that goes unclaimed every year… or so we’ve been told. The truth is scholarships only make up at the most 3% of the money available to help send kids to college. Many experts believe it may only be half that amount.
Now if scholarships only make up 3% of the money, how are you going to send your child on that little bit? More importantly, doesn’t it make sense to learn as much as you can about the other 97% of the money that is available out there?
The “Lesser School Solution”
Going to the lesser school is by far the most common solution to the problem. Maybe you are familiar with it.
Your daughter comes to you and says, “Mom, I want to go to the University of Southern California.” And you think, wow, that’s a great school. She’s really showing some initiative. So you ask “What’s that going to cost dear?”
“Well Mom,” she replies, “It’s only going to cost $52,968 a year; you get your checkbook and I’ll pack my bags.”
And your immediate reaction after you pick yourself up off the floor is, “Wait a minute! What’s your second choice?”
So your daughter thinks for a moment and says, “The University of Michigan”. And you think, ok, that’s a good school as well. So you ask “What will Michigan cost?”
“Hmm” your daughter thinks for a moment, “well, we’re out of state so Michigan is going to cost $44,761… a year.”
Unfortunately for you, you took a drink of your ice cold beverage at the wrong moment and have now sprayed it across the other side of the room. Aren’t state schools supposed to be less expensive runs through your mind. “What’s your third choice” you ask your daughter.
And so goes the conversation until you arrive a “sticker price” that you can agree upon.
This conversation is repeated over and over again in families all across this country. The frustrating thing is this is a really lousy way to choose a college. And you don’t have to choose a college this way.
The “Not At All Solution”
Not go at all is the tragic choice some families resort to when they have no answers. Thousands and thousands of students give up their dream of college every year because they don’t see a way it can be done. Well I am here to tell you it can be done. The number one reason I love my job is I get to show families that not go at all is not a legitimate answer to this problem. I can guarantee you that if there is a will, there is always a way!
Let me tell you a quick story of a family from a small town in Iowa not too far from where I live. I met them several years ago when their oldest daughter was a senior in high school. Dad was a farmer, and Mom was an elementary school teacher. Their daughter wanted to go to Iowa State University and become a landscape architect. She had had a green thumb all her life. Her landscaping surrounded their home on the farm. The younger daughter was still only a sophomore in high school but was certain she wanted to study criminology.
I gathered all the information I needed from the girls and the parents, and we scheduled a time in two weeks to get back together. My job was to put together a plan to show them how they were going to send their daughters to college on the small amount of money they had been able to save.
When the parents and I met at a coffee shop two weeks later, I laid out my plan before them. It quickly became evident to me that both Mom and Dad were becoming emotional and tears began welling up in their eyes. I wasn’t really certain what to do at that point, but I asked if there was something wrong.
Mom spoke up, “No there is nothing wrong. You see, we haven’t told the girls this yet, but my husband was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two months ago. And the crops that are in the ground will likely be the last crops he can plant. We really didn’t think there was going to be a way to send the girls to college until you showed us this. To us, this is a miracle.”
I don’t think I realized just how important this work is until that meeting.
Your son or daughter can graduate from college. They can achieve their dreams without bankrupting your retirement and without putting them in debt for the rest of their lives.
For the past 9 years, I have specialized in one thing… saving families money on college. It is not a matter of how many scholarships you can apply for. And it’s not a matter of how low you can go on the sticker price of a college. It’s a matter of understanding how little known systems and information can work together to save you lots of money. And this is what you will know after you have read my manual.
Get The Secrets to Real College Savings now. No other manual provides you so much insight into the college funding process.
After reading, you will know…
- How to identify the most generous colleges and universities in the country. These are the schools that are going to give you the most money.
Families have been paying me upwards of $1300 to help them find their way through the college funding jungle. Why? Because I save them far more than what they pay me.
But you don’t have to pay me $1300. You can have my manual now for $29.95. That’s not even 3% of what clients have paid me in my practice. And here is the best part…
I absolutely guarantee my manual 100%. If you are not completely satisfied, let me know within 30 days of day of purchase, and I will refund 100% of what you paid for it.
So get The Secrets to Real College Savings now. It will be the best money you spend on your student’s college education, or I’ll give you your money back.
P.S. I want to hear about your success stories. Please keep me informed about the financial packages you and your students have received after reading this manual. I love your testimonies.