Scholarships & Grants

This is the most well-known and ideal option to pay for school. Scholarships and grants are essentially gifts from the government or a private party to be used to cover the costs of college/university. What you may not have known is just how many scholarships are out there. Every year there are millions of dollars worth of scholarships left unused in the United States.

Educational Investments (Income Share Agreements)

In the investing world there are basically loans (debt) and stocks (equity). If you give your friend $10 to start a lemonade stand there are two ways they can pay you back. (1) They promise to give you $11 dollars by the end of the week. This is a loan. (2) They can give you $1 for every cup they sell. This is like buying a stock.

An ISA (income share agreement) is like a stock instead of a loan. Investors put money into your education and in exchange they get a cut of your future earnings for a certain time period.

According to Time Magazine – “Instead of lending to students, “investors” can buy a “share” in a student’s future for a period of time. If the student makes little money in that time, the investors lose, and the student is free from paying. If the student does well, the investors profit and the student may pay more than he or she would have on a loan.”

These agreements may not be right for everyone, but these little-known options may be best for you if you want to avoid college debt.

Lower your rate or find benefits.

There are recently launched companies which want to help you with your student loans.

Summer automatically compares over 120 different student loan repayment and forgiveness programs available in the United States. They then automatically file and enroll you in the best program for you. This saves you money and may qualify you for additional perks.

LeverEdge uses a bulk discount (think Groupon) to get you a lower rate. They pool qualified people looking for loans and use group buying power to negotiate lower rates.

Peer-to-Peer / Crowdfunding

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending (also known as person-to-person, social lending, and microlending) is an option for people to get the funding they need from other people instead of banks. It’s a community based lending where one individual borrows money from another.

Make sure to do your research on peer-to-peer loans. In some cases the rates can be 20-30 percent higher and regulations vary from state to state. If you’re struggling to find the right loan from a traditional lender, this could be an option.

Crowdfunding your cost of school involves getting small online donations from many people to help you pay for college or repay your loans. There are many platforms in which you can make a post about your situation and automatically collect donations from friends, family, or even complete strangers who find your page. There are even stories of accounts that go viral and get thousands of strangers to contribute money.