Scholarships and grants

There are thousands of scholarships and grants out there. The trick is to finding the ones that you are well qualified for and spending the time to apply for all of them. Your best chances for finding a scholarship are generally going to be from sources that are close to you. This could mean a scholarship offered by a local business or perhaps one offered by your city. Grants are money awards that you do not have to pay back, so they may be harder to find. The one grant that you should always apply for is the Pell grant offered by the government. It is free to apply and based entirely in income. The application title for this and other government sponsored financial help for college is called the FAFSA.

Start saving early

The sooner you start saving for college the better. You may be surprised at just how much a modest monthly contribution to an education account can add up to over the course of 18 years. There are also investment options that you could consider and have the potential for an even greater increase. Even small amounts of interest paid and compounded over time can make a huge difference. It is never too early to start saving.

Look for low interest on student loans

Your plan may be to use student loans as a means for financing your child's education. These is a good alternative if there are insufficient funds saved, but just remember that a student loan is just like any other loan in that you will want to shop around to make sure that you are getting the best interest rate available. Sometimes you can find the best rates through Stafford loans (government loans for education) so they are definitely worth looking into.

Give the responsibility to the child

While you want to be able to provide everything for your child, there is also something to be said for allowing your child to take responsibility of paying for his or her own education. If you were given the responsibility of paying for your own education and appreciate the lessons that experience taught you, it is perfectly acceptable to prepare your child for their future obligations.

Start at a community college

If your son or daughter just graduated from high school and you are wondering what you are going to do because you have not saved any money for college, there are still some options for you. If attending a university is not something that you can afford right now, have your child start at a community college. Community college tuitions are significantly less than the tuitions at larger universities. Have your child attend the first two years of their four year degree at a community college that offers credits that can then be transferred to the university. After two years of keeping good grades at a community college, you can likely transfer to the university and may even be in a good position to apply for a number of scholarships directly connected to academic performance.

Planning to put your kids through college may be daunting, but with all of the options that you have, it is definitely not impossible.