COLLEGE AND BEYOND
Five Tips to Pay Less for College
If you’re reading this, you likely already know that the pursuit of higher education can be (and often is) an expensive endeavor.
The average annual cost of an undergraduate degree program at a four-year postsecondary institution in the United States was about $38,000 in 2024, according to the Education Data Initiative. Your cost of college need not be astronomical, however. Read on to learn five tips for how you can pay less for college.
1. Apply for financial aid, regardless of whether you think you might qualify
Nearly 10 million students in the U.S. receive nearly $121 billion in postsecondary education funding each year through the Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA)—and those numbers do not include the $3.6 billion in Pell Grants that remained unclaimed. Don’t leave money on the table!
Our advice: Apply, apply, apply for financial aid. Submit a FAFSA®, and see what you qualify for. The worst answer you could get is “no”—and you may be surprised to learn that you’re eligible for state, local, and/or federal financial aid. Additionally, you might qualify for financial aid directly from your prospective institution.
2. Pursue scholarships
Scholarship awards are a great way to mitigate some of the costs of your postsecondary education. Numerous types of scholarships are available at the local, state, and federal levels. You can browse the U.S. Department of Labor’s free scholarship research tool to find funding opportunities you may qualify for. Check out local offerings, too. Some nonprofit, religious, and civic organizations along with local businesses offer scholarships.
For more information on landing a scholarship, check out our four tips for landing college scholarships.
3. Consider all options
If the financial aid package from your dream school is not as favorable as you’d hoped, you still have options. For starters, you can try (respectfully, tactfully) to ask for reconsideration. If you do this, be sure to provide any relevant updates to your financial situation.
You can also attend a public institution as an in-state student. Additionally, you can opt to attend community college and then transfer to a pricier institution—thus earning the degree from the latter without having to pay four years of its tuition.
As always, remember that the sticker price is not necessarily what you’ll end up paying!
4. Take Advanced Placement® (AP®) and other college-level courses
The College Board’s AP program allows you to take college-level classes while you’re still in high school. This program is financially beneficial because those who pass AP courses and get at least a three out of five on their AP exam can receive college credits. (Policies vary across higher education institutions; check the requirements at your prospective institutions!)
Dual-enrollment courses can also allow you to get college credit for classes taken during high school. (Again, check the policies at the schools you’re considering!)
By earning college credits in high school, you can sometimes offset the cost of your college education.
5. Look at the full picture
The price you pay for college includes more than tuition—meaning that there are places you can look to save money beyond the cost of classes. If you live close to your prospective college, for instance, you could save a lot of money by passing on school-offered housing and instead commuting from home.
You can also save money by forgoing a school meal plan and doing your own grocery shopping and meal prep instead. According to the Education Data Initiative, campus meal plans cost $570 per month on average during 2024. Meanwhile, the average cost for meals cooked at home (including some off-campus meals) was only $263. That difference amounts to $3,650 in savings per year.
Taking public transportation or a bike rather than a car, limiting trips home if you attend an out-of-state school, and avoiding optional classes are just a few other ways you can cut down on your nonessential costs.
How much is too much? Get insights on when the cost of college is a deal-breaker.
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