College, one of the most important moves you can make in your life. It can also be one of the most expensive moves if you’re not careful. So, how do people usually pay for college? The most common methods include loans and grants. However, loans and grants are not the only options for aspiring students. Today, I’ll detail some methods to ensure you graduate college without taking on debt. Many have done this before and if you’re wise, you can do it too.

Have an exceptional high school career: If you polled parents around the nation and asked them what their top accomplishments for their children would be, I can almost assure the consensus would be a full ride scholarship. What a full ride scholarship does is allows children to go to college free of charge based on their high school academic careers. Here’s where the nail meets the wood, you have to be a stellar student to obtain a full ride to college. Another method of getting the full ride scholarship is to be an exceptional athlete. Many great athletes are able to go to college for free due to their skill and savvy.

Graduate With no Student Loan Debt

Get a head start: A great way for you, the student, to take action against debt and get your degree is through first obtaining a trade. If you can sacrifice a few years of hard work while living with parents, you can use the money from your job to help pay for the cost of college. Recognize the key statement in the last sentence, living with your parents. You must have their buy-in for this method to work. If you can’t wait 2 years, you may want to consider working and taking classes at your local community college. The great thing about community colleges is the cost. You could attempt to get a student grant and use your grant funds toward the community college classes and work part-time to save up for the big universities.

Have wealthy parents: Another less common method of graduating college without school loans are through funding from your parents. Most parents set aside small amounts of money for children starting at birth on throughout high school graduation. This money can be used to help pay some of the cost of college. Other parents who are all out wealthy can provide cash payments for students to be able to make it through college. Many years ago, having parents foot the bill for college was a much common practice but since the increase of cost for college, more and more parents have used a small portion of school loans to finish the course.

College can be a great experience but it can also be a stressful one. I always advise having a general understanding of how much college will cost before you even start. In any event, the main thing to understand is that you go to college and get your degree without taking on major debt. It may be difficult do, but remember, it can be done.