Believe it or not, free money for college isn’t only awarded to Einsteins and star athletes ‘ or those of you poor people who qualify for financial aid. There are plenty of opportunities for the ‘average’ college-bound student to take advantage of scholarship money. The biggest mistake to make, is to sit and wait, and not do anything about it in the hopes that someone will knock on your door and say, “Need some money?”

I just graduated in May, and now I am starting to pay back student loans. Let me tell you, it sucks. Having received my degree in Journalism from UCLA, I thought I would be in a good position to pay back my loans. Yeeeaaahhh…not so much. So now, after 4 years of tuition, room and board, I owe just over $115,000.

People say it all the time, but I will say it again…if I had it to do all over again…I would try to avoid the $1000 a month loan payment.

Here’s some common sense advice:

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It wasn’t by choice.

I attended an elite boarding school in Massachusetts (via scholarship, thank you very much) for the sole purpose of attending Harvard. I loved Boston, and I had dreams of going to a place where my intelligence would be respected, not mocked.

When I started applying to schools in the fall, my GPA was high and I had a ton of extracurriculars. Things looked good, but my parents, who had just moved to Michigan for work, insisted I plan out some alternatives. Of course. Thankfully, they had moved to a place with a great in-state school; even when I applied to U of M, I didn’t dread the idea of going. It just wasn’t in my top five. (more…)