How do most of you pay for your college tuitions?

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I've been kind of wondering that on here.

Scholarships.

^^ I possess a happy loan and am also blessed by a small grant. I believe I am also very lucky as my happy sister blesses me with money for helping with her with happy little tasks in her little company every Wednesday afternoon.

Bankruptcy.

I work during the summer...that usually covers my tuition as well as rent during the fall.
Rent, food and necessities are covered by my student loan and additional work I get during the year.
Also, my gracious parents are happy to chip in when I need it

+1

Never found a good job to pay for the loans I took out to pay for my education. I'm reaching a point of no return in a few years...and now we're in an economic depression.

I think bankruptcy does not get rid of student loans the way it does most debts.

Bankruptcy v student loans. No, in the USA you cannot discharge student loans through bankruptcy. You're stuck with them until the day you die. OR, you can work with the US Dept of Education and consolidate them and perhaps get them paid off. They have several repayment plans, some tied to your income. Problem with even the best of those is that they use an imaginary formula to decide how much disposable income you have without taking into consideration the cost of housing, transportation, medical care, etc., that you are having to pay. In my area of the country rental housing is pricey (even now). The forumla thinks I should only be paying about a third of what I pay (and I'm not living "high" - just no bars on the windows and used needles in the alley, thanks!).

The only ways I know of that you can be relieved of your student loans permanently are 1) pay them off (it won't be happening for me); 2) work in a field that the govmt has designated as eligible to reduce your loan payments in return for service; 3) become completely and permanently disabled (although I know of a case where a woman had brain cancer and they would not release her of liability for the loans); 4) be so terribly low income (and we're talking bottom of the barrel here) and have no reasonable expectation of ever getting out of that situation. I have also heard that it depends on where in the country you live, although this might just be an urban legend, and that some administrative judges are a bit less harsh than others as far as deciding what constitutes an impossible situation.

Moral of this story - do not take out student loans unless you are going into a field where you are almost positive you will be able to earn enough to pay them back. Considering today's economy, I would think that would be medicine. Or mortuary science. If you're not studying in a field that's going to give you a pretty cushy return, don't borrow. Most college degrees aren't worth a whole lot in the workforce these days (you can't do a lot with, say, art history). Don't run up bills for something like that - take it slower, earn and pay as you go.

Financial aid (grants and scholarships), plus my family is helping me out.

By the time I graduate in December, I will only be $5,500 in debt (the average is about $60,000 for for years).

My dad earns $300K a year so he just pays for any schooling I need.

Out of my own pocket.

I worked full time for over a year before I even considered going to college. Worked a total of two and half years by the time I left for school. Shouldn't be in any debt when I'm finished.

I had a National Merit Scholarship. It's entirely based on your scores on the PSAT, so be sure and take that test--National Merit will give you a free ride almost anywhere you want to go to school in the United States.

For my Bachelor's my dad paid for all but $5,000 of my tuition (his reparations for royally effing up my childhood), the remaining $5,000 was taken care of by a student loan that I still need to pay back. Now that I'm going back to grad school, my tuition's free since I'm going to be a GRA/GTA and the Lab Manager for the polymers labs.

Secret: non-community non-state college is a scam to make you a debt slave!

I pay with Parent PLUS loan, Stafford Loans from Sallie May-We-Screw-You-Yes-You-Mae

Do not ruin your life - do not go to any college but a community college or a state college that is more than $10,000 per year

Nonsense. The actual money that the National Merit Scholarship pays out is beans, and most American universities don't really give a rat's ass about it. There are a handful of schools that will hand you a free ride for National Merit, and most of them aren't very good.

You need not worry about this if you work in work colleges like the Cooper Union. Free tuition, baby

But it's hard to get there, duh