Debt-Free U

by Bissonnette, Zac

• ISBN13: 9781591842989
• ISBN10: 1591842980
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-08-31
• Publisher: Portfolio

Summary

This book can save you over $100,000 These days, most people assume you need to pay a boatload of money for a quality college education. As a result, students and their parents are willing to go into years of debt and potentially sabotage their entire financial futures just to get a fancy name on their diploma. But Zac Bissonnette is walking proof that this assumption is not only false, but dangerous-a class con game designed to rip you off and doom your student to a post-graduation life of near poverty . From his unique double perspective-he's a personal finance expert (at Daily Finance) AND a current senior at the University of Massachusetts-Zac figured out how to get an outstanding education at a public college, without bankrupting his parents or taking on massive loans. Armed with his personal knowledge, the latest data, and smart analysis, Zac takes on the sacred cows of the higher education establishment. He reveals why a lot of the conventional wisdom about choosing and financing college is not only wrong but hazardous to you and your child's financial future. You'll discover, for instance, that: * Student loans are NOT a necessary evil. Ordinary middle class families can- and must-find ways to avoid them, even without scholarships. * College "rankings" are useless-designed to sell magazines and generate hype. If you trust one of the major guides when picking a college, you face a potential financial disaster. * The elite graduate programs accept lots of people with non-elite bachelors degrees. So do America's most selective employers. The name on a diploma ultimately won't help your child have a more successful career or earn more money. Zac can prove every one of those bold assertions - and more. No matter what your current financial situation, he has a simple message for parents: "RELAX! Your kid will be able to get a champagne education on a beer budget!"

Author Biography

Zac Bissonnette is a personal finance writer and a junior at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is an editor at WalletPoP, AOL's personal finance website and one of the 500 most trafficked websites. He also blogs for The Daily Beast, and has been quoted in numerous other media outlets.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction The Four People You Meet When You Apply to College, and the Lies They Tell	p. 1
How Much Can You Afford, and Where Will You Get the Money?	p. 19
Student Loans and Stagnant Wages: A Dangerous Cocktail for Future Graduates	p. 61
Does It Really Matter Where You Go to College? The Solution to the College Funding Nightmare	p. 98
How to Make Any College an Ivy League College	p. 149
Why Large Public Universities Are Better Than Private Colleges	p. 173
The Community College Solution	p. 194
Make Money, Prepare for a Career	p. 212
How Your Child Can Save Money While He's in College	p. 236
Invest in College-Town Real Estate	p. 251
It's Not Just a Personal Finance issue: How to Solve the College Crisis	p. 259
Conclusion	p. 267
The Dos and Don'ts of Paying for College	p. 271
Recommended Reading	p. 273
Notes	p. 277
Index	p. 281
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