Of the classes I can’t test out of, I’m taking as many as possible at my local community college (Bucks County Community College). I registered a couple of weeks ago and paid my full tuition (a little over $1800) up front. Time to start figuring out how to do actual college classes as frugally as possible.
First off, I’m extremely sympathetic to college students who just sign whatever documents the financial aid office throws at them. I’ve got 15 years experience dealing with crazy corporate beauracracy and the admissions and financial aid process is almost too much bullshit for me. It’s about as bad, if not worse than going through mortgage underwriting. Expecting a 17 year old to navigate this obstacle course in the most efficient and low cost way is INSANE*.
I filled out my FAFSA, registered and paid for my classes. Fortunately I’m in the financial position to be able to do that. If I wasn’t, and I was under pressure to make sure that I was able to register and start classes, signing up for a bunch of student loans just to make sure that it was taken care of would start looking much more attractive. As it is, financial aid, including student loans can be quite confusing and difficult. Since I don’t plan on getting a degree from the community college, I applied as a “non-degree seeking” student. Turns out that if you’re not admitted with a major, you don’t qualify for financial aid. PRO TIP: Don’t try calling the financial aid office when you’re close to the start of a semester. Like me, you could find out the hard way that there are 3 hour+ hold times. Instead send an e-mail to the financial aid office. Now that I’ve made all the necessary changes to my admission status and sent in the documentation needed, I’m just waiting for a decision on my potential financial aid package.
Next, I looked at the syllabus for each class so I could purchase my books and necessary supplies. Supplies were easy: Staples runs massively dirt cheap sales on school supplies every year around this time (Spiral notebooks for 25 cents each, marble notebooks for 50 cents, loose leaf paper for a similar price, just make sure to avoid the fancy covers or multi-subject books). When we see stuff like this at deep discounts like this, we buy a huge stock, 50 or 100 at a time, then store it in a big box in the attic marked “School Supplies”. A $10 off coupon meant that stocking up this year was practically free. Our kids are not school age yet, but will be eventually, and notebooks never go bad.
Textbooks initially looked like a huge expense at the college bookstore prices: 5 books for English Comp at about $15 each, the newest edition of the accounting textbook with a WileyPlus** code for $200, the newest edition of the management textbook with some other Oligarchy’s code at $80. FUUUUUUUCK THAT. Two of the English books were available at the Philadelphia Free Library, one cost $5 used on Amazon, one was cheapest as a Kindle version for $6. An EXTENSIVE online search yielded a WileyPlus code on Amazon for $80, which should come with an e-book version of the textbook. If it doesn’t, Amazon also has a printed version of the book for $75 (doesn’t come with the code though). Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to find a cheaper version of the management book. Bookstore prices for total: $355. My total cost: $186.
Standing in line to pay for my two textbooks at the college bookstore, I noticed how almost every other student had a stack of brand new textbooks and supplies. There costs for everything were significantly higher than mine, and I couldn’t help but wonder how much of those costs would be paid by student loans. Would they be using their experience as proof of how impossibly expensive college is? “See, I went to a community college for two years to keep the price down and I’m STILL drowning in student loans!!”
I also found some useful resources at my community college. Their library (free with student ID), has a HUGE selection (possibly a complete collection) of the most current CLEP and DSST study guides for each subject. The official study guides are useful because they cover the test topics in exactly the level of depth needed for the test. Without them you run the risk of falling into a never-ending rabbit hole on certain topics (like Evolution). There are regularly held talks and presentations by guest speakers and experts on various topics. There is tons of free or dirt cheap entertainment provided for students such as concerts, art showings, plays, movie screenings etc. There is a comprehensive list of clubs and organizations that you can join to meet like-minded people. The college gym is free for students, and of course a student ID offers discounts at tons of other places.
*My brother in law who lives with us is also attending this community college this semester. He is a recent immigrant with a complex family situation. Finalizing his financial aid is a nightmare and almost certainly won’t be complete until a month or two into classes. Thankfully my wife and I are able to assist him, both with the required up front payment so he can register and attend classes, and with making sure his financial aid package is completed correctly to be reimbursed for those upfront costs by grants and loans (if necessary). If he and his family were on their own though, I can’t imagine him being able to pay for school. The financial aid side of a college education is absolutely disgraceful.
**I was initially really angry about having to buy the access codes for some of these courses. But then I vaguely recalled that those companies paid the colleges and professors to require those materials. Standing in line with my required brand new textbook and access code, I soothed some of my anger by telling myself that those brand new editions and codes are much more likely to be used at community colleges, and that portions of those costs contribute to the colleges ability to keep tuition low and offer all those other benefits I mentioned earlier. Knowing I was going to write a big, detailed post about my experience I decided to dig a little deeper into the specifics of that market and can’t really find any tangible benefits besides profit to the companies. This market really is full of oligarchies, and they’re bleeding it for everything they can, not to mention using slimy techniques (bribing professors to use their materials) to secure their market position. I really tried to find some hidden benefit to those unnecessary costs, but couldn’t. Higher costs, lower quality product (multiple reviews saying the wileyplus software was awful and buggy), market dominated by a small number of firms who don’t really compete: all the hallmarks of oligarchy. I’d love to have someone offer an alternative view but it doesn’t seem like there is one. I don’t really have any answers, but I’m very interested in hearing a discussion about it.