If you’re currently in college—or if you’re a parent who’s taken out dreaded Parent PLUS loans—you’d love for a hero in a red cape to swoop down and tell you how to slash your student loan debt.
The hero is here.
1. Slash your student loan debt by applying for scholarships while you’re in college.
Oh—you thought that students could only apply for scholarships during high school?
It’s not true. Sorry—you’ve been given bad information that could cost you and whomever you marry massive amounts of unnecessary debt. Bad information that could compound your parents’ grief if you die unexpectedly.
Here’s the truth. Students can apply for scholarships while they’re in college, and while they’re in grad school.
2. Apply for 10 scholarships every single year during college and grad school.
Knocking out 10 scholarship applications each year is actually easy.
Student, just commit to yourself that each year you’re enrolled, your summer break won’t begin until you have 10 scholarship applications submitted.
Submit them in the spring of the year—or give up a warm summer beach day to do it. Your choice.
3. Use this handy resource to find scholarships to apply for.
Read all the way to the bottom of this article, and I’ll show you where to find 1.5 million scholarships to apply for—even if lower grades and test scores are a part of your academic story.
Boom. You’ve just been given a fantastic, effective way to slash your student loan debt.
If it seems like you don’t meet all the requirements for a scholarship you’re interested in—if you come from the wrong racial background or have the wrong GPA for instance—apply anyway. Students get scholarships they aren’t 100% qualified for all. the. time.
4. Parents, if your child refuses to fill out scholarship applications, do this.
Use this hilarious strategy and watch the student you love run to find scholarships to apply for.
Then devour this debt-free college book, so you can make sure you’re using every non-scholarship debt-free college strategy as well.
5. To save hours of time, create just one compelling application essay and use it again and again.
I teach students and parents in my TRIBE Membership exactly how to do this. You can join my TRIBE Membership waiting list now at bit.ly/burlowskitribe. It’s a huge money saver!
Remember, applying for scholarships during college and grad school is only a small part of the picture when it comes to getting a student through college debt-free.
For clear, step-by-step help with the whole debt-free college process from beginning to end, get your copy of my book:
It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
You can see why financial advising professionals love LAUNCH, here.
You can see the top 9 questions parents are asking me about LAUNCH, here.
Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start it—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
Take a step on this right now. Get regular, inspiring help from me—every Monday morning.
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Do you have very specific questions for me about debt-free college and career for your kids?
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News and World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com.
This article was updated on October 27th, 2022. No part of it was written using AI.