Crazy Ways Students Have Paid for College

       In a few months, the entire senior body of SHS, myself included, will walk across a comically small stage to receive a comically presented piece of paper that simply states that we had survived four years of the comically acclaimed Sparta High School. After that, we’re on our own, our friends will part ways, our parents will do their best to kick us out, and our college applications will carry us to colleges where we will become brand new people and follow our dreams. In a few years time, we’ll have new friends, see new sights, live new lives, and everything we once thought was everything will amount to nothing in our professional lives and simply be lost in a dusty old yearbook hidden away in the back of a bedroom closet.

     Other than all of that soul crushing drama previously described, one topic that takes up space in at least 1% of every senior’s brain, including mine, is the idea of going to college for 2 or 4 years, sometimes even more, and then spending the rest of our mortal lives paying off the college we went to. Of course, this idea is completely fair, and we students have nothing to complain about, but some students feel that it would be better if they could use some of the money they will have to spend on school for other things, like food, or a house, or an occasional trip to the Caribbean. You know, nothing really special or anything.

       There are ways that students have beaten the system, though, and have either almost, or completely paid off their entire college debts. Here are a few examples of these students. We here at The Oracle do not condone any of these ideas, and you can try them at your own risk.

       First, I present Mr. Mike Hayes, who came up with a genius plan to pay for college without having to pay a single cent from his own pockets. He contacted a columnist from The Chicago Tribune, who ran a column in the paper that asked readers to donate a single penny to his cause. It seemed crazy, but after receiving hundreds of letters, and a total of 2.8 million pennies, Hayes was able to graduate the University of Illinois with a degree in food science. (Source:http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/04/teen-funded-college-education-asking-people-pennies/)

   Next, here is Robin Martee, who attended Western Kentucky University. While she had an array of scholarships and part time jobs, she still had a substantial amount to pay to the college. In order to pay off of these debts, she took part in the school pep band who played at every basketball game. It was a paying gig that covered the cost of textbooks, and by the time she graduated, Martee had almost no student debt to pay off. (Source:http://www.kiplinger.com/article/college/T042-C011-S001-9-unusual-ways-to-pay-for-college.html)

     One more example is Ginger Dean, who attended Marymount University of Virginia. To help pay for college, she looked on Craigslist and participated in multiple medical experiments she found on the website, mainly sleep and medical trials, and was payed $300-700 for each session. This was enough to help her pay at least a portion of her student debt and ease the burden of college fees. (Source:http://www.kiplinger.com/article/college/T042-C011-S001-9-unusual-ways-to-pay-for-college.html)

    Hopefully, these stories show you that student debt is a beatable beast, and that through clever thinking, and a little bit of time, anyone can pay for any kind of student debt. We wish our seniors the utmost amount of luck.