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For many of the seniors at Bellwood-Antis High School, it is time to make decisions on college.  This is a life altering decision, and a costly one at that. The average college tuition in Pennsylvania is a little over $12,000, that is a great sum of money for many families.  

A college degree can be an advantage.  It can propel one into their dream career; however, it is not always necessary to get a good paying job.  So, one may want to consider another course of action -such as trade- for work. 

If obtaining a college degree is your prerogative,  one must explore scholarships. It is basically free money, and we Americans love free stuff!  

The personal cost of college can simply be reduced by earning scholarships, but earning them will require work.  Scholarships require filling out applications, essays, or receiving recommendation letters. Even with this work, scholarships are worthwhile.

I once heard it put like this.  Work for three hours on a scholarship, writing the essay, filling out the application, and whatnot.  Then suppose you received that scholarship of $1,000. This means that for the time you work, you made roughly $333.33/hour.  With hard work often comes great reward.  

To achieve financial security at a young age, you must find ways to drastically minimize the cost of college.  Student loans can not, and should not be your lonely answer. The debt will pile up. Before you know it, you will be in an avalanche of debt without hope of freeing yourself. 

Take the time to find scholarships available to you.  At BA, these can be found in the guidance office or by asking around.  

This will be a key to staying debt free (or close to) through your college career.