The Woes of the College Student

Recently, I read a story concerning a grad student who graduated with and M.A. and afterwards was looking at over $100,000 in student loan debt.
Wow!
Many students are graduating with high student load debt. The average student loan debt of graduating seniors is over $19,000 excluding parent loans (PLUS loans). This amount is even higher for graduate students.
Believe me, you do not want to be in this kind of debt after you leave college. The monthly payment for this kind of debt is high and sometimes what you make for your first job after college is simply not enough to pay for housing, food, entertainment and other expenses. It's even worse if you live in a major city where housing nearly costs half your income. It's a tough way to start out life.
Things are not getting better either. The cost of college is outpacing inflation at an incredible rate. In fact, college tuition inflation is about twice that of general inflation at about 8%. This means college tuition is doubling every nine years. Think about what that means for you as a college student.
Other factors aren't helping either: decreased federal assistance, increased housing costs for those who live in cities, higher energy costs, etc...
However, there is a way to circumvent high debt when you get out of college - college scholarships.
Many students overlook college scholarships for a number of reasons. One of the main factors is that they are unaware of the number of scholarships out there for a variety of interests, activities, memberships, etc... Some scholarships even go unawarded because of the lack of applicants. A second reason college scholarships are overlooked is that finding college scholarships and applying for them can be a time consuming process. What would you rather do? Spend time now trying to find and apply for college scholarships or take 10-30 years paying off your student loan debt?
To me, it's a no brainer.

There are several services that will help you find college scholarships for free.
Several services are listed on CollegeMoneyUnlimited.com as well as useful articles on finding money for college.

Happy Scholarship hunting!