How do I afford college?

How do some people afford so much college?

• While reading forums and y/a and a bunch of other sites and from knowing a couple of my college teachers...I have one question how do some of these people afford to keep going to college? I mean, some people even afford 3 different degrees from 3 different and very good...expensive colleges... i know it's not all scholarships or aid because after your first degree it's increasingly hard to get aid. (or so i hear)...are these people paying bills forever or what? it's like they're addicted to education. I remember for a while i attended CHI institute and I had one teacher who had 3 masters degrees (no, she wasn't pulling chains she really did have it)...the whole time i wasn't impressed because all I could think was she wasted her money...after all she was only a teacher at an accelerated certificate course school. so if you have many degrees or if you know somebody please explain to me why, how and if you're paying a lot of student loans??

• Answer:

  Many graduate students are funded as graduate or research assistants by their college. This is especially true of those who already have a master's degree. Some people are funded by their employer either partially or wholly and so they don't incur debt to return to college. Others work as consultants or freelancers while they are working on their additional degrees and use that income to pay tuition. It's not as difficult earning enough to pay for additional degrees as it is earning enough while keeping the time free to work on the degree. Consider though - if you get a graduate/professional degree that sets you back with $100,000 in loans (sounds formidable) but that degree sets you up to earn $120,000 plus per year; how difficult will it be to pay those student loans? You just don't want to go into that sort of debt for a degree that gets you a $30,000 a year job.