How to Get Paid to Go to College

College expenses can be brutal, but if you plan ahead and work hard, you could end up going to school absolutely free, and getting checks from the university to boot. Here's how I did it.

Start early. It's all about getting scholarships-from the university and external groups. So craft yourself into the type of student that people will want to give money to. The bad news is, you'll have to work hard and get good grades. Straight A's is ideal. Take challenging classes and as many APs as you can. Test scores are also very important, so check a couple practice SAT and ACT test books from the library and work through them. Study the vocabulary words. Give yourself every tool to allow yourself to do your absolute best on the standardized tests. Extracurriculars are also important. Get involved in things you are interested in, and try to take on a leadership role. Start a new organization geared toward something you're passionate in. Show initiative. Get involved in any competition that you have a good chance of getting an award in. It's a sad truth, but people who get awards are more likely to be given other awards because of them.

Apply early and often for scholarships. It's never too early to start looking into scholarships. Sign up to a scholarship database website such as Fastweb to start looking at what's out there. Apply for every scholarship that you're eligible for and that you have time to apply for. Just by sheer probability, the more applications you send out, the more likely you'll get an award. Look for niche scholarships targeted toward a specific attribute, talent or hobby you might have. Most minority organizations give out scholarships. There are even scholarships for exceptionally tall and short people. The narrower the scholarship requirements, the fewer people you'll be competing against, and the more likely you'll get an award.

Apply to a whole range of colleges. Apply to both lower-end safety schools and ones that are a little out of reach. If you have a school in mind that you're pretty confident you'll get into and that you would like to attend, apply to it's competitors, too, or to schools at a similar level. That way, if you get multiple scholarship offers from the colleges, you can try to use one offer as leverage against another school. This doesn't always work, but it has worked for many people and is definitely worth a shot.

Fill out your FAFSA, fill it out correctly, and fill it out on time. If you think you may qualify for need-based scholarships, then there is nothing more vital than filling out your FAFSA.

Buy cheap textbooks and find cheap housing. The less you pay, the more money you get to keep. You might even be able to get textbooks for free or almost free. I have a tutorial on how to do this, called "How to get free textbooks: Student-tested ways to keep the money in your pocket." Look it up in my list of articles under my byline E. W. D.

That is all. Good luck!