Customer Reviews

Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is an excellent book. I cannot recommend enough that all parents with pre-college children read this book and use the valuable information provided to take ownership of the college decision process together as a family by considering what this book has to say.

I am a CPA and a financial planner in the Boston, MA area. I see exactly what Zac describes with many families whose financial plans are dominated by education financing at the expense of other goals. I'm blown away by a 22-year old college student being able to accurately identify all of these issues, cut through all the BS spewed by the higher education and college financing industries, and support his assertions and analysis with compelling facts, data and research. I would urge anyone reading this book to not hold Zac's age against his analysis. His analysis is spot-on accurate. In fact, his age is useful for lending credibility to the anecdotes he does mention in the book about campus life and his experiences. He knows what he's talking about because he's living it.

For years, I've struggled with the question of whether you need to attend an expensive college to get a quality college education. It didn't seem right to me, but I didn't have the information to assess this one way or the other. As Zac clearly shows, there are huge industries with tons of money at stake to make people believe that an expensive college is a must for your child's education. As Louis Brandeis said, "sunshine is the best disinfectant". This is one book that is the sunshine that exposes these industries for what they are.

Being in Massachusetts, I would feel very comfortable guiding my children to a Massachusetts public college armed with the information that Zac provides. I would know that I am giving my child every opportunity to have a terrific college experience and a wonderful opportunity for a successful and fulfilling life. UMass should be extremely proud of having Zac as a recent graduate.

Wow, I couldn't put the book down, with every page I could see all the ways to save money. This book is worth its weight in gold. Words cannot describe what this book has down for me, I really feel I have an insider in college and it has greatly reduced my stress of having my first child go off to college next year. This book contains more than finacial tips, it covers every aspect of college, from course tips to professor information, I can't say enough, you definately won't be dissapointed.
It was a fun read and will share with other college bound students. I have five teens and if I can do this anybody can. take care enjoy the journey. Debbie
PS I wrote this at 6a getting five kids off to school please excuse the typos.

Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, orMooching off My Parents

The author reveals many ways to get a top flight education without getting yourself and your parents needlessly in debt. He backs up his assertions with hard facts, data, and research. For over-priced universities, it is an "Emperor has no clothes" moment. Highly recommended.

I put myself through college starting at 32, being the sole breadwinner with a wife and kids at home. I agree that big sacrifices are absolutely necessary to get a degree without a six figure loan.

One part of the book I disagree with is the bargain basement pricing Mr. Bissonette uses to calculate how you and your offspring can get a degree, actually having a surplus in your savings account when complete. State colleges in Michigan have increased tuition over 125% over the past ten years, making them about double the cost he used in the book. Add to that the stingy merit scholarships: Michigan State offers $800(!) for incoming freshman to their homors college. That wouldn't get a semester's worth of books.

Another point I disagree with is his insistence that private schools cost too much. The private schools will let your child in with an ACT score of 17, but you will pay full list price. If your child is a high achiever, like mine are, the total cost of tuition/room/board can be the same as the public schools. Don't automatically rule the private colleges out.

Zac Bissonette has a revolutionary idea here -- It's nothing short of a new way of looking at college education as a value-driven purchase. He forces parents to examine whether they are really doing right by their kids to laden themselves with debt. He's totally on the money when he says college financial aid officers aren't there to help you -- they exist to sell you loans so you can pay for their salaries. Bissonette is changing the way America sees college. We are emerging from this recession as a nation schooled in living within our means. College educations are part of that equation. Great book for everyone with a child -- even ones in pre-school.Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, orMooching off My Parents

I found Zac Bissonnette's book to be an excellent read. I think he did a great job at laying out some advice that you normally wouldn't hear often (if at all). Also, his writing style and numerous real-world examples, many of which tell about his own friends or people who wrote directly to him about their experiences, really kept me interested, making the book fairly easy to get through.

He offers a myriad of practical information and tips for getting through college without taking out student loans (and explains in detail why those student loans should be avoided as much as possible). And if it takes the extra effort of your college kid getting part-time jobs to pay for his education, well, at least he didn't waste all his free time watching TV and playing video games, right? I'm now fairly convinced that taking out a student loan is pretty much a bad idea. The current default rate on student loans (explained in the book) is a bit disturbing.

He also explains why college rankings are nothing but made-up nonsense. He provides some pretty solid reasoning that tells why there is really no basis to a vast majority of rankings as far as telling you which colleges are better academically (and no ranking could guarantee any particular college giving a someone a better education than any other). One of the main points he seemed to be pushing for is that no college can turn a bad student into a good one. Likewise, a good student can excel at any college or university, regardless of its ranking. Generally, he says, it's not the school as a whole that determines a student's experience there but such factors as individual classes and professors (for this, he recommends actually looking up reviews online about potential professors for classes and choose classes based on professors who seem to get good reviews for their teaching).

Whether you agree with all his advice or not, I think it's very interesting and perhaps even prudent to at least consider it. I personally can't tell you whether a private college education is worth it or if it would be better to go with Mr. Bissionnette's advice of attending first a community college and then a public university. I don't have enough information to argue either way. Regardless, this book offers what appears to be decent financial advice. Because taking debts out for student loans is such a significant threat in our current economy to a student's future financial well-being, looking into more affordable college options should definitely not be completely ruled out. In addition (and I found this an interesting but almost humorous tidbit), he even explained how students might start saving for their retirement while in college with the money they would save by not going to an "overpriced" college and not taking out student loans.

It's also important to note that Mr. Bissionnette did not say that private education is terrible or to be /completely/ avoided. In fact, I can recall at least two or three places in his book where he even advised applying to private as well as public institutions (if you were interested in attending a private college to start with)! He did recognize that private colleges often do offer significant grants, scholarships, and financial aid other than loans that public universities just don't have. He said that if you can get a good enough merit-based financial aid package from a private college you want to attend, go for it! However, if attending a private college means graduating with around $50,000 or more in student debt, then it is a pretty poor decision overall because the losses outweigh the gains (to speak of your financial future, at least).

Just for a bit of perspective, I'm a high school junior who just happened upon this book while browsing Amazon. Something motivated me to buy it, and I'm really glad I did. Perhaps my age might indicate that I'm still a bit impressionable and easily persuaded? I'm not sure. However, I think this book can potentially save people a lot of financial heartache by helping them make decisions that they can actually afford rather than face horrible consequences later on. I definitely recommend this book to parents or high school students considering college options, especially those who are currently planning on taking out student loans to pay for their education.

To parents: If you have a relatively self-motivated high school student, I would have your child read this book as well. I took the initiative myself here, but I found it a bit inspiring in that it suggested practical routes for preparing for future college expenses that could even begin years before. For example, because of this book, I'm considering finding a job this summer to earn money for savings.


An additional comment:
I will admit that Bissionnette's advice isn't perfect. It requires a lot of work on the part of students following the plan. For example, maintaining a job while in college could be difficult, I would think. And constantly giving up your summers for a full-time job would be frustrating to many. There is a good degree of determination necessary. However, many of the tips may be useful still, even if you wouldn't care to follow everything he suggested. As with all advice books, be cautious not to follow things exactly. All content is written in a generalized or often even an idealized sense, so not everything works for everyone. If you find a useful tip, though, why not try it? Or at least investigate further (perhaps even on your own) to see if it's worthwhile.

I am here to say that Zac's book is a very true and college debt should be avoided. I know personally after financing my college education through student loans. I was 22 years old, without a job and 80,000 in debt. I personally except responsibility for debt accumulated and will pay them off and not look for a handout. I just wish I read a book in 2004 and had the information. I could have made better choices then the cliques most hear about going to college. This books shows the other side and it will allow people the best choices for each situation. Obliviously this book is not gold but should be used and I believe followed.

Now a little more on my story...

I am a firm believer that its not where you go its who you know. I took my great private diploma and got told it would open doors. The only jobs that I got call backs from were where I knew people and had an in. Networking anyone? I graduated and instead of being happy and looking forward to my life and career I was TERRIFIED and SCARED that I could not make my minimum payments. I will say that my debt did make me more determined to get a job to pay for the debt. I was extremely lucky and had an in and got a teaching job at a great place because of my networking and personal characteristics not much because of my "school." I have been working extremely hard to get out of my debt I teach, coach 3 teams, and bar tend. I am currently 25 and have paid over half of my loan off. The same student loan company that never alerted me of interest being accumulated but now that I am paying off in advance they tell me I do not have to make a payment until March 15, 2014. (If they ever call me I feel bad for the person who talks to me) I have put off my personal life goals (i.e. home ownership, family, investing) to pay off the debt. I CANNOT WAIT TO BE DEBT FREE!!! GO ON DAVE RAMSEY AND YELL I'M DEBT FREE!!!

It really comes down to this everyone and I really wish Zac hit on it in his book a little more. Maybe without being on the debt side of the college life he may have not felt this. Would you rather enjoy a four, five, six... years of college paying for with debt then having to work the rest of your life to get out of the debt hole you dug OR worked hard while you have the energy to and pay for school as you go, live within your means and then graduate college debt free and able to start your life at age 22? I wish I would have had the information in this book so that I could have chose the latter. I will use your book to help my classroom seniors to make the best choices for them!

Disclaimer:
This review is from a parent-of-three. Degrees: BS, PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy). Profession: Hospital Pharmacy. Back in the day, I paid for college myself- via working, Pell grants, loans, and merit scholarships. It was hard to finance it all myself, but not as hard as it would be to accomplish today. I pity the kids with unsupportive parents, especially those who might use this book as an excuse to cop out on their kids.

Review:
This book is full of much-needed information, especially for parents who are facing this process for the first time. I highlighted all the way through. But, having been through the process (incl. one UMass grad), I have a few observations to make.

First: Zac discourages people from applying to out-of-state universities, because then you would be paying private-school tuition rates. In 2005, Ohio University offered a grant to my son that erased the tuition difference between Ohio U and UMass. This is a common practice, to attract out-of-staters. However it may be true, as Zac mentioned, that the current economy has shrunk these grant offers.

Next:
Zac's advice boils down to this: "Get a degree by hook or by crook and as cheaply as possible, in order to get out of school and start achieving your real goal, which is: making money." Zip through in 3 years, skip classes, and take the easiest major that will get you the highest GPA. The diploma is all that counts; education itself is discounted as a necessary evil. Note that Zac is an art history major. I assume this has afforded Zac a high GPA that will get him (along with this book authorship) into a great B-school grad program. It's all about the bottome line, baby! This is great advice for the entrepreneurial types.

It's also great advice for the person who has no parental support and has to make tough choices to cut corners. I was once one of these people- but I didn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I valued the education highly. My philosophy was, and is, "Learning is never wasted." It is not a waste of your time to be in college- it is the beginning of your lifetime of learning. There is such a tremendous "value-added" to a real education that cannot be measured in money.

Meanwhile, Zac breezes by an entire world of "difficult majors" when he dismisses engineering majors out-of-hand (not enough return on investment, high risk of failure) and overlooks medical careers entirely. But those "difficult majors," really do make paying off those loans much, much easier. I borrowed about 1/3 of the cost of my education and paid it off handily in three years after graduation. The "easy-major, high-GPA" crowd benefits the most from Zac's advice to stay debt-free, as they are likely to have the hardest time recouping the investment.

Zac and I achieved the goal of college-assisted financial security by different approaches: mine was to tackle the hardest subjects, learning as much as I possibly could, and leaving the money part to sort itself out as a corollary. Zac's advice is to focus on the money first, with the education as a corollary. I think that this is good advice for the average college-bound student, but less relevant for the "true learner," who in any case knows how to pick what he needs from Zac's book.


P.S. It's a catchy premise to have Zac's handsome face grace the cover of this book, but do I believe that this 22-y.o. was the sole writer/researcher of this opus? Ha,ha. But my hat is off to Zac for his entrepreneurship. He tapped into a real need, and this very useful body of information deserves to be on the best-seller list. Good job, Zac!

Loved, loved, loved this book! This book is an easy read and may just change your life. As one who left 8 years of higher ed at private Universities with 6 figure student loans (thankfully now paid off) I may have done things differently if I had the benefit of this book 20 years ago. I'm thankful to be armed with this information before navigating the college selection process with my own kids. So much great research and information - this book has turned my assumptions and perceptions upside down about the benefits of shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for a prestigious school's name on your diploma. I am recommending this book to all my friends with teenagers!

I just heard on CNN that college debt passed credit card debt. That statistic alone should make anyone who will be paying for a college education read this compelling book. Zac tells it like it is and challenges a lot of conventional wisdom along the way. He is wise beyond his years and I expect we'll be hearing a great deal more from him in the future.