I don’t know why your parents won’t pay for college. However, I know parents often have genuine reasons why they don’t pay for college.
Whether you know why they don’t want to pay or not, don’t hate them. Being angry at them will only ruin your life.
Instead, I want you to calm down and follow the instructions I’m going to give you in this article. You’ll be surprised to realize that you can still have a great future even after your parents won’t pay for college.
My parents didn’t refuse to pay for college but I found out a way to survive without college. I dropped out of college after my freshman year and made ends meet though I eventually went back to college to regain peace with my parents.
Whether you manage to go to college or not, you can still be successful in life without a college degree.
Parents won’t Pay for College: 3 Steps to Take
1. Put College Education Aside
Going to college is no longer as important as it was several years ago. Many people have found success in life yet they skipped college or even dropped out.
I wrote an article titled How to Succeed in Life without College. You can read it to get an in-depth explanation of how life has changed and how college is losing its glory of being the only route to a successful life.
I am not writing this to discourage you from going to college but I want you to see that you can still achieve a lot in life even without a college degree.
Now that your parents are not willing to pay for your college education, chances are that you will need to use an alternative route to find success in life.
Knowing that college is not necessary for a successful life should open up your mind to consider other easier options.
College is a Poor Investment for Many
While our society celebrates college education and terms it as a good investment, college has become one of the worst investments of our generation. Even if your parents won’t pay for college, you are still safe.
Part of the reason is because most students who end up in college have no idea why they are in college. They go to college just because it is the next step of their academic journey.
I don’t know why your parents don’t want to pay for college but if they have refused to pay for college because it is a poor investment, you have wise parents.
I know you may be thinking like the general society that going to college is the best investment to make while you are young. Well, I want you to have a change of mind.
Going to college is only a good investment if you know what you want to do in college and you have a clear path that requires a college degree.
Read Also: 5 Horrors I experienced during my First Year in College
You’ll be surprised that you can still achieve most of the ambitions you have without investing a lot of money in college education.
Society has made college appear as the best investment but trust me, if you put the same money you put in college in a business, you will most likely reap a bigger reward.
Therefore, don’t be so fixated on investing your time and money in college. Other options might be a lot better for you than college.
If your parents have refused to pay for college, it is worth considering alternative investments apart from college.
Delaying College is a good Idea
If your parents won’t pay for college and you delay going to college, you have little to lose. Going to college immediately after high school, in most cases, is never a good idea. Most students go to college when they are utterly confused.
In the end, they waste their time and money drifting through college yet they don’t know what to do with their lives.
Delaying to go to college is a good idea since it gives you time to figure out what you want in life. By the time you finally go to college, you will have figured out the direction you want to take in life.
And going to college with a clear direction means greater chances of becoming successful.
When I first enrolled in college, I was utterly confused. After dropping out, I went back when I was 22 years old.
At first, I thought I was too old to go back to college but shortly after I enrolled, I realized that going to college when you are a bit older has great benefits.
You can read the article about my return to college to see all the benefits.
2. Start a Business
Instead of crying because your parents won’t pay for college, why not start your own business and take control of your life?
There are two alternatives to going to college; starting a business or getting inheritance. I’m sure living off your inheritance is not an option unless you were born in a royal family.
Starting a business is the logical route to take. But before you ask all the questions you have in mind, let me explain a few things…
Businesses are Cheap to Start
Don’t be scared when you hear me mentioning about starting a business. I know you may not have any experience running a business but don’t worry.
Most of the time, when starting a business is mentioned, the next worry is where to find capital. Well, some businesses require a huge dose of capital when starting but there are many businesses that require very little money to start.
I have outlined some of the cheap businesses you can start if you dropped out of college and I’m sure they will also appeal to those who can’t go to college because their parents have refused to pay for it.
This very blog you are reading is a business that was started after I dropped out of college. I didn’t have much money but thankfully, starting a blog is cheap.
Most online businesses can be started with little or no money at all.
To get started on YouTube, you can start shooting videos with your phone. Opening a YouTube channel is free of charge.
Once you have a small following, you can enable ads on it and start making some money, which you can then use to fund your next big business.
Better Investment of your Time and Money
I spent very little money to learn blogging and yet it rewarded me better than what I believe a college degree would have earned me.
Starting a business in most cases is a better investment of your time and money. Throwing money in college and hoping to get employed after you get a degree is not a clever move when you look at it from an investment point of view.
Even if you start several businesses that fail, you will barely spend as much money as you would spend on a college degree.
Therefore, be positive that even though your parents have refused to pay for college, you can still run a business and it is even more economical than attending college.
3. If Parents won’t pay for College, Pay for College yourself
Just because I say you should put aside college and start a business doesn’t mean you forget about college completely.
The point I am passing across is that once you have your own business that is generating revenue, you can easily fund your college education if you really need a college degree.
There are many people who have taken this route and it worked out well for them. Actually, most parents are only willing to pay for the first degree.
If a child wants a second degree or a master’s degree, parents often ask them to pay for it themselves or seek a scholarship. In the end, even those young people who are lucky to get funded through college have to pay for themselves for further studies.
Therefore, if you spend a few years establishing a business, once it starts generating a stable income, you can enroll in a college of your choice and pursue the career you so much desire.
Conclusion
Follow the three steps I have outlined to help yourself if your parents won’t pay for college. I know there are many other solutions suggested out there like seeking a scholarship or asking relatives to fund you but in the end, those are unsustainable options.
If a relative funds you through college and you fail to get a job, how will you survive? What if you apply for scholarships and never get any?
The business route is the surest way of having a successful future whether you eventually go to college or not.
My story of how I dropped out of college gives details of how I struggled to establish my writing career after I dropped out of college. You can read it to get motivation if you have decided to go with the business route like I did.
All the best!