Ideally, every student would be better off with a parent, guardian or sponsor footing their education bill. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
But the good news is, all hope is never lost. There are several ways to get financing for your education which we’re going to discuss below.
1.Scholarships
This is probably the most common type of education financing, typically what most people think of when we talk about the subject.
Scholarships are usually awards given to high performing students or for any other specified reasons such as sporting excellence. There are many types of scholarships at every level of education, be it primary, secondary or tertiary.
Whether partial or full scholarships, receiving students don’t need to pay back their funder as they’re received as awards.
The best way to position yourself for such an award is prior research and preparation. Learn about the awarding criteria, years before application and craft your learning journey according to that plan.
There are high performing students who missed out on scholarship opportunities only because they never knew they needed to also be active outside of the classroom.
2.Sponsorships
Just like scholarships, sponsorships may also be awards but can also be transactional.
There are corporates and individuals who sponsor students as part of their corporate social responsibility or charity. In other forms, corporates can also strategically finance the education of students they consider to be their future employees.
More pronounced examples of the latter feature a hybrid arrangement where students work and study at the same time for an employer who foots their education bill.
When it’s transactional, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad or inferior arrangement. Students can enjoy the benefit of being fast tracked into employment because of this.
3.Self-financing
This could probably be the most difficult form of financing. In this way, students typically have to work odd jobs and hours to raise money for their education.
The demands of balancing school work and such jobs doesn’t make it any easier. But it could also be very effective and liberating given the absence of any financier whom you may owe a debt to in cash or kind.
The taking up of such a responsibility early on can also exponentially grow and mature students.
4.Debt
It’s probably the least favored education financing option for many, but sometimes the most feasible.
This is particularly true in more developed economies such as the United States where tertiary education is quite expensive and most students take on some debt to go through school.
As is the nature of debt, it can stunt your growth especially when you still have to repay it long after you’ve left school. But when it’s the only option, it’s usually worth it.
5.Income Sharing Agreements (ISAs)
ISAs are amongst the newer forms of education financing where students receive funding in exchange of giving back a portion of their future income to the financier.
Most ISAs come into effect only when the beneficiary gets formal employment and are usually a percentage of their income for a stipulated period as opposed to being fixed amounts.
They’re yet to be widely accepted everywhere and therefore only available in certain economies and industries. Unlike debts, in principle, you only pay back when you can when it comes to ISAs.
6.Crowdfunding
You’ve probably seen education financing campaigns on platforms such as gofundme. That’s an example of a crowdfund.
Typically an instance where large numbers of people contribute a small fee towards a particular cause, and in this case, education. Just like scholarships and some form of sponsorships, you don’t have to pay back such funding.
But raising it can be quite slow if you don’t have a big enough community of people who are willing to support you. We’ve also seen the emergence of crowdfunding organisations who raise money on behalf of students to counteract the former challenge.
Assessing your position
No form of education financing is by nature better than the other. It all depends on your background, situation and goals. For some you’d have to payback and others less so.
It’s therefore important to assess your current position before choosing to explore an alternative form or forms of funding for your education requirements.
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.