The prepaid funds are earmarked for tuition only. To deal with other college expenses--books, computers, housing--Calhoun-Rush hatched an alternative plan. "I sat my boys down every weekend and told them to write to somebody, anybody, for scholarship money," she says. Their records of community service and high academic achievement earned all three scholarship money from Wal-Mart and their church. In addition, Konata and Dakarai work 12 hours a week and live in cheap, off-campus housing. "Our mom lifted the weight off our shoulders," says Konata. "It's the least we could do."
Wanna swap? Bartering was nothing new to Al Houston. The owner of an art and frame shop in Pittsburgh, Houston, 55, had been trading his framing services for years as a member of the local Green Apple Barter Service, banking points in his account. In turn, he redeemed the points for computer equipment or advertising from his fellow barterers. Houston mostly swapped his services to nab new customers and give his business an extra boost--until he discovered that Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pa., participated in the network, that is. "It didn't even occur to me that you could do college on trade," says Houston.
The timing was fortuitous. Houston's son, Michael, was a high school senior contemplating premed at the college. Although Houston had set aside some money for Michael's college education, it wasn't enough. At the time, tuition at Washington and Jefferson ran around $18,300, with an additional $4,350 tab for room and board. Houston bartered the entire sum.
But during his sophomore year, Michael decided that premed and Washington and Jefferson were no longer for him. Wanting to stick close to home, he enrolled at nearby La Roche College (tuition was $15,220 last year), which receives printing services and vehicles, among other things, through the barter system. The chemistry major commuted from home to help keep a lid on costs. At one point, Michael, attracted by the low interest rate, took out a $3,000 Stafford student loan, but father and son quickly decided there was no need to. "It was silly," says Houston. "We could just do full barter." Michael, now 24, graduated from La Roche in May and is looking for a teaching position. The timing, again, was impeccable. Just as Houston paid the final tuition bill with his barter credits, he learned one of his largest clients was dropping out of the trade network.
No borrower be When Scott Isaacson brought home his first report card in high school, he told his mother he had ruined his chances at a free ride to college. The brother of three academic superstars, who parlayed good grades into college scholarships, Isaacson knew that his less than stellar performance wouldn't merit similar deals. With the exception of giving him a place to live, his parents--Dad is a retired social worker, and Mom is a part-time township treasurer in Allouez, Mich.--would not be able to help Isaacson out on the tuition front.
But racking up student loan debt was definitely not something Isaacson relished. Indeed, Isaacson has been deliberately avoiding the go-now, pay-later approach--which an increasing number of students have had to adopt--to cover the $7,610 annual tuition at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich. "I wanted to come out of college running," says Isaacson, a junior majoring in business administration.
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