Bankrupt U: Save $20,000 during the Spring Semester of your Senior Year.

Welcome back to the show for another episode of Don't Let College Bankrupt You, and that's bankrupt the letter U. Don't Let College Bankrupt You. My guests as usual are two college professors, Drs. Bill Quain and Joe Kurabi, who pay you back. During this series of shows, we will talk about what colleges don't want you to know and provide some guidance on how to keep your costs down and prepare for a more successful post-college career. In this show, we're going to look at money trap number 9. You're paying an extra $20,000. Yeah, right. You're paying an extra $20,000 for the spring semester of your senior year. Of course, it comes from the authors of the book Bankrupt U, and that's the letter U, not the word you. Bill Quinn and Joe Kroby, as always, a pleasure to chat.

Great to be here.

So, money trap number 9. There's 10 money traps, and we're going to be getting to all those in the coming weeks. You're paying an extra $20,000 for spring semester in your senior year. What are you talking about?

You want I'm sorry, I missed the cue there. Okay, so listen, this is a great, great money trap. I was just saying before the show we're doing today, I wish we could talk about this one every week when we do our recording. It's just so much fun. It's so obvious and yet no one gets it. And, you know, one of the things that Joe and I talk about, Gary, is that you want to shorten the amount of time that you're in college because every semester you're in college is costing you a lot more room, board, all that kind of stuff, your textbooks and your tuition, all that stuff. So, so, so Joe and I have a series of steps you can go through to finish up in 3.5 years. And so in the second semester of your senior year, you want to, you want to stay where you are. I mean, stay right in college there if you'd like. If you're by that time, you're probably in an apartment with some friends, or maybe you're living in a fraternity house or whatever, sorority house, whatever. Stay right there and, and work, work locally, whatever you like to do. Put some money in your pocket and get some experience. And who knows, you could stay right on and take a job right from that. But That's— you're, you're compressing your time to 3.5 years, saving a semester's worth of tuition and getting a work bonus on top of it.

So you've got 5 main ways to do this, and let's talk about the first 2, Bill. Take the Advanced Placement and dual credit courses in high school and then knock— excuse me— knock out at least 6 gen eds at your local community college. Is that even reasonable?

Yeah, it's doable. You know, now If you're already in your junior year of college, you might be a little bit soft on that. But, you know, so yeah, AP and dual credit classes in high school, great way to get, you know, get free college courses. I mean, you pay almost nothing for your AP stuff. You pay nothing in most cases for your dual credit. So, you know, you get them out of the way and that, that, that puts you, you know, you, you come to college with a semester already done, maybe more as some students do. Now, some colleges won't accept AP credit if you're going to a really tough school or something like that. They won't accept some of the dual credits. But, you know, listen, this, this will also determine where you apply to college. So when you're applying to college, make sure that they're going to take those credits for you. So you can get out earlier.

And so, Joe Carabi, I'm gonna go over those last 3 main ways to, to, to, to do that second, that spring semester of your senior year. Let's do one at a time. The third one is maximize the number of credits you take each semester. Well, that's great in theory, but I might have been a whiner when I was in college. I might have whined about taking more than 14 or 15 credits.

Yeah, you know what, I think most of us were in that boat, Gary, to be honest with you. Right. But, but you know what, you know, as Bill closed his comments and he said, you know, these are some of the things that you need to check on before you actually attend the college. So there's a, there's kind of like an unwritten rule around among many colleges, and that is that, you know, what does a semester equal? Most colleges will tell you that a semester equals 15 credits.

All right.

Which, and your tuition usually covers those 15 credits, but quite often it covers 18 credits. All righty. So if you think about maximizing the number of credits you could take in a semester and increase it from 15 to 18 over the course of 7 semesters, well, guess what? Yeah, you don't need your last semester in college. So, that's, to me, it's a built-in way of reducing college expenses.

Yeah. And let's talk about the fourth one. You say wait at least 2 semesters. At least, I think, is an important qualifier. Wait at least 2 semesters before declaring a major. And there's some logic behind that, Joe. What is that?

Yeah. First of all, the term undeclared major is an important point, and it came in the to play around, I'm going to say about 30 to 40 years ago. All right, you don't have to declare a major in many cases. So the longer you wait, the more you're going to be pretty confident that your choice is what you want. One of the most expensive things that can happen to you is changing majors, because very often the courses that you took for your previous major don't count towards your second major. So, you know, hold off as long as you can and you know, at the very least, you can take your general level courses during that first year in college. And I say at least one year because very often you can actually wait almost a year and a half.

And then I think it was maybe in one of the more recent shows, Joe, that we recorded, you say in chapter 20, and I'm sorry, Money Trap #9, don't take a preset minor. And again, we talked about this before. Instead, look for courses that will add value to your degree. Briefly re-summarize what that's about.

Yeah, there are some schools, Gary, that will entice you into coming and saying things like, well, you know, during our 4-year stay, we also build in a preset minor. That minor may or may not be valuable to you. And to be honest with you, I don't see a whole lot of value in it. So don't let the college dictate the kinds of courses you should take. And you might remember from a previous episode, you know, we spoke about courses that will make you more marketable, make you a more successful person, things like personal wellness, money skills, financial literacy, and so on.

And Bill Quayn One of the co-authors of the book we're talking about, Bankrupt You. $20,000, where's that number come from?

Well, it's just math, Gary. We looked at, you know, what could you make on a job? So, you're at your senior year, you know, you're all finished in December with your courses. Or you know what, maybe you keep one course to take just so you're, you know, kind of more legal at college there. But so now you're going to go to work. Now, there's so many places to work today that where you can make $20 an hour. And so if you, if you work 20, you'd be a local bartender. Hey, you'll meet lots of people. You'll learn a lot about life too. And you'll get $20 an hour. So if you work 40 hours a week, that's $800 a week times 15 weeks in the semester, that's $12,000. And then Joe and I looked around at what really, what like the least expensive colleges we could find. And the minimum you're going to be paying a semester at most places is $8,000. for your courses. And so, you know, you take the $12,000 and the $8,000, that's $20,000, uh, that, that's in your pocket. Like, in other words, you didn't have to lay out that $8,000, plus you put $12,000 in. And, uh, you know, you're having a great time. That's, but now for most colleges, uh, you know, if, if you're, if your tuition's, you know, $40,000 a year, that's a lot more money you're saving.

So, really, gentlemen, when we're talking about this, you were being nice. You know, that $8,000 you chose as college tuition for that last senior semester was on the low end. And so, you know, if you're doing the actual math, assume the $12,000 just for calculations. But if you're paying $40,000 a year, $20,000 a year, $80,000 a year, whatever that number is, do the math. And it's a significant savings associated with not having to take all those course loads or maybe as one of you suggested, just one course during that senior year. So, there's more.

Hey, Gary, can I point out something?

Sure.

You know, one of the things that Joe and I talk a lot about in the book is that colleges make you poor in two ways. First of all, they maximize the amount of money they squeeze out of you every semester you're there so they can keep their doors open. But they also teach you how to think poor. And they teach you how to think poor by talking you to take a major that's not going to make any money for you, by keeping you distracted with global causes instead of helping you set up your life. With real-world readiness. So if you start thinking to yourself, hey, listen, how do I maximize my time? And you maximize your time by increasing the income and decreasing the expenses you got going out. Now, you think about that. You say to yourself, I'm going to purposely finish college a semester early. I'm going to get a job, enjoy myself, walk graduation, I'm going to keep a minimum of $20,000 in my pocket. Guess what? That's a significant step towards thinking rich. And you're not going to get that from the college, but you're going to get it from us because we're the professors who pay you back.

And Joe Corabi, there's more. And, you know, I know you're a fun-loving guy from our time doing these shows together, and heaven only knows what your last semester of college was like. I'm guessing you might have done a few things. Please don't share those with us. But what else can I be doing during that last semester besides working? What other skills can I be developing to supplement that post-college career?

Well, first of all, let's set the record straight, Gary. My last semester at college was spent in the library, and I would go there all night right after dinner. So let's get that on the table. I've got grandkids who are listening to this.

I got—

so let's make sure that that's the way it goes.

You know, I think I might need to see some proof on that, Joe.

Listen, I'll have some of my friends give you a call. Okay, there you go.

There you go.

All right, Gary, there's so many things here, and I'm listening to Bill speak, and, you know, remember what many employers were saying about college graduates. You know, they don't have a sense of professionalism, you know, they don't have problem-solving skills, they don't have time management skills. Just think of what getting a job and finishing your college education in 3 and a half years tells an employer. All right, you know, it shows initiative on your part and that you've got some functioning brain cells, to be honest with you, that you know how to how to maneuver the system. And, you know, one last thing on this, Gary, you know, Bill spoke about this. All right, look, you laid out a scenario for me, which is questionable, by the way, about whether— where I was during my senior year. But let's face it, you're 22 years old. And yes, social life is a very important point, a safe social life, by the way. All right. I want you to think for a second if you do still stay around campus, whether it's living in a frat house or whatever it might be, I want you to think you've got money in your pocket, all righty? And when you go out on a weekend, whether it's to dinner or whatever it might be, you know, you're going to be picking up a lot of those tabs because you're the only one who's got money. So think about what that's going to do for your social stature.

Yeah, if I could only remember, if I only had the brain cells to remember what my social stature was like back in the day. So, Bill Quain, let's wrap this up. And the three of us have earned way too many degrees over the course of our lives. But let's paint a picture, Bill, for not just that 22-year-old who is doing their second and final semester in college, but for their family looking forward to that same student walking across that famous college stage in May or June of that year. Give them some guidance, kind of the old begin with the end in mind mindset. What kind of guidance would you give those families and that student thinking ahead to that graduation day?

Well, you know, you know, in our book, uh, Bankrupt U, Joe and I have a picture of what we think, uh, students should look like when they, when they graduate from college. And that's a A person on an airplane who is putting her own mask on first before she puts it on the child next to her in case of an emergency. So we want to— we want people to come out of college with that. We want them to go into college with that end in mind. We want them to come out of that having reached that point. So now we have a person who is capable, competent, and confident, and they'll put their own mask on first because they know how to do it. They're ready to respond to situations. They have real-world readiness. And I think when you take advantage of all the opportunities to both save money and then think rich and make more money from your college experience, you're going to walk across that stage a whole different person than the person who just listened to everything the college told them. Did that, paid full ride, and came out without some of the skills that you have. And I think that, you know, your back will be straighter, you stand a little taller, you look people in the eyes because you know that you just didn't accept what was given to you. You went out and really grabbed something to create a special life for yourself.

So money trap number 9 has been you're paying an extra $20,000 for the spring semester. We did the math for you on that. It comes from the authors of the book Bankrupt U, and that's the letter U as in university, not the word you. And it's fascinating to hear their perspective. So, as parents, as students, as grandparents, as friends of the family, when you listen to this podcast, when you buy the book Bankrupt U, make sure to take that in context. This is a novel and important approach to looking at that college experience for that traditional college students. So next week's gonna be— we're gonna be back and we're gonna go to another money trap. It's the one called your offer letter. Yes, your offer letter is actually— get this straight— your offer letter is actually a demand for payment. Yeah, make sure you get to that one as well. Joe Carabi, always a pleasure. Bill Quaynes, some great value today. Gentlemen, let's do it again soon. Thanks, Gary.