Paying for college & student loans
The big decision nobody explains before you sign
How college actually gets paid for — grants, scholarships, work-study, and the difference between federal and private loans. What borrowing really costs over a full term, and how repayment plans, deferment, refinancing, and forgiveness work. Warm, judgment-free, and honest about the numbers.
4 lessons · about 31 minutes total · 100% free
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1. How college actually gets paid for
Nobody hands an 18-year-old the map before asking them to sign for tens of thousands of dollars. This lesson lays out the full funding stack — grants and scholarships (free money), work-study, federal loans, private loans, and family contribution — plus what the FAFSA does, why everyone files it, and the difference between a college's sticker cost of attendance and the net price most families actually pay.
7 min read
2. Federal vs. private student loans
Not all student loans are the same animal. This lesson explains subsidized vs. unsubsidized federal loans and the interest difference between them, the borrower protections federal loans carry (income-driven repayment, deferment, forgiveness programs) that private loans usually don't, and how private loans are credit-based and often need a cosigner. It's the mechanics behind why federal loans are generally used before private ones.
9 min read
3. What borrowing actually costs
The amount borrowed and the amount repaid are two different numbers — sometimes very different. This lesson follows how interest accrues (especially on unsubsidized loans while still in school), what capitalization does when unpaid interest gets folded into the balance, the real total cost over a standard 10-year term, and the 'borrow only what the degree's likely starting salary supports' idea as a concept, with a worked example separating principal from total paid.
8 min read
4. Repaying without drowning
Repayment is where student loans get real — and where the options matter most. This lesson maps the main repayment plans (standard, graduated, income-driven), what the grace period is, how deferment and forbearance pause payments and what that pause costs in interest, the tradeoffs of refinancing (and why it can mean losing federal protections), and the basics of Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It's how-it-works framing, never 'you should.'
7 min read