I Made It Through University Debt Free And So Can You
No, it wasn’t with financial support or luck.
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I had the worth of a dollar beaten into me as a kid, the product of a low income household and a childhood filled with uncertainty. As I grew up, I started thinking about university, knowing very well the colossal costs associated with it; I didn’t have much of a college fund, so things were on me to figure out my path to education.
Firstly let me clarify one thing: I live in Canada, where tuition is only $10,000/year. If you live in the States, my prayers go out to you, but I wouldn’t be dismissive; I lived in the most expensive Canadian city (Vancouver) over my 4 year degree, which cost an arm and a leg, and graduated with a healthy 5 figures saved up.
I’m here to give a bit of insight on my sources of income, a little perspective when it comes to lifestyle, and maybe even a touch of hope to anyone reading. Just a touch.
Here’s a summary if you’re lazy:
- Balance your costs while taking care of yourself
- Make as much money as possible working
- Capitalize on, and invest, free loans and scholarships
- Grind (my story)
Balance your costs while taking care of yourself
I ate pasta for dinner and a Tim Hortons muffin for lunch religiously. I didn’t spend more than $10 a day eating in university. I’m also a bit touched in the head. Please don’t do that.
The reality of it is you’ll never get your health back, so although I don’t regret my terrible regimen, I would go back and do it differently if I could. There are ways to mix cheap, fast, and decent when it comes to meals… albeit you might have to drop you palette’s expectations a bit.
Do you know how cheap chicken is? Or eggs? Or frozen vegetables? All of those require virtually no prep, just a pan/ oven, and some lost dignity. Add seasoning and your dignity’s back. Done.
I did my first of five years in a more local college to be able to live at home. I saved a lot on food and rent but needed a car to get between work, school, and the gym; there’s no other way to get around in a small town.
So how do you handle heavy costs?
My car was my first major purchase at $2000 — a huge sum of money for me at the time — so I made sure it wasn’t going to be a sunk cost. Research and take your time for these big purchases, aiming for practicality over anything. Several years later I sold the car for exactly the same price I paid. Big purchases can balance out to $0 if you plan them out and treat them well.
The bottom line to balancing costs is that sacrifices have to be made, and there’s no way out of it.
The beauty is that you get to decide how much you’re willing to give up, and what’s healthy for you. For me, it was things like driving to school, eating out, buying new clothes, a social life (to work), etc. It doesn’t mean they were eliminated, but they were heavily reduced. It saved me thousands of dollars by the end of university.
Make as much money as possible working
Working is the pillar to income. Throughout the latter half of high school, I always carried a part time job. “But time machines don’t exist, this advice sucks.” Trust me, I know, or I’d go back to a particular 9th grade, mid-summer dance and change a thing or two. The point is to fit a job in wherever you can.
If you have a co-op option in your program, take it. It’s not just a break from school or an extra source of income; it’s a launch pad into the industry you want once you graduate, with a much better chance at a higher salary. It’s future money.
Summers are an especially important time. Internships in your field take priority but if they’re not available, seek out the highest paying job you can find. If it doesn’t pay much over minimum wage, work 2 jobs if you can handle it.
Labour jobs tend to pay well, but be careful because despite the higher pay, they can be taxing both physically and mentally.
Find odds jobs to do. When I worked at Best Buy, once in a while I would do an off-the-record installation for some of the customers instead of using Geek Squad. SShhhhh. I also installed bouncy castles a few times, lucrative AND fun!
As you progress into your upper years, your wage will generally progress with you. The thousands you make per summer should eliminate at least a couple years’ worth of tuition, if not more.
Capitalize on, and invest, free loans and scholarships
Student loans are a no brainer — at least in Canada — regardless of whether you need them or not. Part of the loan is just a straight bursary (no repayment necessary), usually netting you around $2500 a year.
In the States or other parts of the world it may differ, but I assume there are some kind of grants. Always apply for bursaries through your school as well. After 4 years of doing it, I netted a year’s worth of tuition just from the government.
If you don’t spend the loans you get, invest them. I locked them into a GIC, getting a return of about 2% yearly. It’s very safe, but I wouldn’t recommend gambling with debt. It got me around $2000, and although that might not seem like much, it’s half a semester of living.
For scholarships, it’s a numbers game. Always put in time and effort for the big prizes you’re qualified for; when it comes to the smaller ones, apply to as many as you can, as often as you can, even if it’s just $500. I made around $5000 in scholarships, $500 of which came from a 15 minute Draw.io diagram I submitted to Scotiabank.
To briefly mention the stock market, I know it can seems daunting. However, there are a lot of small plays you can make that add up. I’m no expert when it comes to the financial world, but I can tell you that spending a bit of time to learn about financial literacy and what companies you believe in is invaluable.
For instance, selling cash-covered puts or buying ETFs during dips can have great instant returns. Anyways, that’s a can of worms for another time.
Grind
Nothing in life comes easy, and if it did you got lucky and it’ll bite you in the ass in the future. The following is my personal story if you’re interested in it. If not, I hope you learned at least a touch from my experience!
I got my first job at the age of 16, working as a fry boy at Carl’s Jr. Aside from making some damn good fries (which I got complimented on multiple times), it was the first step towards me bettering my financial situation, and in turn taking strain away from my family.
At the time I made $10.50 an hour. It was nothing to write home about, but it was $0.25 over minimum wage and I remember being ecstatic about that.
After fry boy came Best Buy, both making me close to minimum wage, which we can pin at around $1200 CAD a month. I was living at home, which cut expenses enormously. A car is a requisite in a small town, so I got the sexiest 2003 Pontiac Sunfire you’ve ever laid your eyes on. It didn’t add as much overhead as you might think.
With the low expenses and steady jobs, I had enough money for my first year of university. When it finally started, I kept working 20–24 hours a week. In parallel, I was completing my first year of engineering and commuting 2 hours a day. It was tough, but it kept me afloat with my expenses, biting off a chunk of my $9k tuition and preserving my savings. I still lived at home, and albeit having a car, I commuted by bus to save on gas.
The summers between my years in school were critical. They had two purposes: to work and cover the next year’s tuition, and to have as much fun as possible. Fine, the latter wasn’t necessary, but you have to live a little. For the former, I didn’t have the experience needed for a high paying job at first, so I worked two jobs.
I landed one at a bank and staggered it with my shifts at Best Buy, averaging 60 hours a week. It brought my wage up to around $2800 a month, of which I saved at least $2200. Remember, I had the luxury of living at home, so most of the $600 was for my car, bills, and going out. By the end of the summer, I was $8800 richer, covering my second year’s tuition.
The second year of my degree is when I went from a local college to UBC in Vancouver. This meant rent and food now came into play, vastly increasing my cost of living per month. I decided to stop working part time to adjust to the new city and increased course load.
Once my second year ended, I started my first real “engineering” internship. It was completely out of my field, and I had to cold call a myriad of places to finally find one back in my home town. I was a “junior rod-man”. That was my god damn title. At least I was a man, unlike my fry boy days. The short of it is that I held a pole straight to help the surveyors measure land; I made $16/hour and had an incredibly rough summer, but came out once again with more money saved.
During my surveying internship (literally during, I took the interview on a mountain), I managed to secure an 8 month co-op with a tech company in Vancouver. It didn’t pay much more, but it was a big stepping stone for my career and gave me enough money to live for the next year of school. It was also a much needed break from school — the second year of electrical engineering had made me want to stick that junior rod in places it shouldn’t be stuck.
My first major internship came after that one, taking me all the way to Toronto. They paid me around $30/hour, and covered my living expenses. My quality of life shot up here, allowing me to live in a luxury condo with all my needs covered, while still saving $3000/month easily alongside enjoying the city. This was the first time in my life I felt financial comfort, and realized I was going to make it through my degree debt free with money in the bank.
Third year blew by, and I went back to Toronto for the final internship of my undergrad. I pocketed another healthy amount, watched the Raptors win the NBA championships, and came back home.
The day I graduated, I wrote the government a big check for all the loan money they’d given me, freshly released from 2% GICs. Even with that gone, I had a healthy 5 figures in my savings. I also got job offers from a few different companies, notably Microsoft and Amazon.
Now at 23, I have 6 figures in the bank (and some in the market) and live in the heart of Vancouver, with a quality of life that starkly contrasts that of my upbringing and that I didn’t think I would have this young. Hard work and sacrifices gets you a long way — I hope you learned at least one thing from this story, even if it’s only that there’s a position called “Jr. rod-man” out there.
