Can I Afford College?

Can I Afford College?

James 2:20 says, "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" and Ephesians 2:10 states, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Thank God that "the gift of God is eternal life," but we must remember that Christ expects us to do something with the great gift we have been given. We must share the good news of the Gospel with the lost world and also use our God-given opportunities and abilities to worship and serve our Lord.

One of the areas in which we can glorify Christ is in good stewardship of our time and money. Students often struggle with paying for college. At Shawnee Baptist College, we strive to keep college affordable while providing a quality education, but we obviously cannot provide a college education at no cost to the student.

So the question arises: How can I afford college? In two words: faith and work. Take the opportunities God has placed in your life and capitalize on them. Pray for God's wisdom and direction. Find a job. Work two jobs if necessary. Be faithful to work, serve, tithe, give, and save. Walking by faith is not wishing for something to work out or ignoring a problem and hoping it will go away; walking by faith is living in obedience to the Word of God—the Bible!

Described below is a yearly college expense estimate to help you plan for college.

Estimated Yearly College Expenses
Necessary Expenses (These are estimated expenses for twelve months.)

Tuition (with Pastor's Scholarship), 16 hours per semester	$3,840
Room and Board (on-campus students)	$3,500
Registration Fee	$350
Student Comprehensive Fee	$200
Books	$400
Gasoline ($25 per week)	$1,300
Car Insurance (if you have your own vehicle)	$1200
Personal Expenses ($25 per week)	$1,300
TOTAL	$10,730
Optional Expenses
Private Lessons	$360
Cell Phone (not really a necessity)	????
Other Expenses

A student could work 25 hours per week at $8.00 per hour for 34 weeks during the school year and earn $6,800; in addition, that same student could work 40 hours per week for twelve weeks during the summer at $8.00 per hour and earn an additional $3,840, bringing the total earned to $10,640. Obviously, one would need to deduct tithe and taxes from the total, but there are other ways to raise the necessary funds for college:

work more hours and weeks during the summer and breaks
earn a higher wage by finding a better job
tap into scholarships that might be available (sometimes churches or community organizations have scholarships)
learn the discipline of saving regularly,
ask your parents or grandparents for guidance—they often help their children when those children are working to help themselves

If God has called you, He can enable you!