This Guy Is Living Proof
By the time Zac Bissonnette graduated from high school, he had around $40,000 in the bank due to hard work!
When he was four years old, Zac Bissonnette remembers hiding in the back of a cold storage room at his house while his parents argued in the living room. Frightened, he listened to them argue with tears in his eyes.
“I remember wishing that we just had enough money so that my parents wouldn't argue,” Zac said. “It wasn't like I was wishing for a bigger television or a tropical vacation. I just wanted everyone to get along.” Ultimately, Zac’s parents divorced because of financial issues.
Later, Zac realized that his situation was, sadly, a normal part of many homes—in America, money issues are the leading cause of divorce. But those early memories sparked something in Zac. “There was other stuff, too, that helped lead me to the mindset I have now, but the foundation of it really happened in that cold room when I was four years old.”
So what exactly is Zac’s mindset these days? Well, he hates debt—so much so that he went to college without borrowing a dime and later wrote a book called Debt Free Uabout how he did it.
A lot of people think it’s impossible to go to college without a student loan or scholarship, but Zac says they’re wrong. He worked all through high school and made a business out of buying stuff at yard sales and selling it on eBay. By the time he graduated high school, he had around $40,000 in the bank. Many adults would love that type of savings account, and Zac had it by the time he was 18.
“When you are in high school,” he says, “that’s the time in your life when you can save enormous amounts of money. Your parents are usually paying for your food, and you don’t have to pay rent. You have very low expenses. You can save as much of your income as you want.”
That’s exactly what Zac did. Now, he’s finishing up his college degree while working as a financial reporter for Daily Finance. Much of his writing focuses on helping parents and college students understand that going to college debt free is really an option. Part of that involves helping them realize that a community college isn’t a bad starting place for students.
“If money is an issue, have your kid go to a community college for a couple years, kick butt, and work as many hours as he can on the side to build up savings to pay to transfer to a four-year public college,” Zac says. “If the parents cut back on their expenses, too—not looting retirement, just cutting spending—they'll be surprised at how much cash they can save in a couple years. It's not easy, but it's definitely possible, and it's incredibly worth it.”
He says to ask one question when you are researching colleges with your child: What decision here is going to prepare my child for the best life he can possibly have? Zac says the answer to this question should start and finish with no debt. How you get there is up to you and your child.
If you don’t have a lot of money saved up, Zac says you’ll have to make some short-term sacrifices. “Maybe living at home and starting at a community college, maybe working during college instead of [partying until] 3 a.m.” he says. Zac adds that parents might have to give up bragging at parties about the elite school their kids are attending—the debt simply isn’t worth five seconds of pride.
In the end, Zac says that “your kid's success will come from who he is and what he does: not the name on the diploma. You're not depriving your kid of anything by asking him to work his way through an affordable college.” Sometimes, if the parents will take a step back from the emotion of the college decision process, they will realize what’s best for their kid in the long run.
Zac isn’t just talking either. He has the first-hand experience to know that going to college debt free is doable. Take it from Zac Bissonnette: You can be a student without a loan.
