Paying for college today can be stressful. Reading all the posts from parents on Facebook underscores the fact that college is expensive and parents are trying to pay for it without borrowing or graduating with massive student loan debt.

According to the Education Data Initiative:

Student loan debt in the United States totals $1.766 trillion.

• The outstanding federal loan balance is $1.645 trillion and accounts for 93.1%  of all student loan debt.
• 43.6 million borrowers have federal student loan debt. 
• The average federal student loan debt balance is $37,718, while the total average balance (including private loan debt) may be as high as $40,499.
• The average public university student borrows $32,637 to attain a bachelor’s degree.

Since, according to the study, many families must borrow to pay for college. What’s the best strategy to graduate without high debt?

Be wise about your college choices

You may want to attend an expensive private college, and you may have even scored admission; but that doesn’t mean you have to attend. Many students believe that an expensive education = a good job after graduation. It’s just not true. The best education is the education for the best value; the education that allows you to graduate with minimal debt and meets all your needs academically and socially. Pick the college with the best financial aid award package. If you’ve done your homework and made the right list, that college will be among your final choices.

Follow smart financial guidelines

If you must borrow, take out the federal loans first. Private student loans have high interest rates and stricter guidelines. Also, FinAid.org provides numerous calculators that can help you better understand your borrowing options. The loan calculators offer estimates of monthly loan payments, estimates of the amount of debt you can afford to repay, an analysis of the cost of capitalizing the interest and tools for comparing loan costs. Borrowing for college should be a last resort, not a first choice.

Understand your options

Before you sign on the dotted line, understand your options. Federal grants are the best way to pay for college—if you qualify. After that, there are alternative ways to pay for a college education that doesn’t shoulder you with high debt:

• Be a good student in high school and focus on academics. Colleges award merit-aid to good students as an incentive to get them to attend their school.
• Participate in a Federal Work Study program which allows you to apply the money earned toward tuition.
• Work as hard as you can during the summers and breaks during high school and save every penny to pay for your education.
• Apply for scholarships and federal grants (the FAFSA is a must file for every family!)
• Consider attending a community college for the first two years—tuition is much less expensive and you can get the prerequisites out of the way before transferring to a 4-year college.
• Take dual-credit and/or AP classes during high school thereby entering college with credits and saving money on those courses that you have completed.
• Start a business and use that money for college. Many student entrepreneurs have done this and graduated without debt.
• Save before you attend. If you must, take a few years after high school, work, live at home, and save your money to attend debt-free.
• Pay as you go. As you get the money, take a few classes at a time. Before long, you will have amassed enough credits to graduate.

 If you are wise, it’s possible to graduate with minimal debt. While it might not seem important now and you can convince yourself that you’ll get a good job to pay the loans back, experience and the current job market show us otherwise.