The Economist reported in June 2014 that U.S. student loan debt exceeded $1.2 trillion, with over 7 million debtors in default. Public universities increased their fees by a total of 27% over the five years ending in 2012, or 20% adjusted for inflation. Public university students paid an average of almost $8,400 annually for in-state tuition, with out-of-state students paying more than $19,000. (source:Wikipedia).  With, costs rising out of control for four years of college, how can someone build a plan to pay for college without incurring student loans?   Seek out all and any scholarships – While this may sound like a “no duh” type statement, the reality is that most families are woefully unprepared when it comes to searching for scholarships and often think they will not get any at all if they make too much income. There are two great websites to begin with including fastweb.com and www.collegeboard.org which can help with starting you off on the track to ...