I found Zac Bissonnette's book to be an excellent read. I think he did a great job at laying out some advice that you normally wouldn't hear often (if at all). Also, his writing style and numerous real-world examples, many of which tell about his own friends or people who wrote directly to him about their experiences, really kept me interested, making the book fairly easy to get through.
He offers a myriad of practical information and tips for getting through college without taking out student loans (and explains in detail why those student loans should be avoided as much as possible). And if it takes the extra effort of your college kid getting part-time jobs to pay for his education, well, at least he didn't waste all his free time watching TV and playing video games, right? I'm now fairly convinced that taking out a student loan is pretty much a bad idea. The current default rate on student loans (explained in the book) is a bit disturbing.
He also explains why college rankings are nothing but made-up nonsense. He provides some pretty solid reasoning that tells why there is really no basis to a vast majority of rankings as far as telling you which colleges are better academically (and no ranking could guarantee any particular college giving a someone a better education than any other). One of the main points he seemed to be pushing for is that no college can turn a bad student into a good one. Likewise, a good student can excel at any college or university, regardless of its ranking. Generally, he says, it's not the school as a whole that determines a student's experience there but such factors as individual classes and professors (for this, he recommends actually looking up reviews online about potential professors for classes and choose classes based on professors who seem to get good reviews for their teaching).
Whether you agree with all his advice or not, I think it's very interesting and perhaps even prudent to at least consider it. I personally can't tell you whether a private college education is worth it or if it would be better to go with Mr. Bissionnette's advice of attending first a community college and then a public university. I don't have enough information to argue either way. Regardless, this book offers what appears to be decent financial advice. Because taking debts out for student loans is such a significant threat in our current economy to a student's future financial well-being, looking into more affordable college options should definitely not be completely ruled out. In addition (and I found this an interesting but almost humorous tidbit), he even explained how students might start saving for their retirement while in college with the money they would save by not going to an "overpriced" college and not taking out student loans.
It's also important to note that Mr. Bissionnette did not say that private education is terrible or to be /completely/ avoided. In fact, I can recall at least two or three places in his book where he even advised applying to private as well as public institutions (if you were interested in attending a private college to start with)! He did recognize that private colleges often do offer significant grants, scholarships, and financial aid other than loans that public universities just don't have. He said that if you can get a good enough merit-based financial aid package from a private college you want to attend, go for it! However, if attending a private college means graduating with around $50,000 or more in student debt, then it is a pretty poor decision overall because the losses outweigh the gains (to speak of your financial future, at least).
Just for a bit of perspective, I'm a high school junior who just happened upon this book while browsing Amazon. Something motivated me to buy it, and I'm really glad I did. Perhaps my age might indicate that I'm still a bit impressionable and easily persuaded? I'm not sure. However, I think this book can potentially save people a lot of financial heartache by helping them make decisions that they can actually afford rather than face horrible consequences later on. I definitely recommend this book to parents or high school students considering college options, especially those who are currently planning on taking out student loans to pay for their education.
To parents: If you have a relatively self-motivated high school student, I would have your child read this book as well. I took the initiative myself here, but I found it a bit inspiring in that it suggested practical routes for preparing for future college expenses that could even begin years before. For example, because of this book, I'm considering finding a job this summer to earn money for savings.
An additional comment:
I will admit that Bissionnette's advice isn't perfect. It requires a lot of work on the part of students following the plan. For example, maintaining a job while in college could be difficult, I would think. And constantly giving up your summers for a full-time job would be frustrating to many. There is a good degree of determination necessary. However, many of the tips may be useful still, even if you wouldn't care to follow everything he suggested. As with all advice books, be cautious not to follow things exactly. All content is written in a generalized or often even an idealized sense, so not everything works for everyone. If you find a useful tip, though, why not try it? Or at least investigate further (perhaps even on your own) to see if it's worthwhile.
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