I received my acceptance letter from CU and plan to start classes next month. That is as long as I can get the financial aid information all squared away. It was kind of a nightmare when I tried this before, and time is not on my side this time around.
However, I might be able to swing one class at a time as they aren’t nearly as expensive as I thought they’d be. But that will depend on whether I can get a few things squared away in terms of generating a bit of revenue.
Currently, my client work pays the important bills without a lot left over.
What Happened to SNHU?
A few months ago, I was on my way to attend Southern New Hampshire University. This was mostly because the BA in Creative Writing was purely online, which would have been a good fit for my busy lifestyle.
However, after deliberating attendance and having one hell of a time getting my student information squared away with SNHU, I decided to look closer to home. Plus, my Pell Grant was still going to put me on the hook for more than $600 for every class.
The University of Colorado in Denver is about 10 to 15 minutes away from me, and I don’t mind actually leaving the house. Besides, I figured it would be good for my mental health to leave every once in a while.
Then, I found out that the classes at CU were half the price of what they were at SNHU.
I’m not sure how much the Pell Grant is going to cover as of yet, but even if it covers the same amount as SNHU, $100 is easier to swing than six. Besides, if I didn’t have the grant, I could still afford CU one class at a time, as it would only cost roughly $8.29 per day.
That should be easy enough, right? I’m in no hurry to finish, so I can easily take my time without overloading my day with extra coursework.
Southern New Hampshire University looked like it would be a good fit. I know a lot of folks who have received their BAs in various studies and loved the school. I’m merely choosing CU because it is cheaper, nearby, and the Pell should cover the majority of the bill.
From what I can tell, CU is a pretty good school, as well.
Am I Still Documenting the Experience?
If it has to do with writing, I share the experience on the blog and YouTube channel. The idea is to help someone decide what’s best for them using my experience as an example. Of course, not everyone is going to have the same experience across the board, and I make sure to point that out.
I also want to share everything I learn beyond the experience. For instance, I plan on breaking down every class and providing highlights. I did something similar when I took the masterclass from Reedsy on How to Write a Novel.
If you’re curious as to the steps I’m taking to obtain my master’s degree, I started a playlist on YouTube. It’ll be an ongoing thing until I either graduate with a master’s or receive a PhD.
I’m on the fence about when I’ll end my scholastic career. It would be kind of neat to have a PhD in Literature, but that would be several more years in school and a bit more money than what I have today.
Anyway, the plan is to document as much of the process as I can, time willing.
What I Need to Afford College Without a Loan
The last thing I want is another monthly payment. I have enough of those as it is and am unable to sustain another $232 per month. I barely eak out enough to pay all of the bills without going into deeper debt.
Now, I’m not saying that loans are bad and that you should avoid them at all costs. My situation is different, and my take is that if I can’t sustain that payment now, the odds are low that I’d be able to sustain a payment later.
That’s because I don’t take into consideration making more money down the road than what I do right now. As a freelance writer, my income fluctuates from year to year.
For instance, I lost $300 per month of income last year because the client went with AI-produced content. However, I’m going to make roughly an extra $720 next year just in ad revenue from YouTube.
The bottom line is that I never know how much I’m going to make from one year to the next.
I need to be able to sustain the household bills with the income I have right now. And even if I don’t have to pay back a loan until I am done with college, there is still no guarantee that I’ll make enough money to be able to pay it off every month.
So, what can I do to afford college without getting a loan?
Hitting the $8.29-per-Day Threshold as a Content Creator
The $8.29-per-day threshold is what I would need if I didn’t qualify for any grants or scholarships. This is out-of-pocket money I would need to sustain my scholastic career path. Well, at least for the bachelor’s degree.
Why do I not include grants and scholarships? Because they are never a guarantee until the money is either at the school or in your hands. So, planning for something that may or may not be available puts you in a short. Meaning, you’ll find it far more difficult to make ends meet, if at all, if things fall flat.
When planning to pay for the full amount, you then have a cushion available should those grants and scholarships become available and pay out.
Can I Make That From the Blogs?
There are a number of ways you can monetize a blog. Affiliate links, ad share networks, sponsored content, and eCommerce are just a few that I can think of right off the bat. However, not all blogs are created equally, especially when considering ad-sharing networks like AdSense.
The RPM for a blog depends on its niche, the rough income per 1000 views. While some will generate more than $30 per 1,000 visitors, others will see pennies. And then, this is completely dependent on the popularity of your blog. Without traffic, no monetization method is going to be enough.
In my case, the RPM for WriterSanctuary is currently sitting at $7.47. That means, on average, I’ll make $7.47 for every 1000 views. That also means the blog would have to bring in 1,110 visits per day to hit the threshold to pay for school using nothing more than AdSense.
Well, I can assure you that I am nowhere near those numbers.
What can I do to increase my income?
- Keep focusing on content people want to read (keyword research and search intent)
- Address the needs of current readers (prioritize followers and subscribers)
- SEO and AI Overview content strategies (optimization in 2025 is much different than in 2013)
- Diversify income paths outside of AdSense
- More reviews, lists, and tutorials with affiliate links
Can I Make That From YouTube?
YouTube is a bit more difficult to monetize than a blog when it comes to ad revenue. You need 1,000 subscribers (which is easy to get), and 4,000 hours of watch time in a 12-month period (which is significantly harder to get).
That’s just for the AdSense for YouTube program as a partner.
Like a blog, you can monetize the channel in a number of ways from adding affiliate links to videos to sharing membership sites, such as Patreon, Ko-fi, or Fourthwall. But you’ll still run into a similar problem to the blog…you need traffic!
According to YouTube, the WriterSanctuary channel has an RPM of $12.94, significantly higher than the blog. That’s more than likely because video ads are more expensive for brands to create. In any case, I would need 641 views per day to generate the $8.29 needed for college.
That is much easier to manage compared to the blog. But writing channels like mine don’t generate a lot of views. Well, at least not compared to rage bait, drama, reaction, or “prank” videos. And I sure as hell am no Mr. Beast.
So, what can I do to hit the tuition milestone for CU? A lot of it is similar to the blog, actually.
- Content research of what people (especially writers) want to watch
- Consistent uploads and live streams
- Better SEO to appear in Google search and AI Overviews (external views rock!)
- Diversify income outside of YouTube AdSense
- More reviews, lists, and tutorials with links
- Pushing membership-only content
- Expand the online store to sell more items
Marketing My Books More Often?
Being a self-published author doesn’t mean you’ll rake in the sales right off the bat. Contrary to what some “experts” on YouTube try to sell you, publishing actual novels is extremely difficult, especially when it comes to marketing.
The median annual income for self-published authors was around $12,749 in 2023. That goes to show that you can have high hopes of making it big, but you should always keep your feet planted on the ground. Self-published authors don’t really make much, which is why most of us have other jobs.
In order to make enough sales from Amazon to pay my tuition, though, I would only need to sell three books per day. That’s because I don’t charge a lot for my books and only make about $2.95 per sold copy.
Three books per day may not sound like a lot, but it’s incredibly difficult, especially if you don’t do much to market your book outside of sharing links on social media.
This month, I plan on running a few experiments for marketing and then documenting the process. So yes, there is another case study coming. However, it might be one of the most influential for self-published authors, especially if I can show others how to sell more than two books per month.
I’m quite excited to start the study, but in the meantime, I’ll keep trying to sell my books any way that I can.
Find More Scholarships
There are a lot of scholarships out there for creative writers. The fun part is looking for legitimate outlets and then putting in the time to meet their requirements. And not all scholarships are going to be a perfect fit. Some have restrictions that could deny your application.
Or, some will focus on a style outside of your preferred structure. For example, the National Press Club offers scholarships for those interested in Journalism, which I am not.
Nonetheless, there are scholarships everywhere for creative writing. I just need to find a few that fit my needs, which is going to take time. And that’s the crux of looking for scholarships.
Not everyone has hours on end to sift through all of the scholarships available to find the ones they meet for qualifications.
However, it’s always worthwhile to apply for scholarships as some of them can eat up a huge chunk of the tuition or even pay your bills while you attend classes.
What About Using Writing Contests?
Am I seriously considering using writing contests to help pay for my degrees? Why not?
The problem with trying to use contests in this way often means spending more than you’ll win over the long term. You’re not going to win every contest with your stories, and most charge an entry fee.
So, you could win a $1,000 writing contest but could have spent $2,500 in fees for the next few months before winning. That puts you under at around $1500. That is the opposite direction for paying tuition.
It’s kind of like using scratch tickets as a retirement plan.
Instead, I plan on using writing contests for both content and recognition. I’m all about getting my name in as many places as possible, and a public writing contest helps with that. Even if I don’t win, it’s something else that makes my name more marketable.
Plus, it’ll give me a chance to review the platform for both the blog and YouTube channel.
Everything is content.
Looking Forward to Attending CU
No matter how the cards may fall, I can afford to attend the University of Colorado out of pocket. It’d be a bit tight, but it’s not out of my reach. But if I can get some of the other projects to pay a bit extra, all the better.
Remember, there is nothing inherently wrong with getting loans to pay for school. For a lot of folks, it might be the only way to get a decent education. It’s merely a personal preference that I want to attend CU without adding a monthly payment later.
Regardless, I am looking forward to August. It’s going to be an interesting way to end 2025, especially since I’ll still be publishing books in the meantime.
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