A debt-free bachelor's degree is not impossible (but it's not easy)

Confidence in the value of higher education is down, and fear of college debt is up, writes Rob Jenkins, an associate professor of English at Georgia State University-Perimeter College. It's possible to earn a low-debt -- maybe even a no-debt -- bachelor's degree, he writes on the Martin Center blog.

Frugal students will have to work harder -- at academics and for money -- and they'll have to sacrifice the party-hearty "college experience."

The first step is to earn as many college credits as possible while in high school via dual enrollment and/or Advanced Placement courses, Jenkins advises.

Apply for federal financial aid by filling out FAFSA, and research scholarships. (A good college counseling center is very helpful.)

Work full-time in the summer and during holidays, and up to 20 hours a week during the school year, he writes.

Forget about a "dream school," Jenkins writes. Start at community college, live at home and save a bundle. If you've piled up credits in high school, you may be able to transfer in a year. Future employers will look at your degree, not where you started.

He suggests finishing the bachelor's at a university within driving distance, so you can continue to live at home rent-free. (College housing costs are soaring.)

Are the football weekends, the frat parties, and the logo on your diploma worth going deeply into debt for?

Taking some classes online also can save money and cut commute times.

"One of the main things that drives up the cost of college is students’ constantly changing majors, having to retake courses, taking courses they don’t need, and then sticking around on campus an extra semester or two (or four)," writes Jenkins. Don't take more than four years for a four-year degree, and do your best to finish in less.

If young people really want the "college experience" but not the drudgery of going to class, reading textbooks or doing assignments, they can rent an apartment with friends, drink beer, eat pizza and go to games without paying tuition.

Earning a bachelor's degree is usually -- but not always -- worth the cost, writes Preston Cooper of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity on City Journal. But students seeking upward mobility should understand that not all college degrees are equal in the job market, and that they'll need to complete a degree to see any benefit.

"The median four-year degree program increases students’ lifetime earnings by $160,000, after accounting for college costs and dropout risk," his analysis shows. But nearly a quarter of programs show no return on investment. The best financial bets are engineering, with a median lifetime return of $949,000, followed by computer science, nursing, and economics. "The median fine-arts program, by contrast, leaves students in the red," writes Cooper. Other low-return majors are education, psychology, and English literature. (I majored in English and Creative Writing.)

"Only 62 percent of students finish a degree within six years, with fewer completing in the customary four," writes Cooper. Young people need to think about the risk of ending up with debt but no degree.

Those determined on entering low-paying fields should think about going to a low-tuition state university, he suggests. (FREOPP's search engine can help with decision-making.) "At New York University, one of the nation’s most expensive schools, the film-studies degree leaves students worse off by about $22,000. But at nearby SUNY–New Paltz, with its much lower tuition, the film program raises net lifetime earnings by roughly $148,000."