With devastating price tags and application fees rising, college can be difficult to afford. In fact, cbsnews.com confirmed some colleges are almost $60,000 per year for tuition and room/board.

Being a student who is about to leave for college, I have firsthand experience on the stress of needing money for college. Saving money for such a profound investment like college can leave me panicked and worried; however, other ways to get to college without breaking the bank and mind exist.

One thing future students can do is open a 529 plan. According to Fenderson, a former senior admissions officer at Columbia University: “529s offer tax advantages and come in two varieties: prepaid tuition plans and college savings plans. Prepaid tuition plans allow families to lock in current tuition rates at participating in-state or private colleges. The more popular 529 general savings plan has no restrictions on schools; the money you deposit is invested.”

So in a way, the 529 plan is a super safe money-growing tree that has workers pick the gold coins when ripe enough and then plants them in the ground to make more money-growing trees that increase the savings rate even faster.

Read more about a 529 plan: http://www.savingforcollege.com/college_savings_101/.

Another way college attendees can save money is through scholarships. I know, it sounds like so much work. If a person, however, spends 10 hours working on an essay for a scholarship worth $10,000 and receives it, they just earned $1,000 per hour for 10 hours. That is a way better wage than stocking shelves at the local supermarket. According to Gearon, $3.4 billion in private scholarships exist! I know I would like the winning numbers for that jackpot; scholarships are a way to get free money.

Read more about how to find scholarships: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/finding-scholarships#how-find.

Remember, it is never too late to start saving. These are a couple ways to hunt for money in the rubble; many other ways to save exist!