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Extreme ways to pay for college

From hosting international students to selling gold and silver jewelry, students and parents are taking extreme measures to pay for college as tuition continues to climb.

Sells gold and silver jewelry

crazy college payments jenni blaise

Instead of holding on to the gold and silver jewelry from her past relationships, Jenni Blaise has been cashing in on those memories in order to pay back the $16,000 she owed on her student loans.

Over the past couple years, she has been taking old rings, necklaces and earrings to Gold & Silver Buyers, near Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Tex., where she graduated in 2010.

"When I graduated I kept seeing commercials about selling your gold for cash, and I had a ton of jewelry I just never wore," she said.

Blaise, now 25 years old, has raked in almost $1,000 from her unwanted jewelry so far, with her gold high school ring bringing her $450 alone. She also sold several nice earrings that were missing their match. She found a pendant and some earrings at a garage sale that she bought for $17 and sold for $130 to Gold & Silver Buyers. And then there was the ring, necklace and earrings from previous relationships that she unloaded.

The money has gone straight toward her loan payments -- putting a small dent in the $11,000 that she still owes. "The first $800 I got paid off my student loans for three months, so it's definitely helped a lot," she said.

  @blakeellis3 - Last updated September 19 2012 03:05 PM ET

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