Name: Megan LaGrow
Year: Sophomore
College: University of Southern California
Strategy: Her mother, Jennifer, paid all of her tuition and dorm bills with a rewards credit card. (Unlike many colleges, USC doesn't add fees for credit card charges.)
Savings: $5,000 a year. With two years of payments, the LaGrows earned enough miles and hotel rooms to take a family vacation to Hawaii that Jennifer LaGrow estimates was worth $10,000. She also has enough miles for Megan to fly back and forth to her family home in Chicago for free.
Advice: About six weeks before the college payments are due, Jennifer LaGrow applies for a no-fee credit card that offers the biggest sign-up bonus she can find. She uses the card to pay the college bill, then immediately withdraws savings from her 529 college savings account to pay off the balance. (The strategy works best at colleges that don't charge fees for credit card payments such as the State Universities of New York, the University of Hawaii, the University of Nevada, and some private colleges such as USC. "It's been a great way to rack up points fast," the mother says.
NEXT: Start college while in high school
