Kate Stephens’ family let her know that they did not have any money for her to go to college.

Being left on her own and with this in mind, the Redmond resident applied for financial aid. She received nothing and so she had to find other ways to pay for school. Stephens — who attended Northwest University in Kirkland — did not want to end up under a mountain of debt, so she had to figure out ways to save money.

One of those ways came to her one day while in her school’s registrar’s office. She was going over her transcript with an analyst and they said her participation in a high school summer scholars program at Washington University in St. Louis could count toward graduation credits and that would put her a semester ahead in her graduation requirements.

“It was a lightbulb moment,” Stephens said.

One of her goals from that point on was to see how she could graduate early, as that meant less time to accrue debt.

In the end, she graduated in 2007, two years early, at age 20 — and on top of that, debt free.

After she left college, Stephens said people began asking her how she did what she did. It got to the point where she thought she should write a book as many of these strategies were unknown to most of the people who approached her.

And that is exactly what she did.

“College, Quicker: 24 Practical Ways to Save Money and Get Your Degree Faster” was released in July and offers tips and strategies on how people can do what she did.

TESTING AND TRAVELING FOR CREDITS

One of Stephens’ favorite strategies that she shares in her book is CLEP exams. She said these exams are administered by the College Board — the same company that does the SATs and PSATs. The exams are advertised and geared toward adult learners, but Stephens said anyone can take them. The 90-minute tests are $80 each and in various subjects and you can earn anywhere between 3-12 college credits.

“I actually earned 30 credits,” Stephens said, adding that this equated to about a year of credits (on a semester schedule).

The 28-year-old said intersession abroad programs can also help you graduate early. These programs are short-term study abroad programs that typically take place during winter or spring break or maybe an extended holiday break. Stephens said in these programs, students will usually travel to another country, take a class or two and can earn a few credits.

When she was in college, she did a 10-day trip in Europe, traveling to the United Kingdom, France and Belgium, and earned two credits. Class sessions were in the morning and she and her classmates were able to explore during the afternoons. Stephens added that sometimes in these programs, there are some class sessions before or after the trip and sometimes they involve a paper, project or presentation after the students return stateside.

Stephens noted that these types of programs run about $2,000, which is a good value because it includes travel and the college credits. However, she realizes that not everyone can afford this, so she said another option is alternative spring break programs. These types of programs usually run a few hundred dollars to $1,000 and often include some sort of volunteer or service project.

LIFE EXPERIENCE COUNTS

The final tip Stephens shared with the Reporter was geared more toward adult learners. She encouraged those returning to school to put together a prior learning portfolio, which documents what they have learned from their work and life experiences and how that equates to classes and credits. Stephens said students can typically earn between 15 and 18 credits.

And for all students, Stephens encourages them to look into their prospective school’s transfer credit policy as that will tell them what the school will accept from outside sources.

WHEN ONE DOOR OPENS…

For Stephens, publishing a book was never really something she had in mind to do. She said she always wanted to be an occupational therapist and was studying this in graduate school at the University of Washington right before she began writing her book. Eventually, Stephens, who has a genetic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that affects her ligaments, realized occupational therapy was too physically intensive for her body to handle and she left school.

“It was hard,” she admits, adding that leaving school was her hardest “break up.”

But after that, Stephens began working on “College, Quicker.” The book took a long time to get published as the editing process was much more involved than she had realized.

The book is available in Barnes and Noble and there are 15 copies circulating in the King County Library System. Stephens, an avid library patron, admitted that seeing her book on a library shelf was more thrilling than seeing it at the bookstore.

“It was amazing,” she said about having a book published, adding that this experience has opened her to other avenues of writing.