<prompt> Human: I have a nephew that just finished his junior year of high school in Austin, TX. Im curious if anyone here has been able to avoid taking out more than 25,000 in loans, and if so, how they were able to pay for their education without doing that. Any advice helps whether it be a particular program you went to, scholarhip you received, financial aid you qualified for, job that you had to work, etc..  <response>: I lived in Austin my whole life, attended ACC, then UT.If he goes to one of the better high schools in the area, ACC will be a breeze. I went to Anderson and my ACC classes were literally easier than my high school classes.Id recommend looking up which classes transfer to UT and how they transfer. Look up the transfer guide from ACC and it tells you how they transfer for all sorts of classes.You can escape 2 years of ACC with zero debt if you live at home and have a part-time job. Then transfer to a cheap state school and you can get away with only a bit of debt.Personally, I did a year at ACC with no debt, then a year at UTSA which gave me 20k into debt, then 2 years at UT which put me about 10k each year into debt for a total of about 45 with interest accruing. It wasnt smart, but it worked.Make sure he doesnt overwork himself to be debt free. Focus on grades but a part-time job doesnt hurt.Good luck with everything. 