Real estate investment may reduce college costs

​COLLEGE STATION – Investing in real estate may allow college students to save thousands of dollars in living expenses.

With student loan debt approaching $1.2 trillion, the 2015 graduating class has a larger amount of student debt than ever before — around $35,051. But real estate investment may allow students to save around 54 percent of CollegeBoard’s suggested budget for living expenses.

According to Jennifer Fredericks, a broker at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Preferred Living, the secret lies in parents purchasing properties and then renting out rooms to other students.

Parents can buy a house for their kids after their freshman year of college. Multiple bedrooms allow friends to move in. The rent charged to roommates covers the cost of the house.

Fredericks estimates that approximately 25 to 30 percent of purchases in the Texas A&M University area are parents purchasing property for their students, and this number is increasing.