After graduating college with a ton of debt, a Franklin couple knew they didn’t want that for their son.
So, when he was 5, Gwen and Phil Mirise started a college savings account for him.
Thirteen years later, what they have saved will cover a significant chunk of Cordin Mirise’s college tuition.
And while applying for multiple scholarships, Cordin Mirise saw the importance of saving money, too.
At times, he was applying for as many as five or six scholarships per day. But competition was tough, and often, the amounts weren’t enough to make a huge difference, he said.
So he and a friend got creative and started their own small business: delivering fast food to Franklin residents, especially their own friends.
“We realized we could use it to secure money for college,” he said.
Finding as much money as possible for his undergraduate degree is also important because he plans to attend graduate school and will need to pay for that, he said.
Cordin Mirise will be attending Indiana University in the fall, just like both his parents. He wanted to stay close to home and take advantage of Indiana tuition prices, which were lower than other colleges he considered.
“I realized it would be better to stay in state,” he said.
Both Gwen and Phil Mirise took out student loans to finance their education. They decided they didn’t want that route for their children, Gwen Mirise said.
“We had been on the other side and had massive financial debt coming out of college,” she said.
Saving for a child’s education has to be a priority in order to make it work, she said. They knew what they wanted for their children and could afford to put money back, which kept them on track, she said.
“For us, education was a priority, and you put back what you can and that is what we chose to do,” she said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”THE MIRISE FILE” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Name: Cordin Mirise
School: Franklin Community High School graduate
GPA: 3.97
Parents: Gwen and Phil Mirise
College: Indiana University
Majors: Psychology and business
Cost: $20,000 per year
Where it’s coming from:
Savings account his parents started when he was 5.
Money he has saved from creating a small business with a friend delivering fast food.
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