This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of UPromise for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Sending a child to college can be one of the most costly things that a parent does. In todays economy it is hard to save money for your child’s tuition,not to mention college fees and textbooks, and so parents as well as students often have to rely on student loans. This is exactly what we did for our son. At first, he went to a community college and worked at the same time. He paid for much of his tuition up front because tuition in a community college is so much less. He also commuted. This gave him time to decide what his interests were.

He then went to a school more focused on his interests, and we have a portion of his student loan to pay off. This is where Upromise comes in. You can join and then enter qualifying store loyalty cards so that when you shop a percentage of certain products is added to your account, which will eventually be paid toward the balance on the student loan…which you also link up to the account. You also save by logging into your Upromise account and shopping at online stores you probably already use through links at the Upromise site, and a percentage of you total shopping bill is added to the account to go toward the student loan balance. There is much more to it than this, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.

Now the fun part…Upromise is celebrating their 10th anniversary with a contest. You go to www.upromisetodream.com and share a story of how Upromise has helped you achieve your son or daughter’s dream. 10 winners get $1000 and the grand prize is $10,000 – you’ll find all that you need to know at dream wall official rules.