How Do I Qualify for the Toyota College Grad Rebate?

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"Higher education is not a luxury. It's an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford." These words were recently spoken by President Obama at the University of Michigan, and reflect the trend of universities across the country increasing tuition rates, with last year seeing the average cost of college increase by 8.3 percent.

The majority of us seek financial aid or scholarship opportunities to help pay for college, though not everyone always gets help. Most of the time, we're still faced with student loans to pay off as we begin our job search. In fact, statistics from 2010 showed that the average student left college with $25,000 in debt. That's painful! When you graduate, shouldn't there be some sort of incentive to look forward to other than looming debt? A sort of pat on the back to say "I did it!" or a perk to keep your optimism rolling?

Fortunately, there are opportunites such as these, and I wanted to point out one today that not everyone may know about. Toyota has a rebate program to award students who graduate college, where you can get $1000 back when you purchase a new Camry, Corolla, Matrix, RAV4, Tacoma, or Yaris between now and January 2nd, 2013. An extra grand is definitely a nice chunk of change regardless of how old you are! Along with that, you may also qualify for no money down and zero monthly payments for 90 days depending on the vehicle you select.

So you want to finally upgrade out of that old junker of yours, and qualify for this rebate. What do you have to do? Here's the breakdown. You need to meet one of the following criteria:

• Have graduated from an accredited four-year college, university, or registered nursing degree program during the last two years or graduate from such a school/program within the next six months
• Have graduated from an accredited two-year college during the last two years
• Be enrolled in an accredited graduate degree program or have received a degree from an accredited graduate program during the last two years
• Have graduated during the last two years from the two-year Toyota Technical Education Network (T-TEN) Program or any other two-year post secondary automotive program accredited by the NATEF
• Have completed an electrician apprenticeship/certification program during the last two years through the NJATC and the IBEW

And you need a job:

• Show proof of present employment or future employment with a start date within 120 days of your purchase contract date. Note that Toyota Financial Services must deem your income sufficient to cover living expenses and vehicle payments.

As long as you can show employment and are a recent or expecting grad, you're good to go! Toyota even has a nifty tool you can use that lets you plug in numbers (such as what you want your down payment  to be, monthly payment, etc) and it will recommend vehicles that are in your price range.
For more info on the college rebate program, visit us at 10725 Manchester Rd in Kirkwood, MO, or call (800) GO-TOYOTA to request a brochure.

Do you know of any other good programs or incentives for college graduates? If so, leave a comment below or share them with us on Twitter @LouFuszToyota !