Earlier this month at the national PromiseNet conference in Kalamazoo, Mich., there was a lot of discussion of fundraising for Promise scholarship programs.

How do you set an appropriate fundraising goal? What is the best way to attract unrestricted gifts for program management? Are matching grants a thing of the past? Is there a way to build a sustainable and reliable source of funding through creative taxation? What is the best ‘pitch’ to lock down a major funder?

Of course, all of those are important questions, particularly for a program just getting off the ground, but there might be even more important initiatives to undertake to get a campaign off the ground or extend the shelf life of a movement as it builds capacity.

I’m going to call it the “Cornerstones of College Affordability.” If you don’t have a dime for scholarships, you can still create dollars for scholars through maximizing pre-existing sources. And if you have scholarship dollars, there are ways to leverage them to make sure that students get up to three times as much money from sources other than the Promise dollars.

Here are the five cornerstones:

1. Federal aid — There is a lot of unclaimed money for low-income students through the Pell Grant program. Students who qualify for Pell can get close to $6,000 annually to cover expenses and many scholarship programs use that as part of the equation in determining a scholarship award. Every program should encourage and assist students and families to complete their FAFSA applications in both accurate and timely fashions.

2. Financial literacy — Those who are first-generation students can find unhappy surprises — not just the hidden costs of college, but also the deadlines for payment. Choosing the right college from the start can make all the difference in getting that diploma. Having access to those who can explain the process and its expectations, even before the selection a school, can help families steer clear of the roughest waters.

3. Institutional aid — Those programs who are forking over checks to colleges have some leverage to create universal benefits for its Promise scholars, particularly if they can demonstrate patterns of increased success in comparison to the broader student body. But you don’t have to wait to begin that conversation. Without question, the earlier students complete applications to college, the stronger the chance they can tap into existing university scholarship pools.

4. Other scholarships — Most places in the U.S. have existing scholarships intended for local students and there are also regional and national award programs as well. The problem is that most students are unaware what is out there. If someone associated with a program can provide resources, the affordability puzzle becomes more complete. There are students who are making college debt-free by taking advantage of multiple opportunities.

5. Paid internships — Not only are students much more likely to find full-time work after college after taking advantage of paid internships while in college, they can also make use of summer work to defray the costs associated with college. Any program that works with the local business community to create such opportunities will produce better results and retain more students after graduation.

No, none of this helps a Promise program with its overhead, but each one helps improve outcomes for students. A promise can mean a lot of things, including the promise to help young people blaze that trail both to and through college.