With the increasing cost of education, students across the country are finding new ways to pay for school. One Georgia college student is using her lifelong passion for baking to do just that.

Anna Elder is a freshman studying nursing in her hometown at Central Georgia Technical College in Macon. She started Itsy Bitsy Delights as a way to pay for her college tuition and textbooks.

Faced with the potential of not being able to afford her first semester, Elder began selling cakes and other baked goods in order to make up a $3,000 gap.

Currently in the process of acquiring a business license, Elder spoke with The Daily Orange about her creation of her company and the success she has had so far.

The Daily Orange: What’s the story behind Itsy Bitsy Delights?

Anna Elder: Basically, this past semester at the very beginning, my financial aid got ruined because I had to switch programs as a result of the college doing away with their healthcare science program. I was going to end up owing over $3,000, and it was just one of those things that I had to get really creative on how I was going to cover that. I took out a student loan of $1,700 and I ended up baking to pay off the rest. It just started off with basically friends and family pitching in to order cakes and cheesecakes, and that’s how I paid it off.

The D.O.: How long have you been baking?

A.E.: I would say I have baked probably my whole entire life, as long as I could hold a spoon. I started with my grandma and my dad, and ever since I was little I would always help them ice and mix cakes.

The D.O.: So this is certainly a passion of yours.

A.E.: It is.

The D.O.: How successful has the company been so far?

A.E.: So far it’s doing pretty well. Basically the biggest expense I have to worry about right now is paying for my college textbooks. With my side part-time job, it’s helped me be able to pay for gas back and forth to school and pay off the textbooks.

The D.O.: How do you afford to maintain the company and bake?

A.E.: I coupon to get my supplies. Basically what I do is I have a little iPad and I download some coupon apps. I go through all the different store ads, and I match up coupons based on that. Sometimes I can get three or four cake ingredients for free, and it’s just really helped me.

The D.O.: What are your plans for the future with regard to the company?

A.E.: I would really like to get a patent and a business license, and turn it into a small, downtown bakery. And I’d like to do that on the side of being a neonatal anesthesiologist. That would really help because then when I retire I could just focus on the bakery and do what I enjoy. I feel like I can bring something very unique to Macon.

Published on November 27, 2017 at 9:48 pm

Contact Jordan: jslazins@syr.edu