How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater is a 2004 teen novel, the first by American author Marc Acito.

While driving around they spot a green Ceramic Buddha and come up with their plan called Creative Vandalism, which means bringing “flair and vitality” to the suburbs without doing anything illegal.

Edward throws a big party at his house to celebrate the end of the summer and a lot of people he doesn’t really know show up.

Edward quits the school play in order to do his job, and in his absence Doug and Kelly grow close.

After some discussion with her Edward finds out that Al must pay for him to go to the college of his choice, it says it in the divorce papers for his mother and father.

Some reviewers complain about the outlandish and somewhat unbelievable occurrences in the story, such as Melissa Rose Bernardo of Entertainment Weekly who claimed the novel would only appeal "to those with incredibly active imaginations.

"[2] However, most were keen to assert the fun and humor of the novel, including Ben Arnold of the BBC who defined it as "Wildly camp and achingly funny...the best teen movie never made.

[4] On November 25, 2004, in an interview with Acito, the Seattle Times newspaper reported that the rights to a film version of How I Paid for College had been secured by Columbia Pictures, less than a year after the novel's publication.

Acito is quoted as saying "They promised me that the movie will keep the early '80s era, that they'll keep the bisexuality and that they will keep the musicals...As for the cast, we need kids who can sing, dance and act — so we probably don't even know who they are yet.