Where to Look for College Scholarships

Posted on November 24, 2009 | Filed Under Articles

by Dee Bishop

Applying for scholarships for your soon-to-be college aged student can be a daunting task. One problem is where to find potential scholarships to apply for. Here are some ideas to help you look for applicable scholarships for which your high school student can apply.

Scholarships are available on local, state and national levels. Typically, local scholarships have less competition and may be easier to get, but don’t neglect state and national scholarships just because they have stiffer qualifications. Your child may be the one to meet the scholarship criteria better than anyone else who applies. It’s worth the effort to take the chance.

Let your child’s guidance counselor know that your child is interested in applying for applicable scholarships and ask him or her to inform you of any that come available. Counselors are often the first persons notified of local and state level scholarships, and can pass the information along to your student as it comes to them.

Search Google or one of the other search engines. Begin looking for scholarships for students interested in a specific topic. For instance, if your son wants to study engineering, search for “engineering scholarships.” If your daughter is Hispanic, search for “Hispanic student scholarships.” Be specific in your search to get the best results.

Register free with Fast Web, a scholarship matching service. Based on the student’s academic interest, GPA, and SAT scores, Fast Web will send an alert of nationwide scholarships that your student should apply for. Don’t narrow your topics too tightly when using Fast Web. It’s better to receive too much information about too many scholarships and weed out the ones that don’t fit your situation than to eliminate too many possibilities because of overly defined search parameters.

Network with others who are also looking for scholarships. You may come across a potential scholarship that you know your child won’t qualify for but that will fit a friend’s child perfectly. Tell your friend about it, and ask her to do the same if she comes across something that would work for your child.

Get your student involved in the scholarship search. Encourage her to share any and all information she receives about scholarships, not just stick it in her locker or backpack and forget it. Have her watch the magazines she reads and pass on any information about scholarships she might find. Ask grandparents and other family members to do the same thing. Making the scholarship search a family affair will bring better results.

Look for scholarships everywhere, even in unlikely locations. For instance, when researching summer community service projects required for scholarship eligibility, you may come across a summer intern program that offers a scholarship your child could apply for. You might miss this opportunity completely if you’re not alert to all possibilities.

Never eliminate potential scholarships without reading the guidelines and qualifications thoroughly. Finding college funding requires diligence and hard work, but it pays big rewards to your student on graduation day.

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Top 10 Tips for Applying for Scholarships

Posted on November 22, 2009 | Filed Under Articles

by Dee Bishop

If you have a son or daughter who is going to be entering college soon, you’ve probably begun to consider scholarships as a means to help finance his or her college tuition. Here are ten tips to give you a competitive edge in the scholarship search and application process.

  1. Search everywhere for scholarships for which your child might qualify. Start your search with your child’s guidance counselor by letting the counselor know your child is interested in applying for applicable scholarships. Search Google for “college scholarships.” Register free with Fast Web, a scholarship matching service, to be notified of applicable scholarships for your student. Network with others who are looking for scholarships and share your findings. Look everywhere, even unlikely locations such as summer intern programs or volunteer organizations that may have an attached scholarship. You might miss some good possibilities if you’re not alert to every option.
  2. Start early. Spring of the student’s sophomore year is good since some scholarships require community service. Starting early gives your child the opportunity to look for summer positions that will give him the experience needed to compete and may open up potential scholarships that you wouldn’t have been looking for if you didn’t start early.
  3. Get organized. Keep local or school newspaper clippings, school and church bulletins, and anything else that mentions your child and her achievements. Gather appropriate documents, pictures, letters that support community service hours, etc. and keep them all in one location. Create a spreadsheet listing each scholarship by name and include qualifications, documentation required, application deadline and other pertinent information.
  4. Have your child start a student resume beginning in ninth grade so he can easily keep track of high school accomplishments. That way when senior year arrives, you won’t have to struggle to remember what he did two years ago. The information will be right at hand. 
  5. When asking pastors, counselors, teachers and others for a student recommendation, be sure to include the scholarship qualifications and criteria so the reference can include some of those points in the referral.
  6. Allow plenty of time in the application process. It will take 10 to 20 hours of search time, maybe longer, to locate potential scholarships. It will then take a minimum of two hours to complete each application. Giving yourself plenty of time will alleviate stress and help ensure the application is completed correctly.
  7. One-size does not fit all in scholarship applications, so be sure to read each individual application thoroughly to ensure you follow the instructions for that specific application correctly. This is especially important when applying for national scholarships that thousands of other students are applying for as well. Paying careful attention to detail will save a lot of wasted effort and frustration.
  8. Meet the scholarship deadline. That means getting your recommendations back on time, having all documentation in order, and allowing as much preparation time as possible. Missing a deadline will completely disqualify your child from the running so be sure you get the application in by the due date.
  9. Realize that you don’t get every scholarship you apply for, so if you need an additional $10,000 in scholarships, apply for $30,000 or more.
  10. Be prepared to apply and reapply for scholarships every year. Often, parents pursue freshman scholarships to get their children in college, then forget that those scholarships assist only with the cost of the first year of school. Unless your child is fortunate enough to receive a full, four-year scholarship, it’s likely you’ll need to repeat the process every year to get them through graduation.

While it may seem like a lot of effort, and may even be discouraging at times, diligently pursuing local, state and national level scholarships will minimize the parent and student financial responsibilities and will pave the way for your child’s college education with minimal expense and family hardship.

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Scholarship Myths

Posted on November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Articles

by Dianna Ranere

There are a number of myths, which surround scholarships, and because of these, a lot of students and parents miss out on the ability to get a scholarship. Always investigate any information you think may be bogus or questionable and you may find yourself nicely surprised about getting a scholarship.

Here are a few of the more popular misconceptions about scholarships.

Myth: In order to get a scholarship you have to be an “A” student.

While having an “A” average makes it easier to get some scholarships, that alone does not guarantee any scholarship. Scholarship boards look at many other factors when granting a student a scholarship. Many of these scholarship programs look at the student as a whole including activities, personality, and general individuality of the student.

Myth: “B” and “C” students have no chance of getting a scholarship.

This is completely not correct as many students who don’t make the “A” average still get scholarships each and every year. If you are a “B” or “C” student yet you have some great history of group participation and community service, your chances of getting a scholarship improve greatly. Scholarship programs aren’t just looking for book smart students, they are looking for the leaders of the next generation.

Myth: Billions and billions of scholarship dollars go unclaimed each and every year.

While this is true to some degree, the number isn’t quite that high. Oftentimes there are scholarship monies, which are specifically set aside for certain groups or for students with very specific or particular qualifications. These may be for students from a specific town or with a specific last name, for example, a student from a town called Calvary who is Catholic and over 7 feet tall may qualify for a 4-year scholarship to a college. These often go unclaimed because of their strict nature.

Myth: You have to be poor to qualify for a scholarship.

This is very much not true at all. Middle class students can qualify for scholarships just as well as those students with even more money. While there are strictly need-based scholarship programs, many scholarships do not look at the financial situation as a primary driving force behind who gets the scholarships. Most look at the overall well-rounded student with high desire and community service.

Myth: SAT and other standardized testing are all you really need for a scholarship

Scoring well on a SAT is a great thing when applying for scholarships and grants; however, they are not the only things. If a student spent all their time studying for their SAT and did nothing else such as activities, community work or other extra curricular

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Ten Reasons Not to Hire a Certified College Planning Specialist (CCPS)

Posted on November 7, 2009 | Filed Under Articles

1. I feel confident that colleges will give me all the money I need for my kid’s education just based on my applying for financial aid.
2. I prefer the service I receive from my current advisors who do not specialize in college funding.
3. I have plenty of time to attend college fairs at my kid’s high school, search the internet and talk with other parents about what they did and got for financial aid.
4. I believe my current commission based advisor provides impartial and objective advice and does not need any advanced study to properly advise me how to lower my out-of-pocket cost of a college education. He’s been in business for 10+ years.
5. I prefer to be the cool parent that pays the retail cost of college rather than the smart parent that pays wholesale prices.
6. I believe that my current advisor can tell me how to arrange my income and assets, file the financial aid forms and the best order to withdraw my college savings in order to not increase my expected family contribution.
7. I have an unlimited pocket book. The escalating cost to educate my three children – doesn’t concern me. I have the assets and cash flow to pay for their college educations without affecting my cash flow and or depleting my assets.
8. I can pay $15,000 – $40,000 each year for 4 years, followed by another $15,000 – $40,000 for another 4 years, followed by another $15,000 – $40,000 for 4 years – without affecting my retirement or shortchanging child 2 and child 3.
9. I don’t find the college funding process overwhelming. It was easy when I was going to school 20 years ago, how much could it have changed? All I have to do is fill out the FAFSA form, right?
10. I am not willing to find a Certified College Planning Specialist. It would take too much time and effort. It’s better to work with people I know and who know me, even if it costs me more because of their lack of knowledge.

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