Hi there, so I am just curious- what scholarships are out there for freshman undergraduate students that anyone can possibly get? My DD got into a really great school, but the tuition is a little high (and we really do not want her to get a student loan until graduate school). She applied to so many competetive & non-competetive scholarships last year and sadly got none. So any recommendations??
If she is currently a college freshman, her best bet is to find out if there are any departmental scholarships in her majorâŠand apply for those. She can go over to financial aid and ask if there are scholarships available for returning students.
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She is actually going into her freshman year-
AhâŠwellâŠif she is a high school senior, she should touch base with her school counselor and apply to any local scholarships in your area. These are smaller in amount, and usually not renewable. But every penny counts.
Both of my kids got about $4000 in local scholarships or awards from school organizations. For example, both of my kids got decent scholarships from their high school band, elementary school PTO, things like that.
Start there.
Ok, well i guess I should have mentioned that she is homeschooledđ through a private school, so they do not offer anything unfortunately
There are probably community organizations that give scholarships. Ask around. I know here, Lions Club, for example, gives them.
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Sounds good, I will look into that! Thank you!
There might be a list of local scholarship on the high schoolâs webpage, or that of other schools in the district, county, city, etc.
The ones that kids at our hs got were from civic groups like American Legion, Elks; interests or hobbies like a photography studio, drawing a picture to use on the cover of a magazine; a lot for children of military members; churches; credit union members or banks; Miss America (local contests); ethnic groups (my daughter applied for one for Chinese Americans). There were several for writing essay; there was one given by the Bar Association that 3 guys got for producing a video on some area of safety and they did it on lasers and airplanes (totally bizarre). Pepsi bottling had a local one (but for the entire metro area).
You can also look for national ones but in her area of study, like the Society of Women Engineers have scholarships and serve as the clearinghouse for other groups giving scholarships to women engineers. There are scholarships for drama majors (look in the magazine). See if your employer or organizations you belong to have any scholarships. My kids (and my nieces and nephews) got scholarships from my fatherâs college fraternity just for being related to him.
But youâve discovered scholarships are hard to get outside of the schools. Check with the school she wants to go to if there are any department scholarships or if there are any local scholarships for those attending that college. My daughter discovered one for students attending any college in a 4 county area; it was on her collegeâs webpage.
When you say she applied for scholarships âlast yearâ what do you mean? Many of these awards are for high school seniors to apply forâŠnot juniors.
Ok great! thank you for this information 
Are one of the parents employed? I got $2k for one and $1k for the other from my employer.
Some organizations offer scholarships to their employees children.
Most importantly is - if you have a budget, regardless of how much you love a school find one that you can 100% afford.
Getting into debt, unless you understand the ramifications, is a no no.
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The colleges themselves have the most money to help. It can be worth talking to the financial aid officers or admissions about your projected gap to see if they can come up with any more.
If in SC, compare the instate options to this offer and discuss those with the college staff so they understand your other options under consideration.
There are smaller scholarships out there locally. Many are due in the coming weeks if not last fall. You said she did not get any of the ones she applied to in the past. This is very common. It is a lot of effort for not much in return. Sometimes a part time job can be a better use of time. And sometimes that part time job has scholarships 
Does the collegeâs net price calculator line up with the financial aid package/merit? Is this the only college that leaves a gap from what you anticipated or are all of them out of reach without loans? It sounds like the reality may be looking at other options or considering some loans. If loans are needed you could help by paying the interest while she is in undergrad and grad school so that it is not accumulating.
She is going to Furman University & their tuition next year with room & boad is about $74,000. She got about $40,000 from both SC & furman based on academics; therefore she is still left with almost $30,000, which is great, yet slightly a reach. She already committed to go there last month, but we were just hoping to pay less than $20,000. It really was a surprise that she didnât get any scholarship she applied to. As a homeschooled student, she has a 3.92 GPA, a lot of extra curricular activities, dual-enrollment courses, leadership roles, and an avg test score, so we were hoping for something but were really shocked.
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Yes, many of those non-college based scholarships are looking at need based on some level, too. Most are competitive and looking for something specific.
Look at Rotary and other local orgs. You will not find $10,000 extra but maybe she can chip off some.
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Echoing what the previous posters have said, the best and largest dollars come from the universities themselves.
Those âwebâ and public scholarships get thousands of applications with perfect 4.0 students. There just isnât enough money to go around for students who need money to attend their choices.
There are about 45K valedictorians from the U.S. annually. You can bet that a lot of those students are searching for dollars to attend their selected universities.
The best chances for scholarships, outside of the universities, are the local groups like the Kiwanis, car dealers, family employers, etc. They will require lots of documentation and extra work for ~$200 to ~$2K. These will also be competitive, but not as competitive as the âwebâ scholarships.
Our HS Athletic Foundation sponsored two scholarships at my childrenâs high school, each for $1000. I was on the selection committee. I felt so badly at the huge numbers of students who applied and who needed the money, but we only gave two. (We increased the amounts later with fundraising and some personal donations.)
Some students were not even from the high school and applied, and we had to send out notices that they werenât eligible because they werenât current students. One even protested that she had attended for a semester (freshman year?) and therefore had been a student. She obviously hadnât read the title and requirements: âCurrent nominated Varsity-level student applicants, with on site Coachâs letter of recommendationâ.
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SoâŠthis school will cost you out of pocket $10,000 a year more than you hoped to pay.
I know you said you donât want your student to take any loans until grad schoolâŠbut how do you even know she will actually attend grad school? That might not happen.
I would suggest having her take the direct loan, and get a jobâŠlike now. And work through the summer. This should fill in a good chunk of that financial gap. The total over four years of direct loans for undergrad is $27,000. These Direct Loans are in your studentâs name only.
If she doesnât take the loanâŠdo you have the money to fund the extra $10,000 without taking loans yourselvesâŠor borrowing against your home or retirement?
Even if she gets $10,000 in local scholarships (which I think would be challenging) itâs likely they will not be renewable for subsequent years. SoâŠhave a planâŠundergrad school is four years long.
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Through Furman she was selected on a higly competitive application to medical school, and signed the contract so thatâs so how we know she is for sure going to grad school.
Basically per semester she would be paying about $14,000 which we can pay but were hoping not too. She is homeschooled through a private school so her tuition is already high. We were just hoping for one less child out of four children to pay high tuition.
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She is also taking EMT courses so that when she graduates hs this May she can go straight into that field and start working. She had a great job last summer and saved from that as well, but we will give everything in return for her to fulfill her dreams of becoming a doctor.
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So you would be paying $28,000 a year?
What scholarships did she apply to as a HS junior?
This is going to be unaffordable for your daughter and family.
Our middle child went to medical school and we know how expensive it is, but the difference is that we had significant 529 accounts for each of our children.
Our child attended an in-state public university for undergrad. She was fortunate that she had lab experience while in high school. She was selected, as an undergrad, for a University position in a lab that paid more than minimum wage.
She used those funds, as well as her summer jobs and loan money, to help defray the quarter of a million dollars in costs, that we incurred for her medical program. Her roommates were all fully on loans because, in medical school, every one of them would qualify for merit dollars. The med programs arenât going to subsidize every student. They have lines of thousands who do have the big bucks and will pay.
This school is unaffordable if you are short now. Donât use your retirement dollars- really a big mistake if you do.
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