<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am the eldest of three with my youngest having Autism. With my brother's counseling being $5,000 (without insurance) and medications being in the thousands as well it becomes extremely hard for a family of five to get around. However whether it be from God, luck, or other exterior forces my family has managed to stay afloat during these hard times. However soon I will be applying to colleges. Does anyone have any idea if there are any scholarships available for young adults in the same situation as myself? If you or someone you know is in the same situation could you offer me some advice, please? </p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>Yes, there are, floating out there. I’ve seen some for siblings of children with Down Syndrome, cancer, specific cancers. You have to look for them. Do you subscribe to FastWeb? That might finds some such awards. Also look into organizations that deal with your sibling’s issues, and support groups and see if there are any awards that come up.</p>
<p>My son is a cancer survivor, and we did find some awards, but only one pertained to him. Others had stipulations, served only certain geographic areas or were school specific.</p>
<p>How do you define “good scholarships”? I don’t think there are sizeable 4 year scholarships for siblings. There might be a one time award or something…but not enough to make a serious dent in college costs. </p>
<p>Your best bet for scholarships will simply be ones from SCHOOLS that give them for stats. </p>
<p>Are you a senior? </p>
<p>What are your test scores and GPA?</p>
<p>I am a Junior.</p>
<p>I have not taken the ACT or SAT yet,and my GPA is 4.84415. I live in Texas so are GPA’s are shown to us out of a 5.0 scale even on our transcripts. </p>
<p>I would say a good scholarship is really any scholarship. I am desperate for any additional funding, so any amount would be a blessing.</p>
<p>Thank you to all who replied in this thread, it really means a lot because I have been looking into this for a really long time and it is imperative I receive financial help.</p>
<p>I would say a good scholarship is really any scholarship. I am desperate for any additional funding, so any amount would be a blessing.</p>
<p>While on one hand “something is better than nothing,” you really do need to “do the math” to figure out how much you need. Too little won’t pay the bills. And, since most private scholarships are only for freshman year, cobbling those together for the first year will leave you high and dry for the other three years. </p>
<p>You need to ask your parents how much they can contribute. It sounds like your family has a decent income, but has to pay out a lot for your sibling’s needs. </p>
<p>If your parents tell you that they can’t contribute ANYTHING, then you need to know that so you can strategize based on your stats. In that situation, you’d need a full ride.</p>
<p>How did you do on the PSAT?</p>
<p>You need to take the ACT and SAT soon so you can determine your weak areas, work on those, and better your scores. The best scores will give you the most opportunities. </p>
<p>The state of Texas does have state aid, so have your parents run the Net Price Calculator on UTexas’ and TAMU’s websites to get an idea of the aid you’d get.</p>
<p>Have your parents carefully file all of your brother’s medical bills because you’re going to need those to show how much your family is paying out for uninsured expenses. The adjustment won’t be dollar for dollar, but it may be enough for you to get more aid.</p>
<p>Just wondering whether it’s possible that there are private schools that would take into account medical expenses for the sibling and then be willing to reduce the EFC when putting together a financial aid package? Or is it overly optimistic to think that a school would show that kind of benevolence?? Obviously, it would mean doing a lot of homework before applying…</p>