<p>lol…</p>
<p>Nick…when I read the OP, I knew it was your mom. lol. </p>
<p>Nick…stop letting your grades slide!</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>…and would it kill ya to submit a scholarship app or two to please your mom?</p>
<p>Personally I find the payback on private scholarships to be near 0. If the student can pay for their share through work or the Direct Loan I say good for them. However, I would have an issue with major grade drift to put the initial scholarship at risk.</p>
<p>^^
He’s got the scholarship, it’s based on grades 9-11. And, it doesn’t sound like the GPA is dipping to any dangerous levels. </p>
<p>That said, IF the GC has a few merit scholarships that this student would likely get awarded because he has strong stats and has lots of need, then he should apply. </p>
<p>Nick…just do it. Your mom has more than met you halfway with what you’ve wanted school-wise.</p>
<p>Please let her enjoy the last semester of high school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As amusing as this entire thread has been to read, I’ll jump in to offer “Kate” another perspective. Let’s imagine that our student does very well in college, earning a degree in a lucrative field and a job offer with a $100,000 starting salary. (Wow! Nice work.) That $100,000 is going to be more like $60,000 after taxes and thus works out to a net wage of around $30 per hour. Thus, it would take about 167 hours of work to pay off a $5,000 loan, not counting the interest that will accrue over the next four years. </p>
<p>Alternatively, “Kate” could spend 40 hours or so now, leaving lots of time for revisions here, to go after a package of local “nickel and dime” scholarships that add up to $10,000 ('cause you won’t win them all) and probably wind up with an expected value “wage” much higher than $30 per hour. “She” may want to consider whether that’s a productive use of time – even if it requires battling through a bit of senioritis, which, as I reminded my own kid last year, is STILL not an AMA-recognized malady.</p>
<p>Except she probably won’t end up scholarships that add up to $10,000. The much more likely result is that she ends up with additional scholarships that add up to $0. I would suggest, if money is an issue, she would be better served by working those $40 at McDonalds and getting a sure $400.</p>
<p>That depends on where you shop for scholarship opportunities. Even our area (which is about as hypercompetitive about all things college as you can get) some of the local $500 deals sometimes have fewer applicants than available awards. Others are legit 50-50 shots if you motivate yourself to write the app.</p>
<p>Thanks, all 
“Kate” is, I believe, now planning to apply for a handful (perhaps 6 to 8?) of local / semi-local scholarhips and should (?) end up with at least a couple of them based on what we know, past winners, etc. No guarantees of course. These are NOT applications that are going to require a bunch of time - no huge essays, etc. To borrow $1,000 or $1,500 or $2,000 (or heck, $750) less for freshmen year would be great. (And yes, money is an issue.) “Kate” does not wish to work part-time this spring but will be working a summer job. Thanks again for replying, everyone!</p>
<p>I guess my son just applied in the wrong places. He applied to at least 15 different scholarships and got nowhere. Yes, he got some small very local scholarships through school but I’m making a distinction between applications that that 5 minutes to fill in name, scores, etc. and anything requiring one or more essays.</p>
<p>Dreadpirit, your son’s experience sounds like the experience of most of the kids I know who applied for private scholarships. There were a couple kids who snagged a local scholarship or two, one or two kids who won very specific scholarships that most kids couldn’t apply for (like scholarships for cancer survivors, or for the descendents of veterans of particular military campaigns), and then 95% of the kids got absolutely nothing, not one penny, for their efforts. In some cases it was a LOT of effort, effort that would have been better spent on a part time job with a guaranteed return.</p>
<p>Some parents just don’t know when to take the foot off the gas/neck.
Thankfully I was raised by wolves and very happy.
many colleges colleges have scholarships just for enrolled students-often by dept. And under $20K debt is not bad.</p>
<p>It is sometimes easier to get those LOCAL scholarships when the student has BOTH good stats and HIGH need. Those who do the down-selecting are moved by high need.</p>
<p>Good luck Nick…when I see you in T-town, can I call you Kate?</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>Yes, Dread’s experience sounds like most of the experiences I heard of. </p>
<p>I won one of those major national awards that only goes to a handful of people but only won one local scholarship- despite applying to several dozen. (ETA: I was a high-stats, high-need student… which was rare in my relatively affluent area)</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>I’m surprised that you weren’t able to nab some more of the local ones since you were high stats, high need. All those local clubs (Elks, Moose, etc) really like to award dollars (even if they aren’t big) to kids like you.</p>
<p>It sounds like Nick, I mean Kate, has identified a few that are “low effort” that he’s a good candidate for. He really should fill them out for two reasons…1) he might win some. 2) if he doesn’t apply, his mom will forever think that he could have won them. So, either way, there’s a good reason.</p>
<p>Many of my scholarships were county-wide, m2ck, which means I was competing with Detroit kids and such. </p>
<p>The ones that were more local, well, I just didn’t win. You win some, you lose some, especially in a high school with 6k+ kids :)</p>
<p>Thoughts: If a HS senior is not going to work a part-time job (and not playing a sport, not doing tons of EC’s), then he or she can probably afford to take a little time in Jan/Feb and apply for a few scholarships (…ones where there is not a ton of effort and/or ones where they actually have a shot at getting something). That’s IF they have high stats (and depending on the specific scholarship, some need). </p>
<p>I DON’T mean they should spend time applying for 30 scholarships, with many requiring significant essays. (That sounds horrible!) </p>
<p>Doesn’t hurt them a bit; good experience for them in completing an application thoroughly and professionally. Better than playing video games or whatever 
And hey, maybe not quite as much debt in the end! </p>
<p>If money is not an issue at all, then never mind…</p>
<p>Best wishes to all our HS seniors out there! Happy that my senior will be applying for some (and thanks, m2ck!)</p>
<p>Have a great weekend, all.</p>
<p>
As soon as expatSon brings home his first kill,
I’ll be delighted to let him run wild on his own.</p>