This August I will be entering my senior year of high school. To say my first three years were strange is an understatement. In January I moved schools and fixed most of my grades and even earned a 28 ACT score with a 36 in English, but my GPA is a problem. The first two and a half years of high school I had bad teachers and was very depressed, and as a result I didnt do much in sxhool. At the end of next year, the best I can make my GPA is a 3.1-3.2. I was wondering if I can raise my ACT score if I have a chance of earning a good scholarship to a University such as WVU. Is there anything else I can do? Am I completely ruled out of getting a full ride somewhere, even if I score 30+ on the ACT? All answers appreciated.
Annual income?
My parents make 130K a year but they won’t pay for ant of my college.
It’s a problem your parents won’t pay anything 
because colleges consider the first responsibility rests with the parents.
Can you commute to any university?
Then a full tuition scholarship may work.
Do you live in WV?
Will your transcript list a weighted GPA? If so, what would it be? (Or is 3.1/3.2 your weigted GPA, in which case, what is your unweighted?)
Will you do an intensive preparation for the next ACT? (Have you tried the SAt? Some do better on it - you can try on Khan Academy).
Do you currently have a job (and savings)?
There are scholarships for students like you, but they will often not be in high enough amounts to affect your EFC (what the FAFSA (and private schools have their own institutional forms) determine your family (yes, your parents) must pay per year, based on family income). If a family’s income is 100K, that family might have an EFC of 20K per year (maybe a little bit lower, maybe a little bit more–I am not counting very serious impact factors, such as a parent’s recent job loss or other significant loss of income, a serious medical issue). That EFC needs to be paid no matter what. That EFC amount is out-of-pocket cost per year. It is then up to the college/U to make up the difference. An annoyance is that many colleges do not guarantee to make up that difference; this is called “gapping.” A huge scholarship might eat into that EFC number, but huge scholarships are very competitive.
Are there full tuition or full ride scholarships out there for a student like you? Believe it or not, yes. The catch? They’ll be at the sorts of schools that you might not be thrilled to attend. For instance, tiny Eureka College in IL gives out six full tuition Reagan scholarships (yep, Ronald Reagan graduated from Eureka) that cover all four years, and the minimum needed to apply is a 3.0 GPA and a 25 on the ACT (I’m guessing, though, that one should have higher stats than that to be competitive). But do you want to attend Eureka College, a very tiny, entirely regional college in the middle of Nowhere, IL? If you’re a WV resident, look at the schools in your area that might be thrilled to have a student like you and pay for it!
The rule of thumb? Your largest merit (read: scholarship) awards will come from schools where your GPA and standardized test scores are significantly above the typical admit.
So…get your parents to contribute. Or do what I did. My parents also did not care about college or contributing to my college education. My parents never said to me, “Hapworth, it’s time to start looking at colleges! Here are a bunch of college guides that we’ve purchased! Also, Hap, we need to start thinking about schools to visit!” Nope. I attended a community college. I kicked butt there. I transferred to a four-year school. I went on to graduate school (MA and doctoral study). While at CC, I saved up money so that I could pay my EFC, which was much lower twenty years ago. Sadly, you’re in a tough spot. Even if you attend a CC, will you be able to save the 40K–or more–you’ll need to pay the 20K±per-year EFC that you’ll need for the final two years at a four-year school? When you turn 25, you can fill out the FAFSA as an independent. No, you cannot just declare yourself independent at ages 18-24.
Yeah, get your parents to contribute!
Thank you so much for the help!
You might want to look into Berea College in KY.
@Rivers4 ,
Normally, this would be awesome advice: Berea College. Huge endowment, never really mentioned on these boards, and a terrific all-around philosophy.
But unless things have changed (and I am too tired at 2:46 a.m. to find out), the OP’s family income of 130K would be too high for Berea. Berea used to (and still does?) only open its doors to low-income families, particularly those from Appalachia (OP fits this criterion if he is from WV). But the 130K income would put him out of the running.
However, yes, OP, Berea College gives full scholarships to all students who are accepted. You might look into it, but I believe that your family’s income is too high to qualify.
That’s right, Berea’s limit is 65k.
Op needs merit scholarship and every additional points on the ACT will help.
Are you an instate resident for West Virginia?
Auto merit with 2.75 gpa and 28 ACT $12,500 for oos at utoledo
http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/freshman/scholarships/2018/out-of-state.html
oos CoA approx $28k-$12.5k=$15.5k net price, plus they allow stacking of outside scholarships
Tell us more…major? Career goal?
Have your parents said that they will not pay one penny for college? What do they want you to do after high school?
It doesn’t matter what your GPA will be at the end of senior year. You will be applying this fall. Your senior year grades will be unknown to colleges while determining merit. What is your GPA as of now?