Suppose a HS student gets accepted to college and decides to take a gap year. During that gap year, can that student search and apply for college scholarships (that’s scholarships not connected to the accepted college)? OR does the student have to apply for scholarships BEFORE graduating from high school?
It depends. There is no one rule that covers every possible scholarship. Each scholarship will have guidelines that outline the eligibility requirements. Read the guidelines.
It depends on the specific scholarship. There are some scholarships like the Horatio Alger National/State scholarship that require the student to be a current senior when applying and others like their Career and Technical Scholarships do not. https://scholars.horatioalger.org/scholarships/about-our-scholarship-programs/
Our local community foundation has some that say HS senior, but many more say HS senior or graduate.
It depends on the scholarship criteria.
Some specifically state that they are only for students who are right out of high school…no gap year.
So…the student would need to check each scholarship criteria.
Also, if your student got need based aid, at many, many colleges, outside scholarships will reduce need based aid awards starting with self help (loans, work study). So you might want to check the college policy on that too.
We end up with a ton of talent at the branch campus when parents and students realize their local outside scholarships don’t help them with the EFC - the bright side, those funds go a long way at their state school that does allow stacking.