<p>so I'm 17 years old I'm almost done with high school (1 more semester) and I'm living at home, I live with my mom and step dad and their annual earnings is around $45,000. they haven't saved a dime for me for college which means I'm going to be completely dependant on scholarships and grants and possibly even loans. I've done a decent amount of research and since i want to live on campus its going to cost an average of $6,500 / year. because i live in New Mexico my tuition and fees for college is paid for, except the first semester which is going to run me $2,300. so all in all i need to find a way to pay for the first semester tuition fee of $2,300, my book fees (avg of $500-800 a semester), and my housing fee of $6,500 / year. my cumulative GPA at the end of this year, my final year of high school, will be between 2.7 - 2.85 and so far my best ACT score is a 21 but I plan on re-taking it at least 2 more times, but 21 is good enough for the college I've already been accepted to (UNM).
I'm not the brightest student, I don't do community service, I don't have any academic achievement awards, and because I don't have a 3.0+ GPA I'm disqualified from many scholarships, local and national. I have heard of FAFSA and plan on applying ASAP but I fear that this will not be enough money to get me through college which makes me lean more on scholarships. I've heard good and bad things about Fastweb, they have a lot of essay competition scholarships that I've heard are virtually impossible to win and even if you do win them it usually isn't that much money. I've gone through a list of all my college's available scholarships to incoming freshmen and I don't qualify for ANY. I feel that when I search and apply to scholarships on Fastweb its virtually impossible to win any of them because I think of how many people are also applying and how low my chances are of winning, I can write a fairly decent essay, probably above average but not enough to make me stand out from 500,000+ people, I've also looked into local scholarships but that isn't looking too good either. So far I have 0 scholarships and college starts in 7 1/2 months, I feel like I'm trapped in a financial corner with only my drive and ambition carrying my forward. I haven't really looked into loans as I see that as a last resort but I did calculate my housing and it's going to cost around $26,000 for 4 years, I'm not looking forward to paying that back either if I got a loan for that much. I also plan on working on-campus around 20 hours a week. I've also looked into "unusual" scholarships and I don't qualify for any of them, never thought I'd hate being normal.</p>
<p>So my questions are does anyone know what I should do scholarship wise? What national scholarships are easiest to win? and on Fastweb when it says "awards available: 1" on a scholarship does that mean only one person out of the thousands that apply can win or does that mean that if you win you only get that 1 award? also can scholarships / financial aid be used towards on-campus housing + meal plan? is it easier to get scholarships once you're attending college? because I've seen scholarships that are only available to people that are already enrolled and going to college. and any other advice you can give me is greatly appreciated.
My ultimate question is for anybody who wasn't the brightest kid in the school and doesn't have any awards and didn't do any community service and his parents didn't save up for his college education. How did you get through it? What advice can you offer me? What scholarships did you receive?</p>