<p>I just wanted to let you know that there is alot of scholarship $$$$ out there for your high schooler. The earlier you get started looking the less painful it is going to be. Start strategizing say in early 9th or 10th grade. Do your homework on every organization and web site you can find. Narrow it down to 50 to 100. That is correct, I said 50 to 100.
Make your college bound high schoolers get motivated and help you. He/ she is going to be writing alot of essays and doing alot of volunteer work to make it happen. I heard of a girl that applied for 500 scholarships and eventually got enough scholarship money for all 4 years.
So I told the story to my daughter when she was in 10th grade to get her motivated. I also lied and told her we did not have any money for her college. She suddenly stopped texting and talking on her cell phone, watching stupid TV programs and dumb videos on the computer and Took a Pro-active approach. She by herself applied for about 40 scholarships and got 8 accepted for a grand total of $29,000 and went to the UC system in California which is about 26,000. Yea she has about $3000 for next year and is applying again for a bunch of $$$. She also totaled over 600 hours of community service Volunteer
work. YES you can make it happen for most high schoolers. Some will be overwhelmed by the challenge and may drop out of the college race. You will have to decide if they can accept the challenge, most kids love a challenge. You have my best wishes and warmest regards!! NEVER GIVE UP!!!!</p>
<p>Yeah, lying to your kids is a great way of instilling strong moral values. NOT!</p>
<p>Do you know how much useless pressure you put on your child by lying about your financial situation? You are a very very bad parent.</p>
<p>I’m talking to the OP.</p>
<p>I feel so sorry for your kid. Your lying breaks my heart. How awful!</p>
<p>So how much money would you have paid for college, and what are you doing with that money? Will you save it up to give her for grad school, money for a downpayment on a house someday, or what?</p>
<p>Not a parent here, but wow. Poor kid. You probably put a lot of unnecessary stress on her. You should have been truthful about the amount you could afford to pay, and told her that if she wanted to attend a more expensive college, she would have to earn scholarships to make up the difference.</p>
<p>I’m a high-schooler, and sometimes we need time to kick back and watch dumb TV shows. I’m so glad that I don’t have you for a parent.</p>
<p>I think the person is some kind of ■■■■■. </p>
<p>Any student who is bright enough to write enough essays to win so many scholarships is bright enough to realize that spending the time to get good grades and strong test scores would be more of a guarantee of 4 years of scholarships. </p>
<p>What kid has the time during senior year plus the first 3 years of college to be chasing hundreds of scholarships and writing hundreds of essays?</p>
<p>■■■■■.</p>
<p>I agree. I think it is terrible that you lied, and especially in such a way that created a feeling of threat of this kind. It is terrible. </p>
<p>And she could have just focused on her grades, other developmental activities…to reach the same goal. </p>
<p>I would also add that having a normal childhood and social life as a young person is as valuable as anything else (your disdain for texting and stupid games is pretty evident). It just seems very very sad to me that many feel teens should be working at the expense of everything else. They are going to be working the rest of their lives…why they can’t enjoy the few remaining years of youth in some leisure and joy is beyond me. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for young people learning responsibility, and developing maturity through work. Part-time jobs for example are excellent, enriching experiences. But the idea of lying to your child to threaten them into using up their teen years to save you money (money you apparently had) is dreadful.</p>
<p>Lately there seems to be a strange preponderance of posts from sock puppets.</p>
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<p>Someone contact the Vatican–I think we have evidence of a genuine miracle.</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>If I thought lying would have achieved this miracle…I would be all over it! No texting or stupid tv shows…the joy! I am also suspicious of the OP, but ■■■■■ or not there is a little bit of wisdom in the OP’s story…</p>
<p>I have discovered, albeit a little late, that there is a lot more merit aid out there especially when you consider schools that are a easy matches or unusual (not commonly considered by top students at the local HS) . Just being from a different area or expressing interest in an unusual major can be helpful for good, if not super prestigious schools…and yes those oddball private scholarships actually do exist and do work! Write that essay on organ donation? Design a poster? Submit a painting? why not?</p>
<p>I did not lie to my kid to get him to apply for all these scholarships but I did do all the secretarial work–I searched for scholarships, got on fastweb and other mailing lists, looked through CC (thank you CC!!!), then printed out the forms, reminded S of deadline, labeled the envelopes, copied CDs, and put them in the mail. He did his part–essays, portfolios, etc.–sometimes only after repeated reminders and nagging but a good number of $$ have followed. I suspect our next kid may be more self-motivated for searching and selecting for scholarships…some kids are just like that…I don’t think scaring them into looking for scholarships is going to be a great motivator.</p>
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<p>This is very true! At my undergrad engineering school everyone is required to enter the program as Undecided. I didn’t know this, and called admissions to complain when I saw they hadn’t put down the major I selected. After getting the “mistake” corrected I found out I got a departmental scholarship from my very small engineering department to the sum of $2500 a semester!</p>
<p>OP -> 2 posts -> tremendous motivating advice -> surprised s/he didn’t post a link to a get rich quick scheme -> ■■■■■.</p>