<p>Hey, I was just wondering: out of all the third-party scholarships you all have applied to, how many have you all actually won?</p>
<p>I just need an estimate of how many third-party scholarships I will apply to. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I applied to as many as I could find this past spring, about 30-35. I have been awarded 4 so far, but 1 was to a specific private college that I decided not to attend. Grand total of $4525 for the 3 I’m able to use so far. I’ve probably invested over 100 hours in research and filling out applications, plus a fair amount of effort/funds to secure transcripts, ink, postage, letters of recommendation, etc. Still, that was a lot of awarded money for my inexpensive in-state public where tuition runs $7500 per year. I can’t imagine trying to fill the gap at an expensive school.</p>
<p>My advice is that it’s totally random, and difficult to get scholarships in this economic environment. Nearly every rejection letter I got stated that they received significantly more applications than ever before. I would have gladly invested triple the time, had I started earlier and not run out of scholarships I qualified for (that I could find).</p>
<p>It’s not a high return, but the more time you can invest, and the more applications you can get sent off, the better. </p>
<p>I plan to start this fall for the 2012-2013 school year, rather than starting in the early spring like I did this year.</p>
<p>My younger daughter applied to four, and got all 4. One community scholarship board turned her down for her freshman year, but she has received increasing amounts of money from them for her sophomore through senior year (the coming year). For this year she has: 4 year guaranteed from local grocery store chain ($1750/year), community scholarship for medical professional majors ($2500 this year/applies every year), scholarship for students of our religious affiliation in our area ($3000 this year/amount varies every year based on her essay vs other applicants’/applies every year and received every year), and a government grant of $44K (22 for this year and next - she’s in a 3 + 2 program so her senior year is also her first year of graduate school). She will owe taxes on part of the grant, but that beats paying interest on loans.</p>
<p>My son applied to a few and got 2.</p>
<p>One was for $2k per year (multi-year scholarships are more rare.)</p>
<p>And one was a one-time award of $1500.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine trying to fill the gap at an expensive school.</p>
<p>If you’re looking to help pay for school, be aware that most private scholarships are only for freshman year…so you’d be short for years 2, 3, and 4. Getting scholarships for frosh year is fine to pay for some costs, but if you won’t get that money after that, the school may quickly become unaffordable. </p>
<p>If you need money to pay for college, apply to the schools that award them. Those are typically for all 4 years as long as you keep your grades up.</p>
<p>Sorry, but this question is too general to generate meaningful feedback. The gifted athlete is in a different spot than the stellar student, who is, in turn, in a different kettle than the great kid who volunteers a gazillion hours and is making a difference in his/her local community. </p>
<p>Your best bet is NOT scattering resumes across the scholarship universe. Instead make a detailed list of “who you are” and shop from there. Gender, ethnicity, age, sport, skill set, even zip code makes a difference to where you will come out a winner. There are many, many tiny but also tightly targeted scholarships. So you may be able to string together the Thurston County Evalyn Poff scholarship for $1000 with the Lacey Rotary Club $500 for Spanish students with the Sons of Norway $1000 IF you happen to be a) living in Thurston County, and b) a Spanish student and c) of Norwegian descent. </p>
<p>I agree with mom2collegekids. Most scholarships are for incoming freshmen – but don’t count on scholarships to pave your way all the way. I hate that book that implies otherwise (some super student who spent his every waking moment pursuing scholarships wrote one a few years ago – I think he was a serious outlier to the scholarship world and the vast majority of students would not have his success rate OR want to live his kiss-up life).</p>