<p>I'm a soon to be senior and i haven't applied for any scholarships yet. Where do I start? My hs is ghetto so no one knows anything about scholarships...
Any help is much appreciated =]</p>
<p>Go to fastweb.com, a free scholarship service.
Also use the resources available at your guidance counselor's office, which should be the best source of info about local scholarships. Local scholarships are much easier to get than are the national ones that fastweb will let you know about.</p>
<p>And look at the web pages of colleges that you're considering, and examine the financial aid and scholarship sections. Your absolutely best chances of getting scholarships are by applying to schools that have merit aid that you qualify for. In general, to get merit aid, you have to be at least in the top 25% of a college's applicant pool. </p>
<p>If a college is a reach, you're unlikely to get offered merit aid. Merit aid typically comes from one's safety school, so love thy safety because you might get a wonderful deal from it that you'll need to accept.</p>
<p>Visit websites of schools in better districts near you. The guidance counseling page may have lists of local scholarships, as well as college application timelines and essay advice.</p>
<p>If your parents are low income, you may not need to apply for outside scholarships, schools might give you the need based aid you need. So the first thing to do is use a financial aid estimator, such as the one on this site, to figure out what colleges will expect you to pay.</p>
<p>However, if you're very low income, you might not get into some colleges because some reject students with very high need.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that "financial aid" means grants/scholarships (which don't need to be paid back), loans (which can be as much as $20,000 a year or more), and work-study. Virtually all colleges that give need-based aid give a combination of grants, loans and work-study, and sometimes the loans can be extremely hefty.</p>
<p>That's a good reason to take a careful look at colleges' web pages, and also contact a financial aid officer early to find out how the college divvies up aid.</p>
<p>In addition, prepare your parents to have to fill out forms, including their taxes for this year early. Doing this takes hours, so don't surprise them at the last minute. Getting your forms in late can mean that you don't get any aid even though you need it.</p>
<p>thanks for the info everyone</p>