<p>hey so my family doesn't qualify for any financial aid because we make too much, but the school i want to go costs $61K per year and i promised my dad if i got in that i'd put in at least half, whether through scholarships or a job. problem is i don't know if i should go ahead and start applying for scholarships because my 2nd and 3rd choices won't cost me anything, so if i got the money through outside merit awards but don't get accepted to my 1st choice i won't be able to use them; but i don't hear from them until April 1st and by then it may be too late to get substantial help. so should i apply now or wait until April?</p>
<p>Apply to everything you can, you never know.</p>
<p>You really think you’ll be able to come up with $30K/year? Do you know that you are limited to borrowing $5.5K as a freshman, maxing at $7.5K as a Junior and Senior? The vast majority of outside scholarships are only good for one year. And the most you could expect from a job is somewhere near $5K. What I’m trying to say is the only way you could come up with that kind of money is by winning one of the major national scholarship contests.</p>
<p>Zell Miller will give me just over $4K, and a number of local and national ones are in the $5-30 range so I’d have to do a few of those. i’ll be working all summer regardless and will hopefully start next month anyhow. what i’m concerned about is that i obtain those other scholarships and take somebody else’s place, then end up not even using them.</p>
<p>The problem with non-institutional scholarships is that very few are for all 4 years. Like above mentioned, if the goal is 120K over 4 years, it’s really only worth going for those big national scholarships. Doesn’t hurt you to try but make sure to find things you love about your other options. If your fear is that you’ll do all that work “for nothing” then you might consider that the 1st choice school might not be quite as important.</p>
<p>Apply and see what happens. At least you have affordable options if these other scholarships don’t cover all four years. </p>
<p>You can simply decline any offers, and go to an affordable college.</p>
<p>I would do anything to be able to go to the pricy one, even take out loans, but I may not even get in
And yeah I guess I should thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>$30K is a lot to snag in outside 4 year awards Yes, with the Zell Miller you have a start. That and then the $5500 Direct loan, with summer work, job during school year, can bring you up to about $12-15k. Getting that next $15K would be tough for most students. As you have stated, even getting accepted to that first choice school is up in the air. Large scholarships are even more difficult to get. My kids did not get much in the way of outside scholarships at all. Even school awards were pretty much in the $5K and under range. Rare it was to get the big money, and my one had near perfect test scores and applied to colleges that were not reaches for him. </p>
<p>Hmm… I’ll guess I’ll just have to start now and see then. I hear if I qualify for any merit awards by next month but it is a long shot</p>