I know that they will be very beneficial to me for my freshman year, but what about the other ones ? Should I put most of my effort into finding renewable ones ?
I’m in the “every penny counts” camp…and especially if these outside scholarships will not reduce the need based aid you get from schools…or if you aren’t eligible for need based aid.
Both of our kids got $5000 or so in scholarships for freshman year only…and it was a nice thing to take the edge off. Neither received need based aid so awards were not reduced by their schools.
Simply put…this was money they would not otherwise have had.
In our cases, these were local scholarships awarded by local organizations. See your school guidance counselor for info about those.
If your expected rate of return is above $7/hour you should apply.
Both of my kids received some local scholarships. It was time well spent. Even though they were not renewable, they helped.
Basically, you’re asking if free money is worth it. It is. One of mine got a local scholarship for $1000. She had tuition covered already (not a need based award), so the extra 1K paid for a computer and first semester books.
Yes, my DD’19 got $7200 in competitive scholarships for freshman year. It’s a huge help! We don’t get need based aid so it did reduce her cost by $7200. Next year she can save a lot by moving off campus so these helped with the more expensive on-campus year.
Generally we did not worry about the big, national ones she would never win. I did make sure she applied to all of the local ones, and a couple of state ones. (Found on the GC’s website and some Google searches. I also ensured we knew about local ones by taking notes from the newspaper article about the Class of 2018 awards night.)
Sometimes you can find a national one in which your odds are better. My DD’17 applied to one specifically for her major that gives out a few hundred awards every year. She did win a renewable one.
For future years, I would urge you to apply for your college’s foundation scholarships for continuing students if they have them. IME it is one common app for dozens or hundreds of scholarships. I’ve been told many do not bother doing it.
Every little bit helps. Apply wisely though. Focus on the easier to win local scholarships and not the major national ones. And stay off Fastweb.
What I told my kids… Getting a $500 scholarship toward a $30,000 bill might not seem worth it. However, if someone walked up and handed you $500, would you not be ecstatic? It’s the same thing! And those $500-1000 add up.
Also agree 100% about focusing on local scholarships and skipping the national one. We made that mistake with older S. So much time and $$$ wasted.
Another trick we learned was to read the paper and see who won various scholarships. There were several not listed in the kids’ guidance office newsletter. My younger S won $5000 from one company. We only knew about it because my older S had gotten it a few years prior. He was clued in last minute by a friend. I heard only 3 people applied for it for younger S’ year.
Free money is free money no matter how you look at it. If you don’t want it, PM me and I will give you the contact information to Michigan and my sons account number… Lol… ? ?
Keep in mind that local scholarships might take need into account. Many applications asked about family income, or FAFSA EFC, household size, students in college, and other aid received etc.