Local scholarships for out-of-state

Paying for College
1

<p>In your experience, can most of the local scholarships available generally be used toward out-of-state colleges, or are they usually restricted to in-state colleges only? Is it ever possible, once accepted to a college, to apply for local scholarships where the college resides (even if it is out of the person's resident state?)</p>

<p>Also, on a completely unrelated note, what exactly happens to the scholarship money in the rare instances whenever a person receives more than their total college fees cost from scholarship award money? Is it simply returned back to the particular scholarship foundation which gave it?</p>

2

<p>My son earned enough scholarship money for approximately three years of college. We were able to speak to a number of the donors and ask for them to delay the payment so he wouldn't lose the scholarship funds. To be more specific, three of them were renewable scholarships for four years, so those weren't a problem. The rest were to be issued his freshman year and would have greatly exceeded the cost of tuition/room/board. We contacted all of the local scholarship donors and asked if they could issue the scholarship for his sophomore year instead and each of them enthusiastically agreed. Also, I should note, my son is attending an out-of-state public college. One of his scholarships is through the university foundation. The remaining ones were local or national. Hope this helps!</p>

3

<p>brainomatic, can you give me some insights into how exactly to win a scholarship? because i applied to sooo many and haven't gotten one, yet.</p>

4

<p>I don't know how much this will help, but here's the ones my son got and what he did:</p>

<p>1) $1000 renewable for four years from the Foundation at his college. He reviewed the list of available scholarships for incoming freshman, found seven that he felt he qualified for, and sent off the applications. These were due in December of his senior year in high school which was a surprise to us, so look early and watch for deadlines.</p>

<p>2) $1000 from MN Wrestling Coaches Assn. Found this one searching the web under wrestling scholarship. Three were awarded and he got picked for one of them. Was on the all-state academic wrestling team as a junior.</p>

<p>3) $1000 MN Twins Diamonds and Dreams Scholarship: Found this one searching for baseball scholarship. You had to be a HS baseball/softball player or manager. He plays baseball during school year, baseball and softball in summer, and was also on a fall baseball league sponsored by a nearby university. He got one of 19 that were awarded.</p>

<p>4) USA Funds: $1500 for four years. This was is income sensitive, so if you don't meet qualifications, don't apply. Found this one at Scholarship America.</p>

<p>5) Best Buy. Got $1000 for being within 50 miles of a Best Buy store. Sent in electronic application and received notice that he was picked.</p>

<p>6) $1000 local American Legion scholarship (his Dad is a member of the Post)</p>

<p>7) $500 Local Teacher's Assn. My son is going into teaching, so that helped a lot!</p>

<p>8) $400 Memorial Scholarship from a local family whose daughter was killed her senior year. Had to be going into the education field to be eligible.</p>

<p>9) $5000, renewable for four years, from the Grefe Family. Have to live southern MN and be a math or science major at college. Found it doing a search for math scholarship Minnesota. One female and one male are picked annually for the $20000 award. </p>

<p>10) $500 local baseball association scholarship (usually they do $250 but they increased my son's this year so they could serve as the local matching sponsor since son's school was sending his name in for the Presidential Freedom Scholarship for volunteer work. Still waiting to hear on the $500 for that).</p>

<p>Basically what my son did in his essays what just try to "be himself". He shared his long-time enthusiasm for the teaching field and explained how he worked as a peer tutor, a teacher's aide in algebra, a mentor for an elementary student, etc. He had done a great deal of volunteer work in this area, before and after school, so I'm sure that helped. He had GREAT letters of recommendation from his teachers and one from the city clerk in our town.</p>

<p>He was very active with school activities -- ranging from four varsity sports, to National Honor Society, the spring play, and even joined pep band his senior year. He was active with his church youth group for six years. I think the longevity of volunteer work or dedication to a program helps a lot, rather than lots of different things for short periods of time. If you've done something for many years, it shows your commitment.</p>

<p>As far as awards that he was able to list on his apps, he was All-Conference in all four varsity sports, all-state academic in two of them, All-Area in two of them, All-District team for one of them, a two-time state medalist in one of them. He had a 3.96 GPA (4.0 scale); took the most rigorous courses available at our school (they don't do AP's here, but he took calc, physics, chem, and so forth). He was Homecoming King, recipient of the Bausch and Lomb Science Award, and multiple 4.0 awards.</p>

<p>He only had a 27 on his ACT, which a lot of people on here would consider to be quite low, but obviously it was good enough for him to get picked for all these scholarships. He scored in the top four percent of the nation on the math portion which is his designated major, so that may have helped.</p>

<p>The most important advice I would give is to search for ones in which you think you are a "good match" for the scholarship. Don't waste your time applying for something in which you're not really qualified, because you're not going to get it. Be honest in your apps. Be yourself.</p>

5

<p>Thanks brainomatic, that was exactly what I was wondering about.</p>