I was wondering if anyone knew about any scholarships available to a high school junior. I personally feel that I am qualified to receive merit based scholarships, I just do not know where to look.
Scholarships for HS? Or scholarships for college?
Assuming you mean for college, the colleges themselves usually give the best scholarships. Read each college website for info on deadlines and any application steps. Sometimes you don’t have to do anything extra. If you Google the Common Data Set for each school, there is a section on financial aid where you can see what % of students get non-need based aid and the average amount. You can get a rough idea if you are competitive for merit aid by determining if your test scores fall within that % of the top of the last freshman class.
@thumper1 @intparent yes, scholarships for college. I know that colleges hand out scholarships, but based on my current income bracket, I most likely will not receive much. I already have a brother that is in med school, and I don’t want my parents spending another $50-$60k per year on me. However, I want to go to an expensive school (out of state)
No, you are misunderstanding. Many colleges give merit aid that is not related to your income. Not the Ivies, but a tier or two below that you can get some good aid.
There are very few high dollar (i.e. 40,000 a year) scholarships available from outside competitions, and those scholarships are highly competitive. I would not predicate a plan to pay for college based solely on winning one of those. Not saying you shouldn’t apply, just saying don’t make an entire plan around winning what in many cases is harder to do than win the lottery.
I would look at what you have to offer, put it out here on CC (i.e. SAT/ACT, GPA, Extracurriculars, Volunteer, major, where you live) and see what the helpful folks here recommend.
Don’t get your heart set on some imagined Dream School. Set your heart instead on a dream life - one where you don’t have huge amounts of debt, are at a place where you are making your opportunities and friendships and driving your own destiny, not worrying about which package of ramen noodles you’ll eat tonight and if you’ll still be in Mom and Dad’s basement when you’re 30 because of your debt load.
Run the Net Price Calculator (NPC*) on the various school’s websites Yes it is tedious. Do it anyway.
If the cost of the school is more than you can afford then it should not be an option. If you choose to apply anyway, make sure after you receive the financial aid and scholarships the school has to offer, that if it is still too much, it is not an option. *NPC warning: if you/family are self-employed or own rental property (or have a lot of other assets) it may not be accurate.
College grants for the Affluent (i.e. merit based aid)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/local/college-grants-for-the-affluent/1526/
Full ride scholarships like these:
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
If you don’t want your parents to spend $50,000-$60,000 on you, then you have two choices.
- Pick a less costly school. There are tons of them.
- Apply to places where you will receive guaranteed merit aid based on your stats.
@CourtneyThurston what are the scholarships that HS juniors can apply to receive? Do any of them NOT consider need.
To the OP…some of the most generous outside scholarships (and those would be the ones you would be applying for as a junior) have a need element as well.
Also, are you a junior NOW? If so, you have likely missed the deadlines for scholarships that are awarded to HS juniors.
There are some scholarships for exceptional juniors out there (at least that’s the urban myth). My friend’s daughter recently found out about one at the last minute and applied, but that deadline has passed. I found this list, but many of the programs consider need - http://thecollegematchmaker.com/23-big-money-college-scholarships-every-type-student/
Focus your college search on schools that offer merit aid. We didn’t apply to schools that offer need based aid only. This is tough, but necessary. Work on getting your numbers as high as you can (GPA & standardized test scores). Schools may admit holistically, but merit aid is often based on a formula so the higher your numbers the more you are likely to be awarded.
It’s entirely up to your parents of course but if they already paid for your brother to get a bachelor’s degree then maybe by the time you graduate they could help you with college and have your brother take out loans for med school?
You might ask them some time if they have money set aside for you to go to college and what your budget is going to be for college. So that you know what schools to target that might give you merit.
Unfortunately, it won’t help you because the deadline just passed (March 18th), but for anyone reading this thread in the future, the Coolidge Scholarship is a new scholarship open to juniors only. It grants a merit-based full ride scholarship to any accredited college or university.
Here are some others open to juniors - not sure if the deadlines have already passed. I think all of them require for a student to have financial need:
Hamilton
Carson
QuestBridge
There is a third choice, especially if your parents can come up with a significant amount, but not the full amount. And that is schools that give decent merit to students near the top of their pool, but it is not guaranteed. Certainly your safety or safeties should be in category 1 or 2 above, and also someplace you are sure you can get into and would like to attend. But if knocking $15 or $20K off the price would make a high priced college affordable for you, then there are more options.
Variations on #2 are that some schools offer in-state tuition rates to students with higher stats.
I think @NJRoadie nails the bit about the dream school – read that paragraph again, and internalize it. it will make your search so much more effective.
All the scholarships I know of for HS juniors are closed now. As far as senior year scholarships go, Coke is really the only major one that doesn’t consider need at all. Students may find some luck with local ones, but those are typically very small (and one-time) when only merit-based.