Merit Scholarships

Hi my kid is short a few thousand dollars after FA and our contribution and her job. Any suggestions for merit based scholarships? Also she is hispanic. In case thats helpful/

oops I also forgot to mention that she will be taking a student loan. I believe that we have exhausted everything. So thats why we are thinking of merit scholarships.

It is probably too late for any merit scholarships from the school she plans on attending if it is this fall. Your should look for local scholarships. Look at chamber of commerce, any hispanic societies, or ask school counselor if they know of any.

Oh i agree. I dont mean scholarships from her university but from other philanthropic organizations.

Is she an incoming freshman? If so, have you asked for a merit review from the school she wants to commit to? We successfully did so with one of S’s colleges.

Yes she is an incoming freshman. We are looking for outside organizations that give scholarships.

Are you comparing after only billed costs (tuition, fees, campus dorm room & board), or total costs, including books, miscellaneous, and travel costs that many colleges list?

If you are using the total costs, then check if there are ways to frugalize on them to save a few thousand dollars, since some colleges have very generous estimates for miscellaneous and travel costs (but some others do not).

If you are using only billed costs, remember that books, miscellaneous, and travel costs are more than $0 even for very frugal students.

Contact your school guidance counselor and see if the dates have passed for applying to local scholarships.

One thing you need to know…if your kid is awarded outside scholarship aid, you are required to report it to the college. This could reduce the need based aid she has received from the college.

Thanks for all the input but im just asking if anyone knows of any scholarhsips.

I havent had luck with scholarships in the past but then i hear people who have. So was just wondering if anyone knew of anything that they have had luck with.

The best aid comes from schools, and many don’t let you stack scholarships. That means even if your child earns one at this late date the school would just lower the amount of your grants to make up for it. Your bottom line wouldn’t change. Check with your school’s guidance counselor for ideas though. Local scholarships are often only a one time award and only a few hundred dollars.

Do you have any other options that are more affordable?

What is the school you are looking at attending?

Ill stick my neck out. It’s April 21. The only scholarships which might not have passed deadlines might be some local ones in your community. Ask your school guidance person about anything like that.

As noted, these are typically one year, non-renewable awards. So consider that.

The advice you have received about having to report these outside scholarships is spot on. It may not reduce anything but the need based aid your student received.

The challenge with this approach is most local scholarships are only one time scholarships. This approach is not good when you need a 4 year plan of how to pay for college. Also remember any scholarship monies received over the cost of tuition and books will be taxable income to the student

My advice: ask your family for a loan or go to CC and transfer later.

The problem with applying for private or outside scholarships is that these foundations receive hundreds, if not, thousands of applicants for $500 here-$200 there. The competition is intense. I was on the board of a foundation that received hundreds of applications that were screened down to 50. The minimum requirements were challenging: Over 3.5 GPA, athlete- with 3 yrs varsity play, nomination into State finals, EC’s, and admission into instate public universities.

My kids, also Hispanic, applied for some merit aid, but we discovered that most of those associations were often need-based, even though their documentation indicated that accepting merit and need-based applicants could apply.

Our middle child was a star athlete and an academically strong applicant. She applied for a merit scholarship through the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and did not receive anything other than a thank you for applying. She later received an email to apply for residual funding ($100 scholarship!) and did so, but was later told that, “oops! sorry”, they prioritized their funding for very low income students and they made a mistake and realized they didn’t have funding.

Our youngest was a National Merit Winner, not a penny received from HSF, but he did get a piece of paper saying that he was a Nationally Recognized Hispanic Scholar. We were fortunate that we were frugal, had budgets and 529 accounts, for all three, and each kiddo had his/her own savings and jobs.

An added problem, this time around, is the pandemic-so summer and part-time jobs have disappeared.

^^^
This. It’s too late to ask for scholarship help from a nation-wide audience; pretty much all of the big, non-local scholarships have been closed for the coming academic year. You need to concentrate on the local scholarships, and unless you tell us where you live, nobody here can help you, other than to advise that you check with local resources.

Thanks so much for everyones input. Residence is Washington State

Is she going to a commutable school?

Our guidance counselor was no help. He suggested to check Naviance. We are still waiting on a decision from a merit scholarship appeal at one school. One school told us we got the highest merit so they wouldn’t reconsider. Try the school appeal. A lot of these scholarships are really need based and kids don’t want to write essays right now but you maybe able to retool one you have already.

Your high school, or a neighboring one, may have a list of local scholarships online. I used the one posted by my kids’ school, but also looked at the websites of a couple of neighboring schools because they were more complete. Some scholarships were only available to student at the other school or who lived in that county, but a few were more general.

Look at your bank, civic organizations, church. I just saw one for Presbyterians!