Money for college? - Guilty Son

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>So...pretty much the story goes like this. I was recently accepted to the University of Pennsylvania (YAY) and don't get me wrong, I am eagerly awaiting the day that I can officially call myself a Quaker. I mean, I shouldn't really be worried at all right now - classes at my high school are going fine and everything is as it should be.</p>

<p>And yet, I am worried about paying for college. I have yet to receive my aid package, but I am almost guaranteed to receive $0 financial aid. I am in the "sweet spot" where I am too "rich" to receive any aid, but too "poor" to be able to pay everything off without it actually being a burden. I have talked with my parents and I know that we DO have the means to pay my tuition etc, but I still feel like I should be able to do my part. </p>

<p>This is where scholarships come in. Many of the scholarships that I have come across factor in financial need as well as merit. As an unhooked candidate to Penn, I believe I have some merit, but as mentioned before, I do not have the same amount of need as others. I will still be applying to these scholarships, but I do not expect much.</p>

<p>My question comes down to this: What are some good national/regional (Washington State/Pacific Northwest) scholarships that I can apply to that are purely merit based? I am already looking at the local level, so there is no need to worry about that :)</p>

<p>If you made it this far in my post, thank you very much for your time. Any help that you can provide is greatly, greatly appreciated...I just want to do my part so my parents aren't too burdened. </p>

<p>Happy holidays!</p>

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<p>Just a thought - do your parents (or their employers) belong to any associations? You might try looking on the websites where they work and look for memberships to local or national associations (I find most employees aren’t aware of all the groups the company may be a member of). If there are memberships google search for the name of these associations and scholarships. My boss is a member of an association that provides scholarships annually that I discovered by searching myself - my boss did mention it to me after I found it. This particular association only had 60 applicants (nationwide) the year my daughter applied and there were around 8 awards - good odds! She is applying again this year as a college student since they also have scholarships for current college students. Good luck.</p>

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<p>NewEnglandMother,</p>

<p>Thank you for the speedy reply. I will look into that! So far, the websites have yielded no results.</p>