For those of you out there who are lucky enough to be able to afford to go to college, but are still want to try and get some scholarships: here is my advice:
I applied for about 8 different scholarships, and only got one of them ($200). It turns out that even though most scholarships say they are for anyone, they give them to students who need the money… and this makes sense!! I am not complaining. But, based on this, I would not recommend wasting your time writing essays for scholarships, because they definitely will consider your financial need, no matter what they say. I wish I had spent less time working on scholarships, because it was not worth it in the end.
One thing I will recommend is that you can invest in your future by simply working hard throughout high school! If you keep your GPA up and get a high ACT score, most universities will offer you merit scholarships. I received a $1,500 per year scholarship from the University I currently attend (University of Michigan Ann Arbor). I also was offered a $5,000 per year scholarship from Michigan State University and a similar offer from Indiana University Bloomington. And I did not have to do anything that I would have not done already just to get admitted into those colleges!
So, for non-need students I would say the best option is to just work hard and see what offers colleges give you! If you want to spend time writing essays, you have a chance of getting a scholarship…but a small chance! Just my advice based on my experience! Hope this helps!
Our experience was significantly different: our student applied to many, mostly local, merit based scholarships, and was awarded several of them. They did apply for a National, with a local component, scholarship and received an award from the local organization. What has been difficult to watch is classmates with need who were awarded merit based local scholarships. Those dollars will effectively be transferred to non-local students because of how financial aid stacks. Not that there are consistent ways to find out how individual schools handle it.
This processs does share many characteristics with a crapshoot.
Only if those students go to schools that deliver financial aid at all. Some don’t.
Our experience was similar to the OP, with one $600 exception (Elks local). My kids had way more luck researching merit scholarships at the schools they were interested in and making sure they submitted high quality applications early. I also believe expressing your interest personally is important.
My daughter was accepted to a top 10 school with no merit aid. She later emailed expressing her interest (first choice school), asking what else she could do to be considered for a merit scholarship (there was no separate app), etc. Her RAC said he would “resubmit” her file to the scholarship committe, and a few weeks later she received $10K/year merit scholarship.
My son received a full COA scholarship to an OOS public university. During the interview process he let them know that if they offered it to him he would definitely enroll. Don’t know for sure, but I think that may have made a difference.
Also agree with above posts that it is important to investigate how merit will stack on top of need-based aid. Some schools stack, some reduce need-based aid by 100% of the value of the merit aid, some reduce need-based aid by 50% of the value of the merit aid, etc.
If you receive a local scholarship, try to get them to pay it directly to you, so the school doesn’t reduce any need-based aid.
Good luck to all!!
It doesn’t work that way. You are required to report all scholarship funds to your university if you receive an aid from the school or through the school (Pell, loans, merit aid)
@“Kathy V” even if an outside scholarship is made out to the student, they are still obligated to report it to the school, possibly reducing need based aid. To not report it is dishonest and could result in severe consequences.
The best merit comes from the colleges themselves. After that, your best shot is local scholarships or organizations that you (or your parents) belong to. Those are often only 1-2 year scholarships, though. And colleges may reduce some component of need based aid when you report them (but sometimes they reduce loans, which is good in the long run).