<p>Would be great to crowd source a good list of private scholarships. The big ones that come to mind are Chegg and unigo. But I know there are a lot of other private scholarships out there with minimal application requirements. For example, zoomita.com has a $1,000 scholarship set to open in November. </p>
<p>Feel free to add to the thread. Thx. :)</p>
<p>I don’t think students are going to list private scholarships here. Those scholarships are highly competitive and students aren’t going to want to broadcast them and add to the competition. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that if you need merit to pay for school, then look at the schools that give them. those are usually for 4 years.</p>
<p>PRIVATE awards are usually only for ONE year (frosh year) and for small amounts. Won’t help you pay for 4 years. </p>
<p>mom2collegekids - a private award of $10-20k will help you pay for college. Coca-cola offers 250 of them. <a href=“Find Scholarships for College Students: Scholarship Database | Cappex”>Find Scholarships for College Students: Scholarship Database | Cappex; Competition is of course high, but so is everything else in college admissions, including merit based awards. </p>
<p>As a high school senior, I’m trying to cast a broad net. I really don’t understand your comment about “small amounts.” Are you trying to say $1,000 won’t help me pay for college? In my view, every bit counts, and if all I have to do is spend a day filling out a few forms and writing some short responses to increases my chances, I’ll do it. </p>
<p>midnightletters, I think what mom2college kids means is that struggling students often scrape up enough outside scholarship to pay for their first year at a school they may not have been able to afford otherwise. They are then up a creek without a paddle when they get to their second year and the scholarships they received are not renewable. Sometimes students do not take this fact into consideration. </p>
<p>And in some cases, outside scholarship money results in a decreased award from the school.</p>
<p>No no, I’m sorry but you are mistaken. If you’re going for scholarship money, you exhaust all avenues…that means merit + private. Schools don’t necessarily decrease their award at a 1:1 ratio if a private reward is earned. And scholarships look good on your resume + have a tendency to attract other scholarships. My 2 cents.</p>
<p>Every school has their own individual policy regarding private scholarships. Some reduce work study first, then loans, then merit funding in that order. Some will reduce merit money first - they set the rules. </p>
<p>I’m not “mistaken” - I have a different opinion than you do, and for good reason. As I stated, SOME schools will decrease their merit offers if you get outside money. In those cases, outside money can hurt you. Sure, you may get a $1,000 award freshman year. But if the school decreases their offer by $1,000 - that reduction may carry forward all 4 years. That’s probably not the case for most people - typically it likely is worth chasing every dollar you can find. But for kids with substantial merit aid, it’s often not worth it. D would have had any outside money she earned deducted from her merit scholarship. I had the same situation when I went to college on a full tuition merit scholarship. D and I both would have received some local scholarship money from our high schools, but in both cases the high schools were aware of the impact the outside award would have so the $$ went to other students.</p>
<p>It pays to familiarize yourself with the financial aid policies of your target schools. Best of luck in your search.</p>
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<p>exactly!</p>
<p>Every year, we see students posting and saying things like: “I applied to a hundred scholarships and hardly got anything (or got nothing); now I can’t pay for college.”…or …“I have to leave my college because I can’t afford to return; my scholarships were only for one year.”</p>
<p>Yes, it is FINE to apply and get what you can, but BE AWARE that paying for college is a 4 year deal, so if you can only afford the first year, you’ll be in trouble later.</p>
<p>AND, if you need merit in order to afford schools, find some “sure deals” and then if you also get some of these iffy other ones, then those are the icing on the cake. </p>
<p>Okay, I give up. My dream of crowdsourcing private scholarships will have to wait. I’ll find them myself. InigoMontoya - didn’t mean to offend you…yes you are entitled to your opinions. If you are net 0 then why not take it for your resume though? Also, I agree with kgos16 that the policies are different at every school…really doesn’t make sense to speak in generalities here about decreasing merit awards, imho. Hope you all have a good weekend-</p>
<p>midnight - there is also a subtopic dedicated to outside scholarships at the top of the FA board as well. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/outside-scholarships/”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/outside-scholarships/</a></p>
<p>Check this link. You will find info about a number of private scholarships. Make sure you look at the sub topic for “other major scholarships and competitions”.</p>
<p>This should help you, OP.</p>
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<p>If you notice, I also said that each school sets their own rules. Maybe it’s not worth speaking in generalities, but many students are not aware they need to check the policies at each school to find out how their institutional aid may be impacted by outside scholarships. There have been posts from students disappointed to find that they’ve worked hard to earn outside money, only to realize it doesn’t help them any because of the policies at the school they’re attending. I’m not saying don’t pursue scholarships - just be knowledgeable. D pursued (and received) significant 4-year institutional merit scholarships at several schools, and in every case outside scholarships would not stack. YMMV.</p>
<p>As for net zero gain and taking an outside scholarship, well, it may not be net zero. If the school deducts that money from the award freshman year, there’s no guarantee you’ll get it back in later years. Imo, it’s best to maximize merit money from the institution, especially if it is guaranteed for 4 years (maybe with stipulations such as GPA minimums, but still guaranteed). I don’t think listing something like winning the local rotary scholarship is that big of a resume boost. Now, something like the Gates scholarship - that would be a different story.</p>
<p>There are many search engines out there for national scholarships (college board, fastweb.com, scholarshipexperts.com, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■, and so on). In some cases, local scholarships are a better bet, and listing those here wouldn’t make much sense. Your guidance office should have information on locals, and you can check with places like your local Chamber of Commerce. As suggested on another thread, also check to see if your state, city, or other municipal designation has a site with information on local/regional scholarships (for example, North Carolina has the College Foundation of North Carolina - CFNC.org).</p>
<p>My D got 3 outside scholarships and they are all for the freshmen year and non-renewable. They are only good for resume as the school meet the need and they subtract the grant amount accordingly as the need is reduced by scholarships. She has no loan or work study in the financial package though. Unless you get a large scholarship or multiple smaller ones that is more than the gap/need, it is likely offset by reduction in need based aids. Nevertheless, any reduction in loan or work study will still decrease the out of pocket cost.</p>