<p>Sorry if this sounds dumb or anything but I'm really stumped about FA that I might have a chance of obtaining.</p>
<p>I started out the summer by joining websites like Fastwebs, Scholarships .com, etc thinking that MAYBE I could scrape up some money. No luck at all, even though I've applied to like 30 scholarships. I obviously gave up on all of those type of websites.</p>
<p>So how do you get scholarships? Do they even exist in attainable places? (Aka places where 30,000 aren't going to see them) I need approximately $10,000 a year which (at this rate) seems completely impossible. (I currently have approximately $80,000 in my college fund)</p>
<p>I keep hearing about loans and stuff, but my dad made it clear to me that the only way I'd be taking out a loan is if I literally have no other options. I also don't clearly understand credit or anything like that. What constitutes as good credit or bad credit, if I even have any.</p>
<p>I know that I also haven't started school yet (I will be a senior) so I'll still end up talking to my career center lady about all this stuff, but I just started the summer hoping that I could possibly scrape up some money but I haven't gotten anything at all so far and it's really making the future look pretty bleak.</p>
<p>Is there any advice that people have towards finding scholarship or grant information?</p>
<p>Some quick information, I have a 3.07 unweighted GPA, my SAT score was 1750, I'm half Asian half Caucasian, live with a single parent (mom died) and in a few after school activities. I however don't know how much my dad makes exactly though (we're well off. Not dirt poor but not super rich either.)</p>
<p>Right now, your stats are a bit low for big scholarships.</p>
<p>What is your weighted GPA?</p>
<p>Will you take the SAT again? Will you also take the ACT?</p>
<p>It’s probably not worth your time to try to find outside scholarships. They are hard to get, often small, and often for one year only.</p>
<p>As for loans. As a student, you’d be eligible to borrow up to $5500 for freshman year, 6500 for soph year, 7500 for junior year, 7500 for senior year.</p>
<p>What is your home state? </p>
<p>Since you have $80k in your college fund, your best bets will likely be your instate publics.</p>
<p>My stats are also about in your range. I’m hoping to get some money from local scholarships. Those won’t be available to 10,000 people like on Fastweb. You can get scholarships from your Dad’s work, athletic awards, and your local educational centers.</p>
<p>It looks pretty bleak for me too. But the reality is that private scholarships don’t want to throw away their money. They’ll give it to people with 4.0 GPA working-class kids. (you might get lucky…)</p>
<p>My state school costs ~$22,000/year and I hope that the school cuts have the price. GL.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I do not agree with this. While these smaller outside scholarship might be small and not renewable…EVERY PENNY COUNTS when you are looking for college funding. My DD got about $5000 worth of scholarships (from 6 or 7 different sources) for her freshman year only. Believe me…those were NOT a waste of time to apply for…and the money helped a lot.</p>
<p>My daughter also received a school based scholarship of $750 a year…small, yes, but it paid for her books. </p>
<p>Please do not discourage students from applying to smaller, one time scholarships. When considering college finances, every penny counts.</p>
<p>For most students, I think it’s a good idea to prioritize the hunt for merit aid, followed by local/regional/state scholarships, then national ones. Unless one is eligible for the mega scholarships like Gates, etc. </p>
<p>I agree with thumper - those $500-$2500 scholarships come in very handy and my D uses them to pay for her books, extra summer classes, etc. This week she received another $1500 outside award as a sophomore, totally out of the blue, which will give her a big head start on paying for tuition and living expenses next summer. It made her day!</p>
<p>I need approximately $10,000 a year which (at this rate) seems completely impossible.</p>
<p>I have no problem with people applying for private scholarships if big amounts aren’t absolutely needed to attend college. </p>
<p>Both my boys receive small amounts in private scholarships, but those amounts aren’t what enables them to be able to go to college. They pay for their books and other small charges with those scholarship dollars. If they didn’t get them next year, they would still be able to afford college because the amounts aren’t high.</p>
<p>It would be very dangerous for a student to agree to go to School A on the “hope” that each year she would somehow cobble together $10k in private scholarships each year so that she could continue the following year. Such a student would be better off getting a $10k+/yr scholarship from the college itself.</p>
<p>Those local scholarships add up, but not by nearly enough to count on to cover the majority of expenses. DD received 13 for her freshman year - they covered her entire year at a state school, plus half of the next year. There were still 2 1/2 years to pay for.</p>
<p>Sounds like you need to have a frank talk with your father, who I assume is going to being paying some or all of your tuition/room and board. With 80K in your college fund you already have enough to pay tuition at most state colleges for the next four years. If you decide on a private there will be more variety in cost but it’s likely to be considerably more expensive. It’s certainly worth applying for scholarships and especially useful to contact your guidance department at high school and let them know you’re looking. But it sounds like your Dad and you need to go over the financials a little more carefully at this point.</p>
<p>Yes, it would be better to receive a merit scholarship but it the $10K sounds like it is before any student loans, student contributions from work, or before any parent contribution from current income. My guess is that the OP is looking at cost of attendance figures, which can almost always be reduced. Imo, it shouldn’t be that difficult to come up with the additional amount needed each year.</p>