<p>My family is in the lower-middle end of the middle class bracket, but they don't have anything saved for college, or much extra money at the end of each month. I'm going to need financial aid to get through school, but I've been shot down from every scholarship I apply to.</p>
<p>I'm wondering where I should look for scholarships that I have half a shot at getting.. I'm not a minority from a poor family; I don't have a sob story outside of my parent's divorce.. I just need money to help pay for college. Any suggestions are appreciated</p>
<p>Are you a high school senior?</p>
<p>What is your situation?</p>
<p>What is your GPA?</p>
<p>Test scores?</p>
<p>Major?</p>
<p>Your best aid will be from the COLLEGES that give aid.</p>
<p>Who is your custodial parent? Is the family low income?</p>
<p>I’m a rising senior, my GPA is unimpressive due to early slacking in high school(which is my other problem) ~3.6 unweighted, 30 ACT (shooting for 32 in september), low SAT, I’m looking at a major for premed… Still undecided.</p>
<p>My parents have joint custody, but I live with my father and step mother the majority of the time, and they make ~70k+ a year. My mother is single and makes 25-40k/yr, and I only have one 12 year old sibling.</p>
<p>Your stats will qualify you for a number of automatic merit scholarships:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Students who qualify for these automatic scholarships will also have a shot at competitive merit scholarships at peer institutions.</p>
<p>You can also qualify for need-based aid at many schools. Choose a school or two you like and try their Net Price Calculator to get a rough estimate of need-based aid. Keep in mind that the calculators are not always accurate.</p>
<p>Yeah, I browsed through that thread previously, and it was helpful… I’m just looking for options outside of automatic scholarships at this point. I’m just shy of the majority of them, actually.</p>
<p>Plenty of schools give merit aid. What you want to focus on are schools where your GPA and test scores are well above the average for the school. (Why should they pay you to attend if you’re the same as all the rest of their students?) So look at lesser known, less competitive schools.</p>
<p>If you’re looking at med school, it’s critically important that you get through your undergrad years with as little debt as possible . . . so explore all options!</p>
<p>The automatic scholarships are some of the best ones. My son was awarded some money even though his numbers were slightly less than the published numbers.</p>
<p>At least with an automatic scholarship, you won’t have to worry about whether you’ll get it. And there are a few you qualify for. I’m in a similar situation. I’m not going to have any help from parents financially when I start college next year, and I’ve decided that taking one of these automatic scholarships is probably my best option. I will also be a pre.Med student. The truth is, competitive scholarships are just too difficult to get, usually.
Also, raising your ACT score by just a couple of points (a lot harder than it sounds, I know) will really open more doors for you. Or, you could try the SAT if you haven’t already.</p>
<p>Your stats often need to be well-within the upper quartile to get large merit (not just above average). </p>
<p>Many schools award their largest merit to those in the top 5-10% of the frosh class. </p>
<p>Smaller merit isn’t likely going to be enough for you.</p>
<p>Private scholarships are VERY hard to get and often for ONLY FROSH year…so you’d be short of funds for the rest of college…so don’t go that route. </p>
<p>The best merit is from the colleges that award for stats. Those are for all 4 years (usually).</p>
<p>Your story suggests that you won’t be able to get much/anything from your parents (no extra money at the end of the month). </p>
<p>In the link on post #4, there are some schools that give large merit for your current stats. </p>
<p>WHAT is your MAJOR??? For instance, if you were an Engineering or Computer Science major, with an ACT 30, Alabama would give you free tuition PLUS 2500 per year. With a stafford loan, working part-time & summer, and maybe a few bucks from parents, you’d have your costs covered. </p>
<p>With an income of $70k, you will have an EFC of probably around $10k. Since it doesn’t sound like they’ll pay that, you need a very large merit award (at least full tuition).</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>My son had a very good GPA - 3.97 Unweighted, 4.25ish weighted and well above average test scores 31 ACT, > 2000 SAT.</p>
<p>He lives full-time with me, a single mom, making 60Kish per year.</p>
<p>He applied for approximately 30 scholarships. All the major national ones - BK, RMH, Lowes, Best Buy, Elk’s. Several engineering focused ones, such as, SAE. He did not get any of those awards. </p>
<p>What he did get was 4 local awards - one from a local manufacturing business that only awards to students at his high school, one from one of our utility companies that awards to each of the areas they service, one from a local endowment that awards money to all the top students at his school each year (and is really automatic for high achieving students), and one from a private individual with an endowment serviced by a local community foundation. All in all, the 4 awards will provide him about $7500 towards his freshman year.</p>
<p>That doesn’t come close to the full tutition + $2500 he’ll be getting from 'Bama for all 4 years, but every little bit does help. </p>
<p>My suggestion is if you have time available apply for as many awards as you are eligible for, most are online now, so free to apply, it just takes time. You may get lucky and win one of the national awards, but don’t count on that. Focus your attention on local awards, where you have a chance to stand out.</p>
<p>Thank for you all of the insight guys. I was aware of alabama and mississippi prior to making this thread, but I was actually wondering which one of the two would be a better option. My dilemma right now is that I qualify for 2/3rd tuition at Alabama instead of full, which comes out to ~16k/yr after room and board, out of state. I’m trying to get another 2 points on my ACT, but like someone previously mentioned, it’s harder than it sounds!</p>
<p>One of my main issues barring me from merit scholarships is my GPA, but I guess automatic merit scholarships are the way to go. The only thing that concerns me is that most of them are out of state and still expensive, or no name commuter schools I’ll never have the opportunity to visit or want to go to under normal circumstances.</p>
<p>LSU is another full tuition possibility.</p>
<p>Something to keep in mind is that there are some government programs that you apply for after you enroll in college that will help with expenses, but then you owe them time. There is a SMART program for science, math, and engineering majors. There are also internship programs where you can make pretty good money for the summer especially if you are majoring in the technical fields.</p>
<p>I know that someone has to get those small scholarships, but it is tough to get very many of them. The school specific ( as in your high school) often go to the handful of superstars in the class. At my son’s school, the same kids’ names were called over and over.</p>
<p>@BobWallace I just barely qualify for the LSU scholarship I would like, but it only goes to the top 100 OOS applicants, and I doubt my stats are there.</p>
<p>What is your MAJOR???</p>
<p>Like I mentioned above, if it’s engineering or computer science, then Bama will give you full tuition plus $2500 per year. (You’d be given two scholarships…1 from the univ for 2/3 tuitin…and one from the Col of Eng’g for 1/3 tuition plus 2500 per year. Remaining costs are low. </p>
<p>If you major in something else, then you’d need a 32 ACT for full tuition.</p>
<p>I see that you’re pre-med. Bama has a CompSci/pre-med track that might interest you…and you’d get the big awards.
<a href=“http://cordes.cs.ua.edu/fep/pdf/ComputerScience_PreMed_PreLaw.pdf[/url]”>http://cordes.cs.ua.edu/fep/pdf/ComputerScience_PreMed_PreLaw.pdf</a></p>
<p>Computer science doesn’t really interest me though… It’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It’s an option I guess, but I’d like to be able to major in something I’ll enjoy and do well in.</p>
<p>I’m shooting for that 32 in September, but I’d probably be more likely to choose another school before majoring in computer science for the full ride. I just wish my parents would realize how difficult it is for me to find scholarships. They say “Oh, well apply for all the scholarships you can”, and just write me off like I’m going to be able to find my way financially.</p>
<p>University of Arkansas-Monticello would give you a full ride…I know, probably not your first choice but worth considering.</p>