This is my last year in high school and all the time I hear about applying for scholarships. I really want to but I feel like most scholarships are just as bad as raffling to win a spectacular family vacation sweepstakes. I just feel like they’re practical to be honest. I guess I just want a guarentee that I have some type of chance at getting a scholarship.
If you’re looking at the national search sites like Niche, you’re right, they are pretty much a raffle with almost no chance of winning. Unless you can find one that has better odds (on Sallie Mae my DD found one specifically for graphic design, that gives out a few hundred scholarships and won one).
Your better bet is to apply to the local ones- like the Lion’s Club or Optimists in your town. Your GC should have a list. Here, most of those put out their applications around the first of the year. Still no guarantees but the odds are better.
Also, find schools that give automatic merit for your stats. This is a much bigger deal than a few small local one-time scholarships.
Finally, once you are in school, find out if your college has endowed scholarships for continuing students that you can apply to every year.
Nobody can get such an assurance. The only assurance that is possible is that you will not get any scholarship for which you don’t apply.
That being said, depending on your stats and the colleges to which you apply, there are some scholarships that there is a high probability that a student will receive.
The best scholarships ce from the colleges themselves. They all are required to have a tool called NPC, net price calculator. Run it for each college you want to apply to and make sure the net cost (-~6,000 or so) is doable for your parents.
What’s your EFC and can your parents pay it?
We found that a lot of the local scholarship had to be used instate. They were great to offer them, but since one daughter was going OOS she was immediately excluded. She didn’t apply to any, but a hs classmate won several (art, essay, music). They weren’t large amount, but all money helps.
You need to do some self sorting. Are you going instate? Do you have a special talent (music, art, essay writing) because a lot of the local scholarships are really prizes for talent. Do you already know your major? Credit Unions sometimes have scholarships for business majors, there are often scholarships for engineers or nurses. We had a local paper that announced a lot of the competition, like if a local photographer had a prize or the American Legion or Elks club.
Also check with the college you are going to. We found there were some local scholarships for students at colleges in that county or for specific colleges. The FA office may have a list or it may be on the website.
It takes some digging.
What state are you from?
What are your stats?
What’s your EFC?
What can your parents afford?
What’s your expected major?
With all of this info, we can direct you toward colleges that have scholarships for you. And often all you have to do is apply.
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You certain have some type of chance for everything you apply for. What you won’t get is a guarantee that you’ll actually receive it.
But you can be sure you won’t get 100% of those you don’t apply for.
My kids both went to college out of state and received about $4000 in local scholarships for freshman year…so YMMV on whether locals can be used OOS or not.
Ask your school counselor about these local scholarships.
If you receive need based aid, however, most colleges will reduce your need based aid, because getting these other scholarships reduces your need.
Have you had a conversation with your parents about college costs! Is your application list affordable for them? Do you have at least one for sure affordable college on your list?
I agree to not count on local scholarships. My kids applied to a few for their major and received a few thousand $ but they were awarded in May, after the decision about where to attend had to be made.
They were for one year only.
They both did apply to schools where their stats were well above average and applied early (July/August). Both received some merit.