<p>Last year my D was awarded $12,500 worth of scholarships at award night! They were local scholarships for either NY State residents, Nassau County residents, or students at our high school. Luckily they did not announce some of the scholarship amounts, because we may have been stoned.</p>
<p>But here’s the story:</p>
<p>D was president of the school and loved by administration
She graduated in the top 5% (so top 20 student)
She was the lead in the HS musical and founded a popular accapella group</p>
<p>Her awards were for either talent or grades/ leadership</p>
<p>Why her?</p>
<p>BECAUSE SHE APPLIED FOR THEM!!</p>
<p>Other students, who certainly could have challenged her for some of these awards DID NOT APPLY.</p>
<p>Guidance handed out 2 packets worth of scholarships and most kids ignored them. And their parents were totally out of the loop.</p>
<p>D told me about the packets and I DID get involved. We went through each packet and circled which she could qualify for (all were merit based/ not need). I then kept after her to make sure she met all the deadlines. As a matter of fact, all her friends knew that D stayed home for one whole weekend until they were ready to be submitted. Her facebook status was “Under house arrest until scholarship applications are filled out.” Her friends decided to play video games and see a movie instead. In the end that was one expensive movie to a lot of them!</p>
<p>Several parents approached me and were like wow! your D won so many…it’s un- believable. I can’t believe they would give so many to one student. And I was like…well did yoiur son/ daughter apply? And they were like…ummm…I don’t think so.</p>
<p>Enough said.</p>
<p>So keep after your kids. Yes they are reluctant to do the paperwork and essays. But the pay off can be tremendous. And I feel absolutely no guilt about being on top of her and involved. Ultimately it was a lot of money in our family’s pocket!</p>
<p>Uskool, make sure she writes thank you notes. As our son’s experience showed, if there are no applicants next year, the committee may decide to renew your D’s award (extra dough!) rather than let the money go back to the kitty.</p>
<p>The notes are less time consuming than those irritating essays! “Why historic preservation is important in our Town” can only be spun in so many ways!</p>
<p>Not only because it is the right thing to do, but the group’s experience with her could affect whether they give the same scholarship to someone from her school the next year. As I said, I see a little of what goes on from the other side–I’ve heard community group members say that they were very disappointed that they did not get a thank you note from XXX and were wondering whether our high school kids feel like they are entitled.</p>
<p>One kid I knew who was awarded a scholarship kept his contact informed of his progress through college, along the lines of “I just finished my first year at XXX College and got a GPA of YYY.” The scholarship committee decided to give him the scholarship for another year because they were impressed with him and wasn’t impressed with the applicants they got for the current year.</p>
<p>Son received a small scholarship from the choir booster club…only so far he has only a certificate…Can his thank you note say, “Thank you so much…now how do I get the actual money?..”</p>
<p>Our scholarships came with specific instructions of how to get the money. Some donors want to write a check directly to the school. Others required the student to send a form from the college in the fall that showed that the student was actually attending college. You won’t get that money until the fall.</p>
<p>Missypie, my son missed the boat for his scholarship money. They emailed him some questions, all of which he had already answered when he had applied, so he ignored the e-mail. Not smart at all. He was lucky they still had the money. We did not find out until the end of the first term when the money was still not applied to his account and he also owed that amount for the next term as well. I ended up tracking the danged thing down and finding out where he went wrong. </p>
<p>Many scholarships will use e-mail or other ways directly addressing the student and not involving the parent. If that is the case, you won’t get the info unless your son shares it with you.</p>
<p>The organization’s treasurer is a mom that I know. I’ll just ask her. I just thought it was a bit humorous that these kids all got these certificates with no instructions on how to turn them into actual money.</p>
<p>As for applying to multiple schools, I personally don’t have any problem with any given person doing many applications. However, if I am asked my opinion about the matter, I would caution that it can get to a point of diminishing returns, as more apps mean more room for mistakes and tracking. Someone who is not well organized can find themselves at a disadvantage applying to too many schools. I felt our son applied to a reasonable number given his situation, but found that with all of the supplemental stuff requested, it was difficult keeping organized. </p>
<p>Also if you annoy your school with the request, you may get fall out from that, regardless of your opinion that you are justified in the number of schools involved. Your recommenders may feel you are out of control. </p>
<p>But, yes, that is strictly your own business.</p>
<p>Also, want to say that in these award announcements, only the awards reported are announced. There may have been kids who got awards and did not bother to tell the school, or their parents wanted to keep mum about the fact. Son’s school did not list awards, but if it did, I don’t think I would have reported them. My oldest son’s school did report awards, but they did insist on original letters to be submitted to verify the info, and a lot of kids just don’t bother. I don’t think my son reported all of his acceptances or his full scholarship. A shame, I think because the info can help future recipients when the info is released to the school community and families. Nice to know that Jack Brown got a full award from St B U, or that Cecil Kent got community service award from X. Let’s you know the possibilities for future students.</p>
<p>S1 had a departmental scholarship that was sponsored by a donor. It went directly to his FA account. He was required by the dept. to write a letter to the donor each of his four years that he received the scholarship. He had a deadline by which time he had to have the letter into his departmental office for mailing. He was also required to attend a dinner every spring for the dept. scholarship recipients and the donors. If he did not do both things, the money would be held from his acct. You can bet that I was on him every day the week the stuff was due each year</p>
<p>My D’s school also had an awards ceremony, where the announced awards were self-reported, or presented at the ceremony itself. My D earned a grant from the school she’s attending this fall that covers 80% of COA. The college calls it a “scholarship”,with no loans or work study required, although the amount on future years will only remain the same if our financial situation remains the same. D’s high school asked the kids to report only non-need based scholarships, so D didn’t report it, and it didn’t get announced. She’s not the type to bring attention to herself, so that was just fine with her. </p>
<p>But, there were many kids that did report “scholarships” from schools that only give financial aid. </p>
<p>After D got her scholarship/financial aid award, she immediately stopped applying for local scholarships as they would’ve been deducted from her grant.</p>
<p>Older S didn’t even bother going to his school’s award night even though they would have announced several scholarships that he had gotten. One of the administrators approached me after expressing sympathy for what she expected was my feeling bad that S didn’t go. I didn’t feel bad. I was happy that he got the awards, but it was fine not to have a public announcement made. I skipped school the day of my high school awards assembly because I knew I was going to get an award, but didn’t want to be there for the announcement. I just didn’t feel comfortable with the public show about things.</p>
<p>Missypie, most of these small scholarships will get paid directly to the bursar’s office. I think it’s appropriate (NOT in the thank you note, but in a letter or email to the organization’s treasurer) for your son to note the correct address and his social security number with a polite note asking them to inform you when they make the deposit so he can make sure it gets credited to his account.</p>
<p>If it’s from a small organization it can take a decent amount of time to get the money. I remember one of my scholarships took around 6 months to get the money because they had to wait for membership dues to finish coming in from all the members.</p>