So I am currently looking into scholarships for next year, but I’m not 100% sure which scholarship sites allow upperclassmen to apply for scholarships. Additionally, I go to a state school in Connecticut. Any useful information?
Legit scholarships for continuing students come from A) your major’s department B) alumni organizations or C) organizations that award them based on your specific major. Usually range from $1-5k. Most generous I’ve seen is $10k but it’s not the norm. What are you studying?
@Lilliana330 I’m currently studying US History with plans to double major with Business Economics. Is the summer actually a bad time to apply for scholarships?
^^ Okay, there are not a lot of outside awards for history majors, but business-related majors might have more choices. Have you looked at your school’s departmental awards (for either major)? Also, ethnicity?
It depends, deadlines are everywhere for continuing student awards…Most are in spring though.
First stop is your financial aid office. They may reconsider school aid, point you to department scholarships, to professors who might know of a scholarship in their area. You might also check your hs website. It may have local scholarships listed that are open to upper classmen from the area.
Do you have a high college GPA and involvement in ECs in college?
It is JUNE. Sort of late to be applying for scholarships for the 2016-2017 academic year. Even the local ones around here have been awarded.
Next year…start looking for summer jobs in December when you are home for break…and then again in March when you are home from break.
Apply for scholarships in the late winter at the latest for the following year.
I would suggest you contact your department at your school. There are sometimes departmental scholarships awarded to upperclassmen who have declared the major and are extremely high achievers! But it is likely too late for this coming year.
How much is your shortfall?
It is too late for this school year, but have you considered being a Resident Assistant? At many schools those jobs are extremely competitive, but very lucrative, yielding free room and board. There are very few outside scholarships in general, all are highly competitive, and those for upperclassmen are very limited.
Outside scholarships are very few, very far between, and usually in very low amounts once you’re out of high school: the time to apply was high school senior year.
Departmental awards also, honestly, tend to be few and far between. The top one or two students in each department will often get an award at many schools – but it’s typically non-renewable and low ($1000 or so). Ask your school. I hope you aren’t gapped too much: if you are, consider transferring.
The best options you have are to get a job or join an activity at school that comes with a tuition waver. At my school, students holding high-ranking positions in the student government get partial tuition waivers. Resident assistants (as mentioned above) usually get free room and board. If neither of those are an option to you (both are extremely competitive, typically), aggressively seek and get jobs. I work 25 hours a week in one of the hardest degrees at my university, and while it’s definitely difficult, it is possible with good time management skills.
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I’m going into my sophomore year at a local state university and since it’s the summer, I’m expected to find a job to help pay for my finances. The problem? I simply cannot find one. I’ve applied to over 15 positions in the past month or so and simply have had not much luck. I’m planning on applying to a few more places, but I don’t know how much luck I’ll have considering it’s late in job-hunting season. And it’s definitely too late to apply for most reputable scholarships. Any advice?
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You’re not likely going to find any meaningful scholarships this late. Continuing students usually apply to their major depts for scholarships, but usually there are few and the awards are small…and they’re often for juniors and seniors.
you need to find a job. check with Target. They hire a LOT of college kids this time of year to help with Back to School shopping craze. If there’s a Target near you that is also by a college, look THERE. Otherwise, apply at any Target.
You might be able to apply online.
@mom2collegekids I honestly would apply to Target if it were practical. I mean there nearest one from my house is 25 minutes away and I don’t have my license - to make it fair, most people aren’t in a rush to get them unless they have younger siblings to drive around or they are given their own car, neither of which apply to me.
It seems to me you have an excellent reason for wanting to get your license.
@BelknapPoint What do you mean that’s an excellent reason? I’m just wondering, that’s all.
Having a license will greatly expand the geographical range of employment opportunity. I understand that you also need to have an available car to drive, but getting a license is step one.
@BelknapPoint Even if I were to get my license, say tomorrow, I don’t think that I’d have enough money to buy a car myself. Also, I don’t have younger siblings to drive around. On a personal level, should I be embarrassed for not having a driver’s license? I mean I did have a permit at one point, took driver’s ed, and even got behind the wheal at one point, but there was ultimately no use for it so it expired in July 2015 after two or so years.
Back in the day, I worked at Burger King. 8 pm - 4 am shift. (NY bars were open until 4. Not sure if they still are) My mom handed me her keys around 7 pm and I generally had them back to her by 7 am. (we’d go out to a diner sometimes after our shift ended). It wasn’t ideal. But it was a job and full time over the summers for the first couple of years of college. Maybe that isn’t available to you, but maybe you can work out an agreement with your parents. As long as I didn’t need the car when she needed it, it worked out. Parents can be more understanding than you think. Especially if you have the solution figured out.
@m0minmd I guess people are in less of a rush these days to get their licenses, at least where I’m from (CT).
The lack of a drivers license is limiting, unless you live in a very large metropolitan area with good public transportation. Which you don’t. So your first step in becoming less dependent on mom and dad is at least having the possibility of driving. That should be a goal for this summer: get your license.
And next summer, look for jobs near your school. Yes most of your earnings will go towards rent, but that’s the way adult life works. Going home, where you can’t work because you don’t have a car, seems pointless. Unless you want to take online classes or something home-bound.
@katliamom I’d still need to get a permit again, though. So, I guess I have no one to blame but myself for my own predicament.