On paper, my family is relatively well off, even though in reality, we simply can’t afford to fork over the entire cost of college. I’m relying on outside scholarships to fund my education, but it seems like almost all third-party scholarships have some sort of need-based component. My parents make over $180K a year, and their assets are far too high to even have financial aid be a possibility.
Would it even be worth the time and effort for me to apply for scholarships that have a need-based component (i.e. ask you to release your university’s financial need evaluation to them) if my family’s EFC is above $99,000?
Or is financial need not as big a deal as it seems for these types of scholarships that also consider essays, community service, etc.?
There are a few outside scholarships that are purely merit, but they are few and far between. If your family really cannot afford the cost and you have no major expenses that would make schools reconsider your need, I would either apply to schools with very good merit aid (There are lots of posts in this forum).
Depending on your area and personality, I guess I would recommend looking at either the aforementioned major merit-aid scholarship schools and/or the Posse program. You would need to identify your own strong suit(s), whether it be athletics or leadership or athletics.
In response to your last question, it is highly unlikely that you could get any outside scholarship that asks for any sort of financial documentation, unless there is some kind of important family circumstance. Most outside scholarships ask for financial information.
Also, just to add-- in response to the question in your title-- maybe not, just with the information you’ve provided now. It definitely doesn’t hurt to try, though, and it might help knowing that you at least attempted to do so.
Also, most outside scholarships are meant to supplement financial aid awards that are lacking, so are pretty small (generally $500-$5000) but competitive so it’s not realistic to think you can fund your entire education with scholarships. For four years.
@Quijote Thanks so much for your advice, but I’m actually a high school senior who has already committed to a school. It offered me its highest merit-based scholarship, but even that is a trivial amount of money compared to the total cost so I am forced to depend on outside scholarships.
Thanks for the info though!
Ah, I see. What outside scholarships are you thinking of applying to with deadlines so late in the process?
About how much are you trying to gather? I have also seen a number of goFundMe pages in recent weeks so if you have access to people who might be willing to help (ie; friends, friends’ parents, parents’ friends, etc) financially, that might be a more viable option.