<p>I need some help with my scholarship search. For some reason it's super hard for me to find talent scholarship opportunities. Are these mostly offered by the specific college I would be applying to or are they offered by separate organizations? I find the scholarship process really confusing. Should I be applying before I apply to colleges? Am I technically allowed to apply for a scholarship before gaining application? I apologize for my naivety about the college thing. I really just need some help figuring it out.</p>
<p>I won’t pretend to offer a comprehensive answer to your questions, but I can tell you a little bit. </p>
<p>Re: talent scholarships–Yes, schools do offer talent awards; they might be vague about it on their websites. My son’s school listed an amount on their website, but he (and others) received more than the stated number. I’m pretty sure this will vary from year to year at each college. Some schools will give both academic “merit” and artistic talent awards, as well as needs-based aid; other colleges may limit the types of scholarships you can receive (you’ll see this referred to as “stacking” awards). So you do need to check thoroughly with each school. </p>
<p>I can’t imagine why you would apply for a scholarship at a school before applying for admission, but often those applications do happen at the same time. For a couple of my own kids, there were early deadlines for merit aid–for example, if you were applying for a specific type of scholarship, your application deadline might be 2-4 weeks earlier than the official admissions deadline, and you would have additional essays or other requirements. Again, it should all be clear on each college’s website. Other places will automatically consider you for all types of merit/talent aid and not require any additional work or earlier deadlines. </p>
<p>Your federal student aid application (FAFSA) should be filed by the deadline (go with the earliest deadline among the schools on your list) regardless of whether you’ve been admitted anywhere yet. That’s a different process, separate from the specific schools, and affects your needs-based aid.</p>
<p>You are NOT alone in wondering about this stuff, and high-school guidance counselors may not know all the answers either. Have you tried looking in the financial aid forums here on CC? And don’t hesitate to email a college’s financial aid or admissions office with questions. Also, if you are near a good bookstore, look in their college application/reference section, as there are some good guides to navigating the financial aid process. It is less predictable than it used to be, so it’s worth it to pay attention and strategize. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>All three of S’s talent scholarships came after auditions - no separate applications. Only one of the schools’ websites stated that there were talent scholarships available, and listed a dollar range. State schools offered a significantly smaller award than private school.</p>
<p>I’ll copy my prior post from the duplicate thread here so that other thread can die.</p>
<p>Since D’s school offers no talent scholarships (but guarantees to meet 100% of demonstrated need-based aid), her bigger talent awards came through YoungArts (Winners can be awarded up to $10k) and other competitions (for example the recent NATS National MT competition carried a $5k prize), so in addition to investigating what schools offers you might investigate some of those possibilities as well. Every little bit helps! </p>
<p>Your local/regional Arts organizations/colleges may also offer talent-based scholarship competitions.</p>
<p>Please accept my apology for the many typos. Ouch!</p>