<p>It has been the experience at our house that the small local scholarships are the easiest to win. Many high school students here do not bother to apply. D1 applied for several national contest that she found on Fastweb but won none of those. She did win a $1000 for a state award in which her school selected one person to apply and another state award for $500 which was given to her because of class rank. Of 12 local scholarships she applied for she won one. After her experience, I strongly encouraged (ok badgered) my 2 younger D’s to apply for at least 10 local scholarships with the promise that after ten I would say no more. D2 won $500 and $350 which paid for most of her freshman year books. D3 won $500, $2000, and a $1000 renewable. They were very careful about reviewing the basis upon which the scholarships were awarded and also we tried to find out who locally had been awarded these scholarships in the past to determine if their profiles lined up with past awardees. If a scholarship required more than an essay or two or another recommendation besides what they had used for college applications, they did not pursue it. Many times they could use an old essay with a few modifications. In D3’s case, the $500 scholarship was one both of her sisters had applied for from their high school where applicants had to select one of 3 separate categories in which to be considered for a scholarship. By the 3rd time, I had finally realized which category D3 was most likely to win and I was right. D1 as a grad student last year won 1 of 3 scholarships she applied for- it was awarded ($500) by a local organization who announced the application in a local paper. She also applied for a national one awarded by her sorority which had received only 17 applications in the previous year for 3 scholarships. The # of applicants quadrupled in the 2008-2009 school year and she did not win. She found it very stressful to be applying for scholarships while carrying a heavy academic load.<br>
By far for us, the majority of scholarship money obtained was merit aid awarded by the colleges that my D’s attend which, for all 3 together, exceeds $45,000 a year.</p>