I’m a freshmen at a private college prep school (I’m transferring to a public school in the fall) and they told us to apply now as 14&15 year olds. I feel like doing that now and having college so far away is stealing the money from somebody else. A senior needs a $10,000 scholarship more than I do at this time.
Check the scholarship requirement. It is likely only for HS senior to apply.
I don’t know of a single scholarship open to freshman, other than those given through competitions (Google Science Fair, etc). There’s no harm in applying for something now if you run across a program for underclassmen, but the time to start proactively looking is really second semester junior year.
I would start looking the 2nd semester of your junior year and the summer before your senior year. This way you can make a list of those scholarships for which you meet the requirements and know the deadline dates. So your senior year, you can plan for getting recommendations, essays, etc.
First, if a scholarship is open to you and you are qualified, then you may apply with good conscious. It is a bit ridiculous to think that you have to worry about how other people are going to pay their college. However I also have only heard of a couple scholarships open to Jrs and most are only available to Srs.
I’ll just throw in my opinion which differs slightly from the other comments. I really regret not doing as much work from day one in high school. There are not necessary scholarships but many scholarship-like competitions. Off the top of my head, American Legion Oratorical Contest and VFW Voice of Democracy Competition are two competitions that allow you to compete for cash and scholarship money. The local and area competitions give cash while regional and state levels do give scholarships. I wish I would have participated my freshmen and sophomore years to use the experience to improve. There are also many essay based competitions in which the levels of competition are divided into ages/grades and there is less competition for those levels. Referring back to the earlier example, the VFW also has a junior branch contest specifically for middle school. It offers smaller prizes but scholarships nonetheless.
If these contests are not of interest to you, LOOK. There are unconventional opportunities out there to those who seek them. I continually encourage and support my younger brother in seeking out competitions that relate to his interests. He is quite different than me and he has been able to find unique opportunities in FFA related areas.
I began researching my junior year when my sister was a senior. I thought I compiled quite a list but even looking back, there are many opportunities I missed. The biggest key is organization and effort. It is never too early to begin looking and working towards scholarships but at the same time, do not stress yourself out. If you worked 15 minutes a week your freshman, sophomore and junior years compiling a list and printing off past applications, you would be far better than cramming it all in your senior year. Pace yourself and you will do just fine. Lastly, you are not “stealing” from anyone. I do not feel I am stealing from a freshman in college because we will all face the same debts eventually. Good luck!