If you are thinking scholarships will be a part of your family’s plan to pay for college, there are steps you can take right now to access those opportunities. Whether your student will begin 12th grade or 9th grade in the Fall, it’s not too soon or too late to start.
Read on for three key tips to make scholarships a reality–
1. Begin your search now & make it a family affair.
Gathering information about scholarship opportunities can be a daunting process, especially for high school students. If scholarships are an important part of your college funding strategy, it’s never too early to start. There are scholarships targeted for each grade level in high school, and for every unique interest, talent, or identity. Target your search to those scholarships that are most tailored to your student’s individual identity and strengths. Parents can be a big help by doing some of the initial research to screen for good fit opportunities. Start a spreadsheet or google sheet with key information, links to sites, deadlines, and requirements, to make the task of applying a bit more manageable for your child. Set a goal as a family for tackling a few applications this summer. Once you start, it gets much easier to fill in the information and modify any essays as you complete future applications.
2. Be choosy about where you search and what you share.
Online scholarship sites, especially those offering ‘no essay’ scholarships can be a great way to inadvertently give your email address and other personal information away for spam. It’s a good idea to set up a free gmail account that you will use on all scholarship applications, to help filter the messages you receive. Always find the original website ‘source’ for a scholarship offering and confirm for yourself that it seems legitimate before providing any personal information. And lastly, prioritize reputable sites that do not charge you money to give you access to scholarship opportunities. We have a few we suggest starting with.
The top scholarship databases recommended by our College Affordability Specialist:
3. Don’t overlook opportunities at the colleges where you are applying, and know your deadlines.
For students getting ready to apply to college this fall, or those who have already identified some colleges where you plan to apply, pay close attention to the offerings at your schools. Visit the financial aid and admissions webpages to learn more about the opportunities available. Many colleges will offer merit aid or other scholarships. Very often, these opportunities come with additional application, essay, or even interview steps. Frequently, colleges have priority deadlines that must be met to be considered for these opportunities. The summer is an excellent time to gather all of these deadlines and requirements in one place, and make a plan to complete them step by step.
If you are eager to learn more about how to build an organized, successful scholarship search, or how to make a strong plan to pay for college, you will love the step by step College Funding Toolkit course, designed by TBU’s College Affordability Specialist, Jenna Greenwood. As a financial aid professional, Jenna has packed this on-demand course with accessible video content, resources, and downloadable tools to help families. This course, along with tons of other tools and resources, is available only through the TBU Membership– join us today!