I am starting this thread for anyone with high school or college age children who would like some basic,
accurate information on scholarships. In this thread I hope to inform, amuse and even dispel some myths which have been stated elsewhere on the forums.
First, and most importantly, every parent and student needs to be aware that each and every school has a certain "student persona" they are hoping to attract to the student body. This persona can be as obvious as the Philadelphia College of Art wanting to attract young artists or Notre Dame wanting football heroes. But it can also be far more subtle such as the mid-size school with a great school spirit looking for students with average grades who excel at extracurriculars. Since schools want to attract a specific type of student, they provide scholarships for kids who fit the persona but may not have the ability to pay the full price.
SO, the very first step must be matching your student to the right schools! In other words, which school will offer your student the best deal?
Second, schools gain scholarship money in four ways. And NO, THE MONEY IS
NOT RAISED BY HIDDEN OR SECRET COSTS TO PAYING STUDENTS so do not fear that your neighbor is paying extra to send your girl on scholarship.
Scholarship money is raised from:
1) An endowment. Even in this time of difficult economics, fiscally solid schools will have a well performing endowment. If they do not, you need to dig a little deeper into the school's management for you do not want to send your child to a school with the potential to close its doors before your Suzy graduates!
2) Alumni gifts. Many successful past graduates of a particular school will either make one huge gift to their school or make a smaller, annual gift.
3) Benefactors. Many wealthy people who didn't go to school want to make schools available to kids. These people often create a charitable foundation which bequests large sums to a variety of schools. More about this later.
4) Fundraisers. Lots of schools will have an annual scholarship drive and will do a big fun event garnering the support of the entire student body, families, and the local community.
Who qualifies for scholarships?
There are two basic types of scholarships. One is based on financial need and another is based on merit or other criteria and is open to any student who applies.
Be aware that the financial need isn't based on how expensive the school is or how hard it is to pay for; it is based on income.
This is difficult for many middle-income families who do not qualify for federal college grant money or scholarships based on need. They may "need the help" but not qualify in terms of income.
Therefore, many families opt to allow their student to live on his own for one year, working, paying bills, filing independent taxes. This usually qualifies Johnny to apply for federal grants and need scholarships on his own merit but then the parents must sacrifice the tax deductions involved with having a dependent in college. This option is too frightening to many people, so they prefer to send their kids elsewhere, get extra jobs to pay the way, or go after as many merit scholarships (big and little) as possible.
The other type of scholarship is based on merit and is totally differentiated from need. You should understand that "merit" is defined many ways in scholarshipland. Each scholarship will have its own parameters for "merit". Read all the guidelines carefully -- you may be pleasantly surprised!
Millions of dollars in scholarship money does not get disbursed every single year! WHY? 
Because A) people don't know the scholarships exist or B) they do not carefully follow ALL the directions and so disqualify themselves.
So... how does a parent and a student find out about available monies?
Through a scholarship search which can be accomplished in a couple of ways.
DO NOT RELY ON THE SCHOOL TO KNOW ABOUT ALL THE MONIES AVAILABLE TO YOUR STUDENT! The financial aid office will know of SOME available funds, but will have a limited scope. YOU NEED TO DO THE WORK YOURSELF!
Why do you need to do a scholarship search?
It is simple, really. Many smaller scholarships can be a bit quirky. A private foundation may be offering a $2,000 scholarship to any student interested in learning the folk music of Aruba, for instance, or a Promotional Scholarship offered by a large corporation may be searching for a great essay on "why I love my laptop". You need to dig a bit to find these.
When you do find them, follow ALL the guidelines carefully -- especially the DEADLINE date for filing the application! If you are even a little late on the deadline, you are disqualified.
You can do a scholarship search at your local library & the librarian will pull up the proper books for you which list available scholarships.
Or you can go on-line. There are paid and free sites to do the searching for you. The paid sites do a more careful search with more specific details about your Mary's interests and talents, but even the free sites such as FASTWEB are worthwhile.
How do these sites work?
The student opens an account on the site and types in as much information as requested. This can be a long and somewhat tedious process and most sites allow the student to log in and out until the application is completed. But have your student answer all questions because the more info the site has, the more exhaustive the search will be. Try not to be offended if some questions seem too personal. There are scholarships available for the children of cancer patients (survivors or victims), the children of a parent with MS or kidney failure. There are scholarships for kids who dream of studying abroad. FILL IN ALL THE QUESTIONS -- you never know which one might match your student to a valuable award!
When your student starts getting matched up with various scholarships, you will be notified by an email. The email will tell you the name of the award, the amount available and give you a brief description on who qualifies. The email will also include a link to the scholarship's own web site so you can visit it and review the details before deciding to apply or not. The search site will also send you email reminders for filing deadlines so you don't miss out on a likely source of funding just by being late!
Once you start digging, you will be amazed to discover how much is truly available -- scholarships offered by individuals, organizations and corporations you may never have even heard of!
For instance, The Travel Writers of America (did you know such a group even existed?) offer a yearly substantial scholarship to any student who writes a winning essay on a trip she took & includes photos. THE GPA ISN'T EVERYTHING scholarship goes each year to the average student involved in the most community service. There is another, smaller scholarship awarded on a monthly basis (that's 12 winners per year) to the students who write the best 300 words on how they inspire others.
If you are seriously searching for money to send your child to a decent school, it is well worth the effort it takes to unearth these not-so-famous scholarships and get your applications in!
After interviewing so many people involved with scholarship award committees and reading many books on the topic, I can not stress to you enough the importance of getting all the details on the application completed properly!
The experts say it is downright shocking how many truly illegible applications they receive each year. So have someone type it up and type it up accurately!
And above all else, follow the directions!
I know a college senior who was awarded a handsome scholarship his freshman year based on an essay he'd written about his academic goals. The foundation later told his mom one reason her son won is because he was one of the few students who kept within the guidelines! Part of this scholarship was the annual hitch. It could be renewed and INCREASED every school year IF the student would A) write a letter to the foundation explaining his progress toward his goals and B) make a personal appearance at the foundation for an interview each summer. I'm telling ya, this kid wrote that letter every year and showed up on time for the annual interview and that scholarship has gotten bigger and bigger. The foundation also told his mom that they never even hear from some of the winners again!
And yes, some scholarships can be lost!
I know a boy who was given a $200,000 scholarship to a prominent university based on his mathematics abilities. He partied so much his freshman year, his grades sank below the acceptable level and he lost his scholarship! Five years later, he is still trying to earn enough to go back to school.
It may seem tough to file so many applications but if each application has the potential of gaining an additional $1,000 toward your student's education, it is worth it in the long run. And true enough, the student has to be a "go-getter" to follow all the instructions and get the applications in on time & in decent order. But that is part of the process. Scholarship award committees are interested in kids who are willing to work at it.
I hope this brief tutorial helps!
![[Linked Image]](http://www.agardenersforum.com/images/graphics/buttons/merme.gif)
![[Linked Image]](http://www.agardenersforum.com/images/graphics/buttons/gardenhelper.jpg)
UPROMISE 