You and your student may be scratching your heads over finding scholarships that they'll apply to, but here’s an excellent tip: You might be climbing in the wrong tree! I recommend be resourceful when searching for them.
There are unique and weird scholarships out there: scholarships for pretty much every niche group, from academics to artists, lefties, fashionistas, women interested in engineering, and outlandish chefs – but you need to know where to look.
Not Everyone Can Be considered a National Merit Scholar
My daughter, a higher school junior, received her PSAT/NMSQT scores toward the end of last year.
It was news that people have been anxiously awaiting since October.
We learned that she put into the 92nd percentile nationwide. Within our house, these scores are certainly refrigerator worthy.
However, they weren't sufficient on her that need considering for an elite National Merit or National Achievement Scholarship
According to The Princeton Review, “more than 3.4 million students (mostly juniors and sophomores) take this nationwide, multiple-choice test each year.”
And only 7,367 Merit Scholar(R) designees received Merit Scholarship awards worth a total of $31.3 million.
Though it's a preliminary test, the PSAT/NMSQT score carries weight since it is the very first attention-grabbing tool for scholarships within the college application. However, it is not the only tool.
I can give your student the same advice I gave my daughter, “If you aren't in the running to be a National Merit Scholar: don't beat yourself up.”
Finding Scholarships in Unlikely Places
Sometimes, finding scholarship money may come from the most unique and weird sources, just like your food pantry or perhaps a local department store.
Previously, JIF Peanut Butter rewarded students with scholarships up to $25,000 for creating the most original peanut butter sandwich.
Scholarship opportunities for example that certain yet others from quirky sources, happen to be unearthed by self-proclaimed scholarship diva Sheila Cain of Might, Missouri, creator of B-forc Bound for College.
Through sheer determination and all-night Google searches fueled by glasses of coffee, this mom started looking for scholarships when her child was at the eighth grade.
Since her following and business has grown, Cain has found over $700,000 in scholarship money for a select group of students she coaches with the college application.
“I am a hoarder of Internet information, and now I love to share this so others can benefit from things i have learned,” said Cain from her accommodation in Greenville, N.C., where she involved to give a lecture on her scholarship finding savvy.
How savvy? In the Half an hour prior to our phone conversation, she posted five new scholarship possibilities to her website.
Not every student out there is going to be a National Merit Scholar. But, with sufficient persistence, where one scholarship window closes, there are many available which will open.
Scholarships vs. Other Educational funding Money
In the Sallie Mae 2023 study How America Pays For College, which surveyed 1,000 parents of undergraduate students and 1,000 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 24, the typical family covers 31% of the college costs with grants and scholarships.
According to CNN Money, about 87% of scholars who received a scholarship in 2023 said they received one from their college. About 75% of them got scholarships from private sponsors and community groups and 65% received money from a state program.
In recent years, the average scholarship awarded was $6,355, the highest level over the past 5 years. The Sallie Mae study also says from the parents surveyed many said that using a discussion about earning scholarship money was probably the most important conversations they could have using their child while preparing for college.
Look Local for Scholarships
Sherie English, coordinator from the college resource center for Bloomfield Hills High School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., said the initial place juniors and seniors should look for scholarship opportunities is through local private and religious organizations.
The rigors of a senior high school college counseling office pick up in the spring semester.
Therefore, English advised the optimum time for students to satisfy using the high school counseling department for many individualized attention is November through January.
Additionally, English shows that students to decrease in every week to their college resource room for brand new scholarship opportunities.
Though it doesn't hurt for juniors to organize ahead with a few research, English said the bulk of trying to get scholarships occur in the spring semester of the senior year.
This is because most likely the student has decided on where they're attending and may search within the college for particular scholarships.
There are many reputable free scholarship sites that list both national and state scholarships.
Impact of Scholarships on Financial Aid
According to English, there is no limit to the number of scholarships you may affect or how much cash you can get.
What she also says is that winning a scholarship from the private organization won't cancel out any scholarship or educational funding monies you may receive out of your college financial aid office, but blogger Mark Kantrowitz disagrees.
He mentioned a federal policy known as “over awarding” in a New York Times blog.
This policy, also referred to as “scholarship displacement,” requires colleges to reduce the need-based financial aid package when a student wins a private scholarship.
However, colleges may will be flexible how they reduce need-based financial aid packages. Kantrowitz mentions in his article that every college has individual policies on how they reduce financial aid when an outside scholarship is received.
If the policy reduces loans first, the college will have a lower net price, making it less expensive. When the policy reduces grants first, there is no net financial benefit to a student.
Winning a scholarship from a school is usually the deciding factor on where a student will attend.
Sam Hudson, a sophomore at West Virginia University in Morgantown, found himself in close consideration for any National Merit Scholarship, and the SAT scores earned him scholarship offerings at several colleges, including WVU, where he receives $6,000 annually.
Additionally, the university offered Sam an in-state tuition rate, and Sam's annual expenses totaled about $18,000 each year.
This came satisfactorily underneath the $30,000-a-year budget the Hudsons set for themselves.
Therefore, Sam's newbie away at school was fully paid through savings and scholarships. Even when your son or daughter is rewarded a scholarship, there is still no coasting downhill.
During his freshman year, so that they can try out engineering like a major instead of business, Sam's GPA fell below 3.0.
He lost his scholarship and had to repay the $6,000 difference – a deal he made together with his parents – with money held in time he worked in the household business.
Now back on track with a business major, his GPA rose and WVU restored his scholarship. (NOTE: Not every college will restore scholarship money when GPA dates back up. Be sure you check individual schools for his or her policies.)
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*previously publisher of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com