True Stories of non-public Scholarship Winners and How They Did It

Paying for school is among the biggest necessity of households today. Finding private scholarships and merit scholarships from colleges–awards you don't have to pay back–can help.

According to some recent College Ave Student Loans survey of undergraduates, families rely on grants more than every other method to cover college costs.

To help keep in your search, here are some tips and stories of inspiration:

Merit vs Private Scholarships

Scholarships are either merit-based and offered by colleges, or private, and offered by companies, non-profits, along with other private organizations. 

In articles for Road2College, college admissions coach Pam Andrews recommends that before searching for private scholarships, starting with a merit search first.

Why?

Scholarships awarded by colleges are usually 4 times higher than private scholarships.

Does which means that private scholarships aren't worthwhile? Not at all–consider them because the second layer in a two-layer process, she says.

Once you've done a merit search, the next step is to layer the search to check out private awards. 

Find Private Scholarships That suit Your Kids

Jennifer,  part of the Affording university 101 FB Group (PFC101) who's had considerable success finding and winning scholarships for her two college-aged students, agrees it's better to chase merit first.

Her advice?

When you begin your private scholarship search, attempt to narrow down the parameters to fit your child's interests and passions: Find the ones that “really fit your kids, and then ask them to go for it!”

You might be surprised to learn that your local supermarket, law office, or doctor's office offers an award. Melissa, a member of PFC101, said her family orthodontist offers two annual scholarships to his college-bound patients. 

“It's an essay-writing scholarship,” she said. The prompt is: The significance of a Smile. How did Melissa hear about it? “We were at an appointment and the orthodontist, who learned my son thought about being a writer, told him he should apply.”  

Melissa's son was one of the winners and received $1,000 in the senior year of high school. “He was able to apply it to anything college related,” she said. “It would be a great method for the orthodontist to give to the community.”

Persistence Pays

Experienced parents stress that persistence is what drives the most successful private scholarship searches. But knowing where, how, and when to apply is essential. 

For that, we considered members of the Road2College community, and expert Pam Andrews. This is what i was told that (comments are edited for clarity and flow):

General Search Techniques

  • Andrews advises that students continually check their guidance counselor's offices for scholarship applications. Nicole said that this tactic did wonders on her student. By staying over it, her child “got the newest scholarship information first.”
  • Brandi recommends searching for specific local businesses and nonprofits. “I was stunned because when many of them offered scholarships,” she said.
  • Jennifer had positive results doing a web-based search of local banks to see if they offered scholarships.
  • Several parents found scholarships by searching insurance provider websites.
  • For national awards, Shannon suggests utilizing a guide like the Ultimate Scholarship Book, offered at bookstores, online, or at your local library.

Specific Search Ideas

These private scholarship sources aren't meant to be comprehensive, but they are best to know. (Scholarship amounts are included to give a feeling of the range parents can expect, and they're linked whenever we can.)

  • Jennifer's daughter won $2,500 from Northwest Farm Credit services after Jennifer did a Search of local/regional banks to ascertain if they offered scholarships. “My daughter applied to over 40 scholarships. She made it via a couple rounds of a national one but then was eliminated. I was honestly about ready to give up whenever we heard her shriek as she came running down the stairs saying she finally got one!”
  • Among other private scholarships, Jennifer's daughter was awarded:
    • Idaho School Board Association, $500 (found on the high-school counselor's scholarship page).
    • Daughters from the American Revolution, $4,000, renewable for 4 years ($16,000 total).
  • Jennifer's son won $3,500 through an Idaho Opportunity Scholarship found via a community search, and also the help of friends. “The dollar amount he won wasn’t given initially,” explains Jennifer. “After per month we learned that he won the entire amount possible…we cheered!…the scholarship covers his housing for freshman year!”
  • Both Jennifer's children won scholarship money in the Amy Kearsley Memorial Fund. Her son won a $500, $200, and $1,000 grant; her daughter a $200 and $1,000 grant.
  • Shannon's daughter won the next private scholarships in her senior year:
    • Equitable Excellence, $25,000
    • DeLaurentis, $1,000
    • Columbus Education Association (her local union), $2,000 for 4 years (total of $8,000)
    • National Honor Society, ($3,200)
    • Bexley Women’s Club, $1,500 (local)
    • Bexley Senior high school Latin Cup (school-specific award), $250

Nicole says among others, her child won the next scholarships:

    • Ron Brown Scholar Program, $40,000
    • Discover Card Tribute Award Scholarship $20,000
    • Coca-Cola Scholars Program, $10,000
    • Black Employee Network (BEN), $4,000
    • Arkansas Federal Bank (AFCU), $4,000

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When to Look 

Those knowledgable the earlier parents and students start the process, the much more likely they're to reap good results. 

Because some scholarships renew from year to year, even a bit can add up to big savings over 4 years. How early is early? Single mom Shannon says, “Your child can begin trying to get and winning scholarships as soon as elementary school.”

    • In 6th grade, Shannon's daughter was awarded a Kohl’s Cares scholarship for $1,000. 
    • In 8th grade, she received the Prudential Spirit of Community scholarship, also for $1,000. 
    • In 8th grade, she received a Carson Scholars $1,000 scholarship, which Shannon says is continuing to grow to $1,270 since they held money until disbursement.
    • By 9th grade, her daughter had received another (local) Rising Stars Scholarship, $1000, along with a $500 Jefferson award. 

The award list continues, however the takeaway is clear: Start early!

Tips: How to Apply 

Andrews says families trying to get private scholarships ought to know it is a long process, one that requires the dedication and commitment of the entire family, and also to think about these tips:

    •  For essays: Encourage your student to connect using the mission statement from the company or nonprofit providing the scholarships. In Nicole's experience, “creating strong, compelling essays is the key. Students have to be able to tell their story.”
    • It requires a village. Kids need administrative support to get the applications done. Designate a family scholarship email, a scholarship table or desk, along with a consistent time for you to do scholarship applications. Nicole says she “created a scholarship resume of all activities, classes, awards, and community service.” She updated this resume continually.
    • Find scholarships that fit your child's activities and private profile. Shannon says many of her daughter's scholarships involved volunteering. “Some of the high-school awards were based on my daughter having health challenges. Those based on health issues required letters from her doctor.”
    • Be conscious that some applications tend to be more involved than the others and will require essays, some very lengthy, in addition to a transcript and letters of recommendation. Applications could also ask for extracurricular and volunteer records.
    • By contrast, Jennifer notes that other applications sometimes end up being surprisingly simple, asking only for “two basic forms that need contact details, SSN, and signature.”

Nearly all the families profiled here made the applying process a part of their weekly routine–sometimes stretching over years.

What Winning Private Scholarships Way to Families

Jennifer

Winning the Amy Kearsley Memorial Fund scholarship meant the planet to Jennifer and her son, and also the award was not even close to a given once they applied. “He was less than $1,000 away from his newbie of tuition/fees being covered. We submitted the application for the $200 scholarship for both my son and daughter because that was the one we knew about. A couple of days later it was received by the local bank [which] immediately called me and let me know that my son could qualify for a $500 one too. They emailed me a form, we filled it out, and they immediately cut that check.” 

After a couple weeks, these were notified that both kids were getting the $200 scholarship along with the $500.

Jennifer's son is currently outside the state. “When he called I tell him he had won as many as $1,700 (so tuition was covered plus money for books). He teared up and was extremely humbled…couldn’t speak for a minute. He's spent the last 2 yrs working for his church and never making money for school. To receive this is huge!”

Meanwhile, Jennifer says her daughter's winning from the Daughters from the American Revolution scholarship is one she'll let her know own kids. “We were at a girl’s weekend. We had just gone to a hilarious musical, accompanied by a similarly hilarious driving experience. We'd stayed up late talking and laughing… finally heading to bed at approximately 1 a.m. My daughter suddenly remembered the results (bad or good) were emailed out. When she checked her inbox she squealed (attempting to be quiet), showed me, and we were both jumping up and down.”

Jennifer recalls her daughter had really put her all into writing and rewriting her essay for that scholarship.  

“We snuck upstairs to see if anyone was still being awake and located one aunt and her grandma.  She quickly told them and much more hugging and squealing ensued.” Her grandma asked them the amount. “We couldn’t remember. We thought maybe $1,000, maybe as much as $2,500. We looked it up… $4,000 a year!” Jennifer says more muffled squealing, plenty of jumping, plus some tears followed. “She realized that after over 40 applications, numerous essays and so much stress, she had tried it.  She had won enough scholarships to go to her dream school completely debt-free for her entire undergraduate degree.”

Shannon

Shannon, a single mother, and teacher, asserted private scholarships have enabled her daughter to attend college debt-free and that this is a major load from her mind. “I’ve always concerned about college, and specifically checked out meet-need schools. She is saving so much on college, that is amazing.  Winning scholarships has allowed her to buy a laptop and can assist in paying for travel and books. Additionally, it has allowed us to not have to take out any loans for her undergrad education!”

Shannon's daughter adds, “As I had been spending hours trying to get scholarships, I knew that I had a pretty good possibility of winning some, and that i am excited when I began to. My biggest honor and surprise was winning the $25,000 Equitable Excellence Scholarship. That was a game-changer since i can spread that certain out over all four years!”

Nicole

Nicole stressed that earning private scholarships continues to be life-changing. “For us scholarships were not nearly affording university, but usually seeing, feeling, and believing the future career and life you always wished for was actually possible. Earning college scholarships, no matter how small, means you have possibilities, and there's no feeling greater than that.”

Trying Is Everything

Applying requires trying so that as these stories are proof of, the payoff makes it all worthwhile. Smaller scholarships may be what is needed to maintain the motivation. Larger scholarships, particularly those which repeat every year, assist you to forget the time that it took to earn them. 

So while there's no be certain that you'll win a lot of money through private scholarships, you’ll never know if you don't try.