Scholarship advice for high school senior

[Lone_Wolf]

Good luck and hopefully your financial situation won't keep him from qualifying. Our granddaughter has grades like your son's and the hours as well, but no scholarships.

We just filled out the FAFSA, right after it said he qualified for a $5500 loan, so maybe not expecting alot of financial assistance from the Govt. But all his info just went out to all the schools he put down. I think it let him put down like 10 schools. All Texas universities.

[Lone_Wolf]

He's white. Good luck. A friend of mine was #1 in his high school class (6A school) and barely got anything. Dad's income was about $40k at the time.

Truth hurts, but that's the system.

White male. I do worry about this.....

[Lost10mm]

The college I work at has a scholarship office that has access to more scholarship money than they are able to give out. I would imagine most college campuses have these resources.

[Lone_Wolf]

And what college is that?

[Capt Glenn]

My advice is to apply for everything, even if you think it isn't a fit for some reason. My daughter got a $20k Go Texan scholarship through the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and she never did anything even remotely associated to the livestock show, rodeo or agriculture. But she applied because... why not, and bam, $20k. Apply for the little local ones and the big ones. Once you get rolling on the applications you can honestly reuse some of the same essays over and over. Some just need tweaking. It doesn't take a ton of effort and even $500 or $1000 for an hour or two of work is pretty solid.

I know every school is going to be different but my daughter's high school counselor was a huge help with all kinds of scholarship info. I'd tell you to go talk to them and see what resources they have. Some counselors and schools put a huge emphasis on getting their kids the most scholarship dollars possible and others you are on your own more or less. You won't know until you go talk to them.

From what I could tell with my daughter and her class the scholarship committees are really looking for well rounded kids who are active in school (extracurriculars, leadership and academics) church and community and are service minded and well spoken. GPA and class rank don't seem to mean near as much. I'd tell you really concentrate on showing those things in your applications.

[r_u_sharp_2]

FAFSA isnt based on race/sex..it collects demographic data, but at the end of the day it is based on financial information. Completing it determines the financial need student and determines dependency. The FAFSA qualifies a student for two types of need based aid by calculating an expected family contribution or EFC.

First type of aid is the Stafford loan program. Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans specifically. Every student should qualify for the loan program. However, If you have a high EFC, the student may not qualify for the Subsidized program but can then use the academic year max in Unsubsidized loans.

The second aid type is Grants. Pell and/or SEOG. This is based soley on a sliding scale of EFC. 0 EFC will qualify for the maximum amount, and anything over 6000 may not qualify for Pell.

The parent of a Dependent student can also apply for the Parent Plus loan to assist with bridging any gap in funding and excess can be taken out to help cover non educational expenses(rent/food/transportation) if needed.

As for scholarships, it should be multiple prong approach to finding as many as possible.
1. Field of study. Search for scholarships from organizations within the field. Bith local and national.
2. Schools - each one the student is thinking of applying to. Find out what scholarship they offer and apply to as many that fit the bill.
3. Local organizations.. dont overlook local VFW or church.. or local archery clubs. I think TFAA and maybe Brazos gave scholarships in the past.
4. If he is working... does the employer offer a scholarship or tuition reimbursement if he remains employed

You can a search engine/app like myscholly.com. you plug in demographic information and it will generate scholarships that the student might be eligible to apply for.



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[dosrobles]

There are consultants that can help. My wife and I did not use one but we have numerous friends that did and I haven’t heard of anyone that did not consider it a good ROI.
Sorry I am no help with names or web addresses.

[retrieverman]

Tag

[bowhntrmatt]

Kudos to the kid for the great grades! He’s got a new full-time job and that is scholarship applications. He needs to get with the guidance counselor and get an app for every single scholarship possible. Contact ALL local organizations. Many of them offer scholarships and some don’t even get applied for every year. (Elks lodge, lions club, 4H/FFA, booster clubs, etc) He’ll be exhausted writing essays and whatever the requirements are, but there’s not a lot of jobs out in the wild that pay you thousands of dollars for a couple hours of work. Don’t just got after the big ones. $250-$500 scholarships add up in a hurry.

I would not cash out retirement. Especially with the market down. I would also mandate that he goes to an in state, public university to keep costs down. I’d recommend a juco first, but with his credit hours he already has, that’s going to be limited to maybe 1-2 semesters before he maxes out. There’s money to be had, but he has to get out there and go after it.


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all good advice here. There are literally hundreds of scholarships out there. It's really a numbers game. Have him apply for as many as possible, even if you don't think there is a chance of getting them. The HS counselor should be able to produce a big list, and the internet can give a bunch more, i'm sure.

[LRam19]

Buy the book debt free degree it's from Dave Ramsey's people. Have him apply for one scholarship a week. Until graduation. Simple Google search should find him something. Lots of scholarships tied to parents career field.

Big Ramsey fan here so I second the debt free degree book. They also created a documentary called Borrowed Future that may be worth watching as well. Although my kids aren’t old enough yet for scholarships, I know I may be looking for advice one day too. Good luck to you and your son in his future endeavors.

[yaqui]

He's white. Good luck. A friend of mine was #1 in his high school class (6A school) and barely got anything. Dad's income was about $40k at the time.

Truth hurts, but that's the system.

Number One in a six A school? They must be downright be special needs to get barely anything. And racist if they think that is the reason. Sad.

[yaqui]

Whatever college he chooses, have him talk to the financial aid and councilors at the college once he is in. And not just once, communicate often. Let them know the need.

[SCREAMINREELS]

For scholarships I can say apply to every single one out there that you qualify for and Lee doing it once in school and majors are picked: some are for specific schools and even specific programs/ majors. I received a whole year paid for because I found one specific for parents working full time and going to school full time for nursing at my school. When I received it I was told if I knew anyone else to have them apply as they had extras for it. There’s a lot of them out there. The small ones add up. I was told about the big one I received by someone in the scholarship program at the school

[Alphabets]

My son is top 4 in his class, 4.0 unweighted GPA. He’ll graduate with like 36 hours of college credits. He’s done alot of extracurriculars, played sports. Any advice out there on how to find scholarships or grants. Unfortunately we don’t have a college fund for him. I could tap into my retirement, but it’s taken a hit with the market going down even after moving it to “safer” assets. I got him the the study guides for the SAT and ACT so he can work on getting good scores on those tests, and he’s filled out some local scholarships. We’ve looked at some websites, and created a profile on one. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

When he decides which school to attend, be sure to research said school's alumni association....many offer varying denomiations of scholarships. Some are degree path focused and can range from smaller one time awards to four year disbursments and full rides.

[bigtex76]

It is at the local scholarships the school teams up with the community and it is at the University they are going to. Even if you have a good score these days it does not matter. You have to have an exceptional ACT/SAT score.