When do you send these things out? My dd wants to play the try many colleges and as many scholarships as she can qualify for as well as some maybe she cant just to see what she can get game. I want to know when we need to start printing up , downloading, and mailing out forms? Also is there any advice post scholarship hs grad parents can give those of us who are pending sending our kids off to college after home schooling them for so many years?
I wondered about that but some last year said someething about them having to be IN the senior year, maybe it was some that were different, I dont know but thanks , that means its not too soon to send them out! We will get on it! There are some now tha tmy ds is getting signed up for, sent in one yesterday in the mail for him. he is in first year of college but they have scholarships for all years now! kinda neat! Even grad school!
Am waiting to see the response to this! Rachael is a sophmore, and we attended a Christian College Fair last week.....
Scholarships are available from 9th grade up. I didn't realize this until I started looking for scholarships for my senior 2 years ago - now I look for both my sons who are 9th and 11th grade. My 11th grader has won a number of contests with small amounts of money - $150 is the max, but it is a start.
So where do you find these scholarships for "younger" students? Do I need to be looking NOW? Those "smaller amounts" can sure build up!
The ones I use most are fastweb.com and scholarshipexperts.com. There is also finaid.org. When the students sign up, they put in their grade level and theoretically it should just give you the scholarships that match - but they tend to give some that don't. So I get my kids to sign up and tell me their logins and passwords, and every month or so I go through and check all the opportunities for each one. Then I forward them to my kids. Meryl
And I should also mention, I learned a lot of what I know from talking books out the public library. There are many great books on where to find money for college and what colleges are looking for etc. I remember one by Cafi Cohen - can't remember what else I read. Meryl
Okay I am confused, I woul ahve send things out already but all the ones i was looking at, maybe its the specific schools i was looking into, but they said to wait till Senior Year.. that is cool that you can get them sooner, but how does it work anyway.. I mean doyou get reimbursed once you finally signup for the school or what? I want dd to do certain colleges/U- whatvers and then side ones too. the only scholarships I saw for kids under that were certain times of the year and for private schools...
There are plenty of general scholarships that you can use for all schools eg Bestbuy's. Some are only for seniors, but many are for any grade. Some are only for 10th or 11th. They will pay the money directly to the college if it is a scholarship (eg my daughter won one from Nationals Arts and TV and they sent it to the school - same with her OPtimist Club one - that she won in 9th grade, and her 4-H ones). Others were more contests - eg Shout It Out was a contest she won $50 for. Then they send a check and she put it in her college account. My 11th grader has so far spent all his 'winnings' on computer parts!! Meryl
yep I clicked on them at scholarship .com tons of them, dd will send out some this week. Okay for undergrads do THEY fill out the forms? I mean younger kids like 14 and that for 9th grader?
oka scholarship money can be spent on computer parts?I thougth it was designated for college stuff??? in College?
If it is an actual scholarship, the money has to be paid to the college. But many items listed on scholarship search sites are actually contests and you get a check made out to you, so you can do anything you want with them. I think my son will start saving his this year as college is approaching fast! Meryl
I checked a book out of the library a year or so ago that listed about a billion scholarship possibilities, I just can't remember the name, and I want to find it again! It listed who sponsored it, how much it was for, what they had to do to apply for it, and when it needed to be in by. There were LOTS we weren't able to apply for, but there were many that we could have---I just had gotten the book too late to apply for some of them. So yes, start now looking on-line for lists, and in the library for books that have that info.! Best wishes!
From my experience-my son is a senior-most of them come online around this time of year or after the first of the year. He did already apply for an ROTC scholarship that is a full ride and can be used to attend a private school (including many christian universities if that is your desire) The ROTC scholarship includes money for books and a monthly stipend. Then after you graduate (with no debt) you get paid while serving 4 years in the military. One of our friends did this and became a nurse after going through the program at BIOLA University. I know not everyone has a desire to serve but it's a good option and you go in as an officer after graduation.
I'd start compiling lists sooner rather than later. I'm all about spreadsheets, so I'd just make a list of info with a link (if needed), and have a column about the year of schooling to send it in. When you finish (or as you compile them), you can organize them by year (fresh, soph, jr, sr) and then complete them as you go. Although if you compile a list now for two or three years, make sure you doublecheck before going thru the application. On a side note, the Ayn Rand institute offers an essay contest from 9th grade on. http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_contests_index
scottie its all done for you on scholarship .com I have my list of favs, and 3 top fav choices for universities, it does not recognise RADA, as one but we tried three state side Us.
My daughter did the Excel thing as scottiegazelle suggested. You need to use more than just one scholarship search site as none of them list everything - and as another poster said - look at books in the library too. The other I did was to go on the websites of the biggest local schools and look on their Guidance Counseling pages - most of them list local scholarship opportunities. ANyway - without Excel it would have been difficult to keep tabs on all. She had the site, the due date and when she submitted them and when results would be posted. Meryl
