A friend of mine said that it's hard for homeschoolers to get scholorships.. Is this true.. And how would one go about getting one?? My oldest is in 9th grade so we don't have much longer before we start getting ready for college.. Anyone here have a child who has recieved one? Thanks Angela
I just started looking just to see what is out there. We have one that is a drawing at every quarter. I just need to make up a report card and summit it to the military store's manager. I found another that we can go for because of my husband is a Chief and she's a dependent. I think there is one for scouts too she can go for. That is as far as I have gotten. I just click under favorite for the day I can really start looking.
It depends. There's some scholarships specifically for HS'ed kids, but you have to look for them. And that means homeschooled, not on-line school! Rachael doesn't qualify, because she's "attending" a cyber-school this year, and that's officially who will graduate her.
I haven't personally, because my oldest is a ninth grader, but I do personally know homeschool graduates who have gotten them. Several students I know have won several smaller scholarships $500-$1000 for winning different contests (essay, history fair, ect) all through high school - not just their jr/sr years. I've heard winning a bunch of smaller scholarships is easier and they add up nicely, but I do also personally know students who have won "full rides," one to Furman the other to Clemson. Both of them were homeschooled K-12.
From my experience as a high school counselor, scholarship committees are most interested in community service/volunteer work, extracurricular activities, test scores, and the quality of your essay. None of these will be dependent on where or how your child completed school. As far as finding them, I have not searched for scholarships specific to home schoolers; however, in general, there are two main types of merit-based awards out there-- institutional money, which comes from the colleges themselves; and private money, which comes from businesses and private entities. There is also need-based aid, which will be dependent on financial need. As a counselor, I had students search for scholarships in a few places. First, we looked at prospective colleges and universities themselves. All have a scholarship/financial aid page which discusses their available aid. At the larger universities, students often qualify based on specific numbers (certain SAT/ACT score and GPA = x dollars). Next, I had them complete an online search- the best site I have found for this is Fastweb. Fastweb will search its enormous database and match you up to available scholarships, based on your specific interests/abilities (religious preference, musical/athletic interests, etc.). Finally, check with businesses (parent's place of employment is often a successful place to find money). Also, every major corporation offers scholarship money- Coca-Cola, Burger King, Wal-Mart, etc., etc., Hope this helps. Dustin
Welcome, Dustin! My Rachael is a Senior, so she's right in the middle of all this. We've found the larger institutions (specifcally Ohio State, since we're in central Ohio) has very little merit scholarships available. But she's been given some very sweet offers at some smaller schools. She's applied for a good scholarship at Cedarville and Union (both small Christian schools), and if they accept her application she will go for a weekend (thankfully they're not doing them on the same weekend!!!) for a competition. But I know Cedarville only offers nine, and there are about 200 that apply.... She re-took her ACT this past Saturday, because one point higher will make a BIG difference at one school (and she feels confident that she might have done that, because she actually finished the science portion this time!), and we also know of several of those smaller ones that will add up (at least for this first year); my husband's teacher's union (which I'm amused with seeing as she's homeschooled!) and the recreational soccer organization she's played with for the past seven years, plus Union also offers $1000 a year for those who get the AWANA Citation Award, which she's on track to get this spring. (My DH, the former boy scout, compares that AWANA's version of being an Eagle Scout!) I'll check out Fastweb. Is it free?
I know my nephew got a full scholarship to a local community college. I know some others who have gotten a variety of scholarships too. I think hs'ers need to be more aggressive and seek out the smaller scholarships. There are some out there that just go to specific public or private schools so maybe that is what your friend is thinking of.
...which is why I posted it for you . That rule is to prevent people from coming on just to post ads for their own stuff. I had Rachael sign up, thanks!
No problem-- the more specific you are, the better. In other words, if you are too general on fastweb, you will match up with thousands of potential scholarships. There's no way she will be able to complete that many apps. So, by narrowing your search, you will find a better list-- one that is more realistic and specific to your student. However, the converse is also true. If you are too restrictive, you may miss out on some things. So, if you find that you're not getting much activitiy on fastweb, go back and tweak one of your answers to the survey.
My experience so far has been that it's the SAT scores and GPA that matter for scholarships. The only thing I've run into is the very best scholarships seem to want 1st in the class status, so that could possibly be a stumbling block (but not inpossible hurdle) for some homeschoolers. Regarding Fastweb, I just got something in the mail about that and wanted to post about that anyway. Am I going to get tons of junk from them if I sign up. I'm tempted to think it will be a waste of my time. Does anyone have experience where it actually ended up with scholarship money?
In my years as a school counselor, I had several students earn scholarships through this site. Like I said earlier, you will get e-mails about relevant scholarships based on the criteria you enter. Therefore, the more specific you can be, the less 'junk' you will get.
As a school counselor (he-he, we'll end up picking your brains now!!!), do you know any good site for those tests that give kids an idea of what they might study in college? My dh was a high school teacher, now middle school, and came home with one his counselor gave, but it was so darned general that it was no help at all. I took one when I was in high school (we all did for a class), and it was absolutely right on! Preferable one that is FREE....
My oldest son won a Louisiana TOPS Performance Scholarship, and also a $1000 scholarship from our power company.
Jackie, No problem. I will be happy to help in any way I can. I have taken a leave of absence from my job for one year to try out homeschooling with my two boys and to see whether we can handle it financially. So far, so good on both accounts. My boys are benefitting a great deal, and we are growing much closer as a family. As far college and career exploration, I am mostly familiar with Indiana resources. In junior high, students work with driveofyourlife dot org to begin researching career/college possibilities. Then, we progress to the Learn More Indiana site, (learnmoreindiana dot org)which has career interest inventories, college exploration, etc. This site actually uses the college matchmaker program which is found on the College Board site (makers of the SAT/PSAT)- collegeboard dot com. If a student has an idea what they want to study, college matchmaker helps with finding appropriate schoools. There aren't many really good free career interest inventories, so the ones on Learn More (career clickers and career clickers express I think) are decent at best. They will help narrow interests, but are definitely not as sophisticated as many of the for-profit inventories. We used to get a wealth of career information from our students taking the ASVAB, but discontinued that because we felt like we were testing students way too much already.
I've said this before, but when I was in high school - granted, 15 years now /sigh - I did a full on study of what made you more appealing to scholarships. (Single mom, scholarship was the only way, etc) And, while times have changed, I would be surprised if the basics did. - Grades are good, of course, particularly for academic scholarships, but not a requirement for all. SAT scores were most important then, but I think it's more abt the ACT now. - It was drilled into me by my high school guidance counselor that consistency looks better than jumping around. That is, the longer you are in an activity/hobby/club/whatever, the more "stable" and thus "mature" you appear. As such, I did Cross Country for four years, Track and newspaper for three. - Diversity. I was a very methodical kid, lol. I chose activities with an eye towards what they showed, though I chose activities I enjoyed within those areas. sports - as I said, I had at least one sport for four years, and a related one for three; I wound up with a few CC-based scholarships. Even without, the whole "I'm a physically active kid" sells well, as does the "I learned self-discipline and teamwork" issue intellectual - for me, this was newspaper, with a segway into spanish club. This also worked for my goal, which was to be a journalism major; this showed I was actually honestly interested in said goal. (I also had an internship at the local paper) job - oddly enough, I was told this was also a plus, especially with my high grades, because it showed I could balance everything, plus the added "maturity" issue. Most college students have to take some sort of job, and I think it reassures colleges to know that the student already has some practice with the balance issue service - I honestly don't remember what I put here, but any kind of service issue, volunteering, church work, makes you look "better." I think I was in SADD or Kiwinis or something; I wasn't overly active, it was on my last tier music - always pro but I never did this, mostly because I failed. But any kind of extended lessons, etc works In my opinion, homeschoolers have the advantage because, well, we get to explore our talents in depth more than public schooled kids. And depth > breadth. These, of course, look good on a list but it depends on how you "sell" it in interviews, essays and the like. Which leads to the next thing - the college essay. Knowing how to write a good essay is killer, not just for admission but for scholarships. Knowing how to sell yourself or your experience without pressing too hard is pro. Dave Ramsey tells the story of the girl who spent a summer applying for something like 1000 scholarships via one of the lists; she was rejected by something like 970 of them and wound up with $30,000 in scholarships. I think my kids will start a little sooner than summer, but I fully intend to walk them down that road. And, it's never too soon. The Optimist club has an annual speaking contest for a scholarship, Kiwanis has something similar (or did), the Ayn Rand foundation has an essay contest that starts in the 8th grade, and so on. Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. Your work (my friend's husband works at a local dairy and they offer scholarship money to employee's children), their work (Sheetz - the gas station - offers college money, as does McDonalds, UPS, and...shoot, there was another one but I forget it. I think Taco Bell does but that one I'm not certain of.) Our local women's club wasn't on the list, but they offered a scholarship. Coca Cola, I think. Personally, I would start narrow and then widen your fishnet. Or actually, what I would be prone to do is make note of everything you qualify for and then go narrow-to-wide in terms of applications. My oldest is "only" ten and I'm already hatching a plan...that's bad, isn't it? lol By the way, I don't remember any of these asking about how I was schooled, just that they required "a high school senior intending to enroll in college", or whatever the appropriate level was.
Most of the merit scholarships from the colleges have BOTH a minimum GPA and ACT/SAT requirement. However, I do agree that they also base it on activities, too, including community service. As you say, they want "well-rounded" students.
It depends on the scholarship. For example, Rachael has already applied for one; the other won't take applications until the first of January, but she's working on her essay for that now, and getting the letters of recomendation in line. The scholarship for the Citation Award won't be awarded until she gets the award in May. The scholarship that the soccer association gives out doesn't take applications until this spring sometime. There may be some you fill out during your Junior year, but we didn't have any.
