lets talk about scholarships

[disneysteve]

My brother's estate offers $ 600. per year to any student majoring in Adult Ed. but rarely gets applicants, too small to write a request I guess.

This is a great tip and very true. There are a lot - A LOT - of little scholarships out there that go unclaimed every year either because people don't know about them or don't think it's worth applying. They focus instead on the $5,000 and $10,000 ones, but so does everyone else. Don't ignore those little ones. Even if it pays for a couple of textbooks, it's free money.

She is bilingual (Spanish)

There surely must be some way for her to exploit this to her financial advantage. Search at fastweb.com or just Google for scholarships for bilingual students. I bet they're out there.

{quote]She started a club at her school, which is K-8, where the students learn how to knit and crochet and then they donate the hats and scarves they make to the homeless youth facility. She teaches the needlework to other kids herself, as well as some other teachers and parent volunteers. The local newspaper did an article about her. She wants to get something like that started at her high school too.[/quote]
That's great. Good for her. And this is exactly the type of stuff that can score her a scholarship from various community service minded organizations.

The best scholarship money comes from the schools, not outside sources. Applying to a school where you would be at the top of their class gives you a better chance at money

This is true strictly looking at dollars. As I said, my DD is getting $19,000/year from her school. There's no way she'd round up that much if she spent 8 hours a day applying for independent ones online. And she definitely chose a school where she would be at the top of her class. That qualified her for the top financial aid award, the honors program, special housing, and other perks.

[AsiaTraveler]

I was valedictorian of my his class, and applied for every scholarship under the sun.

What I found was that, even as a good student, is that I received the scholarships that were somehow connected to me. So I got several local scholarships as well as one from a Lutheran organization. If she had to prioritize her efforts, those are the ones I'd focus on, in addition to whatever scholarship funds are available from the schools.

It is probably too early for her to apply but not too early to research & compile a list.

Also when it comes time to apply for school financial aid, be sure to note the circumstances/extra costs of your husband's health issues. There usually is a spot for that, but I don't remember if it is on the Fafsa itself or on a form I filled out for the college directly. This is esp.important if your finances have changed in the new year due to that.

[bdoubleu]

AP Classes

One strategy I used was to take as many AP classes as I could handle throughout high school. The classes were free in high school, and the college I ended up going to had a system where, if you scored high enough on the AP test at the end of each high school year, they would consider it "passing" certain college level courses (usually the 101's/201's/etc). Of course they had to get some money somehow, and my college charged $11/credit hour for any that I wanted. I was able to "pass" 30 credit hours just from AP classes, so I was essentially sophomore status when I walked on campus for the first time. And I had paid $11/credit hour instead of hundreds of dollars/credit.

Theoretically this would save quite a bit of money, but the path I ended up going down in college, it ended up not working out entirely the way I planned (the professional program I wanted to apply to only took applications once a year, and certain required classes were only offered certain semesters, blah blah blah). But I was grateful that I didn't have to sit through BORING 101 classes (and think of how much money I was throwing away), and could instead take classes that really interested me (instead of a bunch of required classes).

All of this said, I also think if she was able to take even one class at the local college during high school will at least look good on college applications, if not propel her further faster.

It also really helps to have an idea of what she wants to major in/what she wants to be/etc, so precious time isn't wasted on unnecessary classes.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

And once she is in university, keep watching for scholarship opportunities. Some are only offered to junior or senior year students of a given major.

Regarding credit earned while still in high school, my son did that but did not end up transferring any of those credits to his university. It was not really to his advantage either financially or academically. If his major had been something else it would have been advantageous.

Likewise, it would not have been to his advantage to go to community college the first two years, as his major required a solid four years of study within the department, in classes not offered by a community college.

Your daughter should understand the requirements of the desired degree ahead of enrolling if she knows by HS senior year what she wishes to study. That will help her make good decisions,

[AsiaTraveler]

Another thought: as she gets old enough to have a part-time job (if that's something that she'll do), she may want to consider whether it would be worth it to work somewhere that has tuition benefits for employees. I know UPS and McDonald's do, but I don't know enough about it to know how you qualify.

Of course, the life experience/direction for life she might get working somewhere else might outweigh the possible financial aid of working for a big company.

[creditcardfree]

No expert on scholarships. YET. My daughter is a junior so I will know soon.

My $0.02, find a job where they pay a premium for speaking Spanish. High demand there. Also, inquire with the school about dual credit classes. My daughter has now taken three classes at the high school that are offered at our community college. She has earned high school credits for FREE. Considering in her case, these are directly related to what she wants to do, she is ahead of the curve.

[elessar78]

Local businesses and organizations usually have scholarships.

My company gives out a scholarship for engineers or environmentalist type majors. Some years, we don't get any engineers or environmentalists apply, so we just give it to whomever applies. My father-in-law is the president of an agricultural society and they have a scholarship for Agricultural majors, but those are dwindling so, again, it is given to anyone who applies.

I did those scholarship searches when I was an undergrad but was discouraged by most because I didn't fit the profile they were looking for to a T. In retrospect, I'm applying to as many as I can. Have your kid call companies of a certain size in your area and speak to their HR dept. That's usually where the info is.

Just some more ideas to add to the mix.

[elessar78]

Permanent temp offered valid suggestions. I know there are lots of small grants awards, bursaries, scholarships that lack applicants. My brother's estate offers $ 600. per year to any student majoring in Adult Ed. but rarely gets applicants, too small to write a request I guess.

It'd be interesting for an undergrad to use, forty $500 scholarships to fund a $20,000 education. That would signal to me a true go getter. I'd sure as heck put that on a resume.

How long would it take to write out the application? One would have to adjust it according to the expected payout, but I would invest 2-3 hours of time for a HS student/college student on break to try to get a $600 scholarship. That's books for a semester!

[breathemusic]

The best thing you can do for her is sit her down right now and explain the financial situation. Tell her that you'd like to be able to contribute to her college, but given your expenses, you just don't know that it's possible. Same story with her dad. So tell her that she should plan on scholarships being an important part of her college planning, which means knowing that she needs to try to make the grades from day 1 in high school. If she can go in knowing that, it sounds like she could do well.

I found that local scholarships were much easier to get than the huge national ones where thousands of kids are competing. I ended up with a significant number of scholarships, but applied for dozens of them. Some were just good for freshman year, some were 4 year scholarships.

She also needs to make sure she participates in extracurricular activies to demonstrate leadership or other well-rounded interests. These are all things that help not only with scholarships, but college applications as well. College is something that really has to be planned for from the beginning of high school, not just junior or senior year when it's time to do applications.