Reader Story: Scholarships for Fun and Profit
Published on - October 17th, 2010 (Modified on - August 7th, 2012) (by J.D. Roth) This guest post from Alison is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes. This is one of the best reader stories I’ve ever featured.
I’m a graduate of the George Washington University, a school now known as the most expensive in the country. But when I graduated, my $160,000 retail education cost me about $4,000. I walked away with about $9,000 in student loans and a check for over $5,000 from surplus tuition payments from my senior year. Plus, I’d earned enough scholarship money to pay for graduate school. Twice.
How’d I do it? Let me tell you about how to make the most of scholarships for fun and profit.
Turning Bad Luck to Good
My parents aren’t rich. When I decided to attend a private, out-of-state, expensive university, they made it clear that I had about a year to figure out how to pay for it myself. After that, they were cutting me off. After briefly considering selling an ovary, I decided to first try my luck with winning scholarship money.
I had a pretty terrible time applying to outside scholarships during high school. I was rejected by more than half a dozen despite good grades and plentiful extracurricular activities. I missed taking the National Merit Scholarship test due to surgery. I even applied to a scholarship limited to people from my medium-sized Southern town just to cover books. Only one other person applied and I still lost!
When I started at George Washington University, I had one scholarship for half of my tuition for joining the honors program. But I still needed $25,000 to cover for the rest of my tuition and room-and-board.
There were several factors that reversed my crappy luck.
- For one, I put more time into my applications during college, preparing far in advance of any deadline.
- It also helped that I had a clearer field. Almost everyone in my high school scrounged desperately for any extra scholarships they could find. However, in college everyone seemed to busy to bother. Less competition meant that it was easier to stand out.
Still, over the course of going through the application process (repeatedly), and later sitting on scholarship nomination committees, I collected some tips that will make it easier for almost anyone to win more scholarship money. I graduated nearly seven years ago, but I believe that most of this information still applies. In the current economic climate, this can be the difference between shouldering crushing debt and being able to plan for your future immediately. I used my $5,000 in surplus tuition as a down payment on my first house.
Apply to any scholarship that you qualify for (even if it’s for only $100)
GWU was nice enough to slip a letter in my student mailbox whenever the folks in the student scholarship office found one that fit me. I applied to each one, and to my surprise I won. Every. Single. One. A $200 prize led to a $1000 scholarship, which led to one for $8000, then another one for $15,000. Some of them were even retroactive and helped cover tuition from the previous year.
Almost every scholarship you apply for will have a slot for you to list scholarships you’ve already won. Being able to write something in that slot always seemed to move my application magically to the top of the stack. Remember that scholarship organizations get thousands of applications. Indicating that you’ve passed another organization’s vetting process never hurts.
Take advantage of your school’s writing center
Your essay is the most important part of your application. This is your one opportunity to rise above the other applicants and, if necessary, explain gaps in your record, such as a sudden, temporary withdrawal or less than perfect grades one semester.
This is where finishing a scholarship application early will really pay off. The graduate students at GWU’s writing center really made the difference between me finding money and my application going in the trash. They helped me find the right tone, organize myself, and would look over my application to make sure that I had everything filled out correctly. They even helped me develop a standard essay that, with a little tweaking, could be used for almost any application. In the end, I received help that literally can be valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Use your background to your advantage
It’s not fair, but sometimes it’s belonging to certain groups that will get you money. It certainly didn’t hurt that I was a Hispanic female Computer Science major. There were a total of three Hispanic female Engineering students in my entire University, which makes it easy to stand out. I have mixed feelings about applying for scholarships using my ethnic background and gender (“Did I win because I’m awesome, or because I checked the box next to ‘H’?”), but I used whatever advantage I had in order to attain the future I envisioned for myself.
Don’t fret if you don’t have an exotic ethnicity. There are plenty of other ways to point out your worthiness as a candidate:
- Have you or your family overcome hardship, economic or situational?
- Are you the first person in your family to go to college?
- Do you have any achievements that you worked hard to acquire, like becoming state pole-vaulting champion, or fighting to change a law in your town, or anything that shows moxie?
- Do you have any physical handicaps, or health obstacles that you’ve overcome? Can you relate any of that to your educational and aspirational goals? (I used my numerous spinal surgeries to talk about human-machine relationships.)
If you can’t find anything in your background that will make you stand out, make your own story. One of the best ways to do this is to help people. I’m not talking about putting in a few hours in a soup kitchen; I’m talking about doing things that make a difference in people’s lives. It’s even better if you do it creatively. One of my fellow Jack Kent Cooke recipients started an organization to provide luggage to foster children. Most of them were moving their stuff around in flimsy garbage bags and his idea made moving to a new home less traumatic and chaotic for older children.
Otherwise, develop a skill, start a business, or just do something crazy. Just make yourself sound awesome, but believable.
Whatever you do, make your story compelling and do not bore the people reading your application. Again, writing center people will help you with this.
Some majors have it easier than others
Most of the engineering fields have more scholarship opportunities than the
humanities. When in doubt, pick up a second major or a minor in something marketable. For example, a double major in English and Genetics is a standout combination. I had a double major in Computer Science and Japanese with a minor in Fine Arts, which opened up a large range of options.
Caveat: Don’t pick something just with scholarship money in mind.
Don’t slack on grades
Thought working for every A+ ended in high school? Think again. Many scholarships will pass over applicants with lackluster GPAs. Study hard. Ask for extra credit if you bomb a test. Every point counts.
I managed to qualify for an additional prize on top of my $1,000 National Hispanic Scholarship because my GPA was higher than other winners. This one paid $15,000 each year for my last two years of school.
Look internally for opportunities
Sometimes the best opportunities to find money for school are right at your own back door:
- Become a Resident Assistant and get free housing.
- Take a work-study job.
- Tutor your fanny off.
- Seek out opportunities to take on responsibility in your academic department.
I worked as a research assistant in a labor-starved Electrical Engineering department and got a paycheck and free credit hours. I started at my university with enough credit hours to qualify as a Computer Science teaching assistant by my senior year. I taught lab sections and got even more free tuition and an even nicer paycheck.
J.D.’s note: Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times yes. My mind goes numb listening to all of the hand-wringing about how to pay for college. How did I pay for college? How did Kris pay for college? Just like Alison, we sought out scholarships. We worked as Resident Assistants. And we found whatever jobs we could. I graduated with no student loans, and Kris was able to pay hers off in just a couple of years. But scholarships were the key. Want to save hundreds of thousands of dollars? Encourage your children academically, and help them apply for scholarships.
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Great post! And a good reminder that scholarships don’t stop being available once you graduate from high school. My last year of school was pleasantly free from one of these kinds of scholarships.
Two important points: 1. It helps if your parents are not wealthy. If they are, then you are on the hook for a LOT more than your average middle-class person. 2. Different schools have different policies about scholarship money. Some schools will take that money out of your need-based aid. Some will give you half. Some will count the entire scholarship towards your portion. In the first situation, it may not be worth spending the time on the scholarships rather than on additional earning opportunities.
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In addition to your outstanding achievement to put yourself though college, I bet you found (or will find) a job after graduation without much hassle. Even in a down economy, employers look for employees who are driven self-starters who know how to get things done.
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This was a great article! I always wondered how people seemed to keep winning scholarships while others didn’t. I wish I had read this when I was in high school. I still remember my guidance counselor telling me not to bother applying for any scholarships because I didn’t join the National Honor Society. Those kind of comments always stuck with me, and maybe if I had read something like this, I wouldn’t have $70k in loans right now!
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Great story! Thank you for sharing. I have an intelligent son that will be in college in the next 5 years and am very worried about the cost of college. He will be attending an expensive Uni I am sure, so I don’t want him to bare all that debt early in life…and I can’t afford to pay for it myself.
So, I will be forwarding this to my wife, RIGHT NOW, so we can start to make a plan to stay on this.
Love your point about continuing to apply while in school as the competition level goes down. Guess we just have to be diligent and we can make it happen!
Thank you for the motivation and guidance….hell, CONGRATS TO YOU FOR GETTING IT DONE!!
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This is a fantastic post! My oldest son is a junior in high school, and I am going to force him to read it and heed the advice.
Thank you for sharing!!!!!
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If your family income is under $60-80,000, your college costs will be very low, ESPECIALLY at private colleges. At Ivies (if you can get in), it will be almost free. No secret there. Also at Harvard, Yale, etc: if your family income is under @$160,000, you will only be expected to pay 10% of income for education. Again, the difficulty is getting in!
The advice here is especially relevant to people of protected minorities, who are eligible for special scholarships. JD’s RA advice is very good–and will save room and board, now ranging from 7000 to 10,000.
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If you’re paying out of savings or earnings for college or going to a more budget-friendly institution scholarships can make a big difference.
Do check your school’s policies. At my college they reduced the amount of need-based grants by any scholarships received. I was awarded several $3000-$5000 scholarships while a student and found that it had no effect on my overall aid package – it just shifted the funding source from grant to scholarship. I tried to argue that it should be used to reduce my loan package but no luck. The same thing happened to my friend’s child at a different college. Probably because we both had significant aid package due to very low family income and ridiculously high tuition costs.
The best thing you can do about college costs is to treat it as you would any other decision in life and be realistic about the costs. I think the reason for the “hand-wringing” is that everyone with kids wants to be able to give them the world. I get that. But for most middle class or even upper middle class families without a child genius, I believe it is best to just accept that a college that costs $40-50K a year is not achievable. Saving that kind of money for college is not possible without giving up way too much of your life in other areas IMO. And unless college financing changes radically, saddling a 22 year old with the kind of debt necessary to fund it is just ridiculous.
I tell my family members that are stressing about not being able to afford the Ivy Leagues for their “special, gifted children” all the time – Junior has to go to State U? It’s ok, that won’t kill him.
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Does the IRS tax scholarship money?
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This is a fantastic post!
Mt parents saved no money for me to go to college in 1985, but times were different back then. All my mother had to do was fill in a few financial aid forms and the F.A. office took care of everything else.
I went to nursing school when I was 25 years old, which made me an “adult” and officially no longer on my parents’ income. This made a big difference. I made myself known at the financial aid office at my large university, as well as in the office of the College of Nursing. I applied for every scholarship they sent my way, as well as grants, which were simply income based.
I once looked through a dusty old book in the library that included all scholarships, including the “Miss America Scholarship Pageant.” I found no scholarships, but did have an awesome dream that night that I was Miss America!
I believe that the advent of the internet has changed how one finds scholarships.
I received:
Pell grants (do these still exist?) $1500
A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant which was for approximately $8000.
Access grants $250
Private scholarships. ??
My income from scholarships and grants surpassed my tuition and books and allowed me to not work during nursing school.
My oldest son just started high school and I’m already anxious about how we’ll pay for college, so this column is super timely for me. He has been in a unique and challenging foreign program since kindergarten, and I’m crossing my fingers that this will make him stand out when he starts college. (He’s platinum blond, 15 years old and fluent in Japanese.)
I think I may print this column out and start a file called “college.”
Thank you Allison, you rock!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
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This a great post that should be forwarded to every HS student in the US!
Being the child of immigrant parents, I was on my own for HS (try explaining extracurriculars, homecoming/prom, class rings and football – their attitude is that all that social stuff distracts from academics) and was given no guidance for college – even though I took Honors and AP classes in HS. The attitude was why bother sending a woman to college if she is just going to stay home with the children? And if their other-country-equivalent HS educations was good enough to immigrate with – why isn’t an American HS diploma as good? (Now, that is whole ‘nother discussion). Also, only a “select” few went on to University – it was not open/available to all!
I wish I had known about half of these opportunities when I finally put my self through college. The whole process was so confusing – you can’t talk to anyone about taking class until you are admitted but you have to pay an application/admission fee first – what if, after you apply, you don’t want to take the classes offered? (This was all pre-internet days).
My HS child is already taking Dual Enrollment classes – why waste time on HS diploma when they can take college classes for free?
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Wow!
This story is a keeper….forever!!
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A great story! College does not have to cost a fortune, nor leave graduates with an unsurmountable bill. Personallly, I worked my way through college. Only in the last year, when I elected to reduce my work hours for the hard push to the finish line, did I get a Pell Grant and a Stafford Loan. I paid off the $3,000 loan within the first year after graduation.
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“For profit” huh? Depending on the type of scholarship, grant, loan, it’s standard practice to award you less than the full amount if it’s determined you have paid your current tuition in full. Furthermore, if the award is not a loan, it is taxable as soon as it is no longer in your tuition account at your school. Yikes!
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Thank you so much for this post! I’m a freshman in college right now and I got really discouraged after I only won one (local) scholarship in high school. This was just the motivation I needed to push through and look for more scholarships
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Joe- “for fun and profit!” is a cliched phrase that Alison is riffing off here. Not meant to be taken literally.
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Thanks so much for the kind words, everyone!
Joe M is right in that some scholarships, depending on how they stack up, can be taxable. I certainly ended up paying taxes on some of my awards, especially on overages. Still, most scholarships aren’t taxable, depending on how you use them. It’s certainly worth talking to a professional to make sure that you’re paying what you should in taxes.
It’s also true that some awards will be reduced once you hit full tuition plus room and board. I had a few that were reduced monetarily my senior year once all of my expenses were covered. But between previously guaranteed awards (different scholarships have all kinds on rules) and tuition reductions from working for the university. I was very, very surprised when they handed me that check and very, very lucky.
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Thanks for writing this article. I can really realte to your experience. Last winter, I applied to graduate school not knowing how I was going to pay for it. I work full-time, so I was expecting to finance my education by living as a pauper. Luckily, I was blessed with a substantial professional scholarship, and my graduate program matched these funds. So far, a third of my education is currently paid for.
However, winning these scholarships does not mean that I won’t apply for anymore. For the next six months, my part-time job will be to search and apply for scholarships. My goal has always been to graduate with my master’s degree debt free, even if that means my bank account registers a balance of zero dollars when I finish school. With scholarship money though, I’ll have a couple bucks left over to start my career.
My advice to anyone searching for scholarship money is not to focus on the small pool of prestigious national scholarships, but on local scholarships, scholarships given away by professional organizations in your related field, and scholarships given away by your undergraduate or graduate schools. In my experience, they give the most money, but in smaller chunks.
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ABSOLUTELY AWESOME POST!!!! I worked as a grad student at our scholarship center and met many students who applied for and got the oddest scholarships – for bowlers, for descendants of Huguenots, you name it. I would add that you need to look EARLY – these scholarships are often a year out in terms of deadlines.
Also, don’t scammed. You don’t have to pay for these services; finaid.org is an excellent resource, for example.
I actually used my boss’s editing services to get an internal scholarship – which got me out of that office the next year
.
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Good article, and I’m honestly happy for Alison that she managed to get through college with all those scholarships. However, in reading through the article, I’m no closer to understanding how some people manage to get them and some don’t.
My experience: Since I started back to school in 2008 for a career change, I have applied for every scholarship I’m qualified for, every single time the application periods have come around. The first two semesters I had a 4.0 GPA, and subsequent semesters my GPA has never gone below a 3.7. I have stellar recommendation letters from faculty, former co-workers/employers and people I know in the industry. I have volunteer experience in my field. I’ve read up on scholarship essays and even taken the free classes offered by the college on writing the essay. I have never, not once, been awarded a scholarship.
I should mention a couple of things: The field I’m getting my degree in graduates between about 60-70 students (in this state) each year. The businesses that are in our field are numerous, and there is a lot of financial support of students from industry organizations. So in addition to general scholarships, I’m also competing for a number of field-specific scholarships, many of which are only available to residents of my state.
I’m open to the possibility that I’ve missed something huge in all my attempts at getting a scholarship. But when I hear about who has gotten the last batch of scholarships (see above – we’re a pretty small group, so word gets around) I can’t help but wonder if I’m out of the running before I even start. I already have a B.A. (which I’m still paying off, 13 years later – so I’m not interested in taking out additional student loans). I’m married, and my husband has a better-than-average job. We’re scraping by on just his income (and my occasional income during summer and semester breaks), but I’m fully aware that we are doing better than some in this economy. We don’t have kids, so don’t have any childcare expense. (And I notice that childcare expenses are mentioned specifically. But nowhere do they ask if my husband and I are financially contributing to the support of both sets of elderly parents.)
Anyway, I’m sorry if I come off sounding like a whiner. I am glad that there are so many people who are able to fund their way through school with scholarships. I know that some of my fellow students would never be able to even consider getting a degree without some of their scholarships and grants. It’s just frustrating to always hear about all these wonderful scholarships that are out there, (“free for the application” as I heard one financial aid rep put it once), do my best to earn one, and then be continually denied despite my best efforts.
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I’m hoping to pay for my first year’s uni fees by becoming a human guinea-pig. There’s a clinical trial running for a drug that’s already passed in over 90 countries and they’re running one more trial to make it available in Japan.
Over £3000 ($5000) for 42 days on hormonal medication is a bargain.
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This is a great article. Forwarding off to a niece and nephew who just started college.
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I went back to school when my youngest went to kindergarten. I graduated with my MA in counseling with $2,000 in student loans. I was able to get a position as a grad assistant in the technology education department which paid my entire tuition plus a $3,500 per semester stipend for 15 hours a week of work. Not only did I pay for my master’s degree, but I also gained valuable additional work experience.
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I loved your post! I wonder if any of these tips could apply for an adult (31), or has that ship sailed once you’re out of the “normal college age”.
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WONDERFUL advice. Starting out life with college debt sets you so far behind…this is a great reminder that it is possible to get a great education and not let it set you back. Thank you, Alison!
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Fantastic, Alison!! This is great advice and I hope many are inspired to look at education costs and be creative about staying out from under the crushing load of student debt. So many more opportunities open up for a satisfying career when the dollar isn’t the bottom line.
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@frugalscholar #6 – That must only be true for dependent students without income of their own. I lost all my needs based college funding at age 20 when I got married, even though we had a combined income of less than $30k. I went to community college first, then a private university and neither qualified me for needs based aid.
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This is valuable information. For me, the best advice is to keep searching for scholarships once in college and not to assume anything based on financial position. (We didn’t do that when I was in college, hopefully we’ll remember this when time comes to send ours to college). thanks
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Thank you for this informative article! My oldest is a junior in high school, so this couldn’t have come at a better time. It really got me to start thinking outside the box to find college money for her!
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nice article, and it’s really true. During college I had a merit scholarship and didn’t have to worry about the rest, but when I went to med school and realized the loans were all on me, I got busy applying to any scholarship I could find. I can’t make your impressive claim that I won all the ones I applied for, but I won more than half of them, and never had to take a private loan in 4 years of med school (Stafford loans can cover tuition and fees for out of state medical students, but no living expenses in most cases. Private loan interest rates can be double or more than Stafford rates.)
go students, apply for those scholarships!
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I wanted to second @6 frugalscholar
There’s a big difference between what a well-endowed private school can offer a kid whose parents are of moderate income compared to a less-well-endowed school. Some of those ivies and top small liberal arts colleges will be free or cheaper than a state school. The difficulty is, as she said, getting in.
Finding out financial aid stats before applying can be a good thing. Some places even have calculators you can use online.
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Another anecdote. I applied for and won a full-tuition scholarship to my hometown college. It was framed to favor students with an intention of majoring in English or the humanities.
Read the fine print on things like this; my award was continued even after I changed my major from English to History, but some awards may be major-dependent.
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@Susan, & @Carla
It IS much more difficult for someone older applying for scholarships to go to graduate school.
But there are still scholarships out there. I went to Barnes & Noble, bought the 2008 big book of scholarships, and went line by line through all the scholarships looking at the ones I was eligable for.
Needless to say, as a priveledged white Male trying to go to business school, there’s weren’t as many scholarships as there were for disabled minority students who are children of war veterans and the first generation to attend college. BUT through perserverance I did manage to find about 10 scholarships I was eligable for (out of a book of a few thousand), and the Eastern Women’s Traffic Conference ended up paying for about 1/3 of my tuition!
So hang in there. Even if you’re not the ideal candidate for a scholarship, there are still some out there for you. It’s certainly not easy, but it is worth it in the end.
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Scholarships work out great for some people — not for others. My wife received a full tuition scholarship for college and also for graduate school, but merit-based scholarships are sometimes hard to come by. I had perfect grades in high school, great test scores, and then had a 3.9 GPA in college (in the honors college no less), but only ever received token scholarships ($500 here, $250 there, etc.).
I learned that, as a starting point, I didn’t qualify for many merit-based scholarships because my parents categorically refused to fill out a FAFSA or to provide the school with any of their tax or financial information (and no, they didn’t care if this impacted my ability to get scholarships or financial aid). I thought that this should be irrelevant for merit-based scholarships, but was told again and again that I couldn’t apply for most merit-based scholarships without this information on file.
Every time I applied for additional scholarships or tried to get help from the financial aid office, it felt like a massive waste of time. In fact, the financial aid office once advised me to drop out of college, save up some money, and return to college when I could afford it on my own.
If one of my friends or extended family had forwarded me a link to this article, I would have resented them for it. Although I did not begrudge other people their scholarships (including my future wife), some people can’t catch a break on the scholarship front.
I think if you are able to get scholarships that make a dent in your tuition (15-35%), then you are doing pretty well. If you get 50% or greater, that’s fantastic, but you should consider yourself lucky. For all of the hard-working and deserving people that get scholarships, there are also many hard-working and deserving people that get next to nothing.
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To quote one of my college teachers, “It is easier to work hard at your school work and earn scholarships than to work at McDonalds”
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My husband got a bunch of scholarships when he was in college. He was a ‘non traditional student’ as he was 27 which helped on a few applications.
He also won a bunch of small scholarships where he was the only applicant! For example, one was a tech scholarship set up to specifically fund the purchase of a computer. He actually still uses the computer he bought with that scholarship today, more than 6 years later.
He also applied and got an interest-free loan via a school foundation. Not quite a scholarship, but better than paying interest.
The hardest thing is finding the scholarships. With those small ones,they don’t tend to do a lot of advertising. Pump the admissions office, financial aid office, and your academic advisor (or your major’s office) for resources.
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This post just makes me sad. This kind of stuff only works for people who are from low-income families and are minorities. If both of your parents work and you are as lily white as the day is long you automatically qualify for almost nothing at all, regardless of grades or other stellar qualifications. I’m so happy for her that she made it through almost without any loans, but the reality is that many young students can’t do this.
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This was a great story. I had a similar one: my first 2 years of college were paid for thanks to a state grant, going to a state school, and $5000 of scholarship money. Diligence and perseverance pays off
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This is indeed a wonderful article, and hopefully when my son (now 6-months old) is of college age he will be able to make use of this info.
I wonder if this advice can be applied to my post-college, work-a-day life? Perhaps I will look into funding my Grad school this way?
Does anyone know if there are as many options for Graduate scholarships as there are for Undergrad?
Just a thought.
Thanks again for the great article.
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That’s a really great post! I paid most of my school needs myself, though I’m positive the sticker-price on my education was way, way less than 160 000.
Since I’m not very good at getting good grades, scholarships were largely out. What I am good at is working really hard, so my solution was to work two jobs every summer and one job while in school. This was often hectic, but it worked and I graduated debt-free.
There are a lot of temporary jobs available to students, many with very flexible hours. This is going to be more work than getting scholarships, but there are advantages too: for example, it helps you build up your resumé and widen your network.
It all comes back to JD’s quote: “Do what works for you.” If scholarships are your thing, awesome! And if not, find out what is.
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@Carla(23): Check with your school’s non-traditional student office (or its equivalent). They often have lines on aid that is specifically slated for non-traditional students and are likely to be helpful in applying for the rest.
@AC(8): Any scholarship money that exceeds tuition is taxable (i.e. room and board). You are, however, better off paying the tax than you are not getting the money to begin with.
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Two words – Hispanic Female
Two more – Computer Science (note that adding them to the first two words is the winner, just Comp Sci isn’t going to help you)
I don’t begrudge her the money, she worked hard and got it. My kids, WASP males, household income over $80K, 100% consumer paid, not one dollar of financial aid (loans aren’t aid, they’re loans).
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Absolutely awesome job and post. I find great encouragement to work harder at finding scholorships for my children and working with them in this matter. Thank you very much.
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