What you need to know when searching for outside scholarships:
Parents and students are often asking how and where to search for outside scholarships. Spring and Summer are the time that juniors should be searching and applying for outside scholarships that might be available. And by ‘outside’ I mean money that is not awarded by a college, the government, or conventional student loans. Also, know that searching for outside scholarships is VERY time-consuming. Applying for these can often seem like entering into a black hole, with no responses and little success. But, there are a few tips and reputable sites that AdmissionSmarts can recommend as you begin your search. See some of our top choices below.
Start local and think about your quirks and interests…
Start locally. First, begin with organizations within your town or city – rotary clubs, churches, community organizations, STEM groups, women’s groups, etc. Both, local opportunities and niche application requirements can improve your chances. Think about some of your personal interests or quirks. There are scholarships for all sorts of usual and unusual themes. Are you a caddy at your local WGA golf course? There is a scholarship for that! Are you a vegetarian? Well, there is a scholarship for that too!
Follow outside scholarship directions and check deadlines:
If you are applying for one of the big national scholarships, like the Coca- Cola Scholarship for instance – make sure to know the deadlines. Also, most importantly, follow all directions carefully. For example, the Coca-Cola Scholars application opens around August 1. Some scholarships like this one are first screened by a computer to narrow down the field. Make sure that you fill in all the questions carefully. Also, a note about the Coca Scholar Scholarship in particular since I have had several students win this prestigious award: Community Service is very important! In order to be competitive, you should have over 500 earnest hours of community service, along with leadership, a great transcript and an interesting personal story. This scholarship is extraordinarily competitive.
Make sure to maximize your Merit Aid Award potential…
Remember, for those families not eligible for need-based aid, but looking for $$$ in the way of merit aid/outside scholarship money, follow this advice. The best and most successful way to receive the largest $$$ award amounts is not necessarily researching, spending hundreds or hours, and writing endless essays for small outside scholarship awards. The better approach is strategically building a school list by including colleges that are generous with merit-aid AND colleges where your student is in the upper tier of their academic GPA and test scores medians. My colleagues and fellow consultants Jeff Levy and Jennie Kent have put together this very helpful chart to show exactly which colleges are most generous with offering Merit Aid awards.
A few more words to the wise about how outside scholarships are considered…
BEWARE: if your student is successful in winning an outside scholarship (YEAH!) – most colleges will reduce the loan or work-study portion of the need-based financial aid award dollar-for-dollar against the amount of the outside scholarship. Some colleges may even reduce the institutional grant portion of the award by the amount of the outside scholarship. Check with the financial aid department at each school to learn how they might handle your case.
Check out our favorite search engines for finding outside scholarships here:
Easy College Scholarships – Find and Apply Online – Going Merry
Big Future: College Scholarship Search
JLV College Counseling Scholarship List
AdmissionSmarts Scholarship Board