Freshman Kevin Meyer has earned four scholarships which help pay his way at Marquette University. Meyer’s awards can be attributed to his good grades, extracurricular activities, and the gentle prodding by his mother that prompted him to devote a couple of hours a week early in his senior year at Wheaton North High School to completing scholarship applications.
Indeed, the old adage “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” rings doubly true when it comes to earning college scholarships. High school seniors, already busy with homework, part-time jobs and preparing college admission applications, have little inclination to add a scholarship search to their crowded schedule.
Like most guidance counselors, Audrey Caldwell at Bloom High School in Chicago Heights says that listings of local, state and national scholarships are available in the guidance office. “What bothers me is that students don’t take advantage of the opportunities enough,” says Caldwell.
Winning scholarships involves more motivation than stellar achievement, contends Benjamin R. Kaplan, author of “How to Go to College Almost for Free: The Secrets of Winning Scholarship Money.”
Local guidance counselors concur that while most high school students are too busy to bother, each year there tend to be at least a few who aggressively seek scholarships and often end up winning at least one, and often several awards.
In his book, Kaplan outlines several techniques and strategies for winning scholarships. He stresses that parental support is often essential to helping motivate students. Agrees Meyer: “I know I wouldn’t have done these [scholarship] applications without my mom saying, `O.K., set aside time tonight to do applications.'”
Thousands of scholarships are offered by small organizations like the local women’s club, and by bigger groups like trade associations and foundations. These scholarships are often posted on bulletin boards and contained in computer databases in high school guidance offices.
However, guidance counselors underscore that the largest and most easily attainable sources of college funding come from two other sources. First, says Susan Martin, a counselor at Wheaton North High School: “Kids should always look for need-based money. Even if families have doubts about their eligibility for need-based aid, it’s worthwhile to submit the financial aid forms to determine whether or not you may get some money.”
Additionally, colleges and universities have been increasingly relying on merit scholarships to attract talented students whose grades, test scores, and other accomplishments put them in a more talented category than the typical applicant.
For instance, said William Morrison, a college consultant at Highland Park High School, “a student might get admitted to a highly competitive place like Georgetown University in Washington D.C., but not offered any money. At another very good school in D.C., but one that’s not so competitive as Georgetown, George Washington University, the same student might be offered a few thousand dollars to attend.”
Kaplan says that the process of applying for other scholarships dovetails neatly with the college application process: both typically require essays and recommendations, and a compilation of extracurricular activities.
Theresa Wilson of Flossmoor, now a freshman at Millikin University in Decatur, who applied for five scholarships (and won several) agrees that after preparing essays for class assignments and college admissions, the process of completing scholarship applications was “quite simple.”
Kaplan, who interviewed scholarship winners and read applications to various contests as part of the research for his book, says that winning applications paint a compelling portrait of the student through interesting essays and personal recommendations, both of which can also be used for college applications.
Adds Wilson: “Write about what you know in your essay, and be real. If you don’t enjoy and understand your own essay, then the people you are requesting the scholarship from won’t either.”
While it takes some time to craft winning applications, utilizing the Internet dramatically cuts the amount of time it takes to ferret out scholarship opportunities. Sites like www.fastweb.com and www.srnexpress.com prompt students to input information about themselves which is then matched with scholarship contests. Local guidance counselors also recommend www.isac-online.org, a site which is run by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.
Ben Williams, a sophomore majoring in chemical engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, filled out the survey on the fastweb site and ended up winning a scholarship which will pay three-fourths of his tuition through college.
While the Internet is an ideal source for locating scholarship opportunities that match a student’s talents, it also serves to increase the number of applicants, adds Ray Jamiolkowski, coordinator of student personnel services at Naperville Central High School. He says the field of applicants is usually much smaller for local contests, as well as for scholarships offered by corporations to their employee families.
Student winners and experts also both advise starting a scholarship search as early as possible. “If you start looking at the end of junior year or in the summer before your senior year, you can be ahead of the game,” says Wilson.
Kaplan, now age 23, who won some $90,000 in scholarship money that practically paid all his tuition costs at Harvard, still regrets that he didn’t start earlier in his scholarship search — as early as junior high school. “There are some scholarships that are only given to people age 16 or younger,” he explains. “For instance, you can get a scholarship (money is given later when the child attends college) when you are in junior high from Duracell, the battery company, if you make an invention using their battery.”
While an early start helps students find the time to complete applications before their stated deadlines, it can also be wise to search for scholarship money late in the game — after a student has already completed his freshman or sophomore year in college and has settled on a major.
“Once you are in college you can find scholarships geared only to students in your specialty,” explains Kaplan.
And, adds Jamiolkowski, if high school students already know what they’ll be studying, they can often find money. “Some majors are more likely to have scholarships than others,” he said. “For instance, if you are majoring in special education, many state universities give scholarships.”
Kaplan says that the more applications a student completes, the greater the chances of winning at least one. “The mistake most students make is that they only apply for one or two scholarships and then they stop. Once you’ve applied for a couple, you’ve already done about 60 percent of the work in applying for 10.”
