Applying for Scholarships

In addition to the need-based aid aspects of doing the FAFSA, you should also be considering seeking out and applying for any and all scholarships that would apply to you.  I know that some students will find scholarships through AI, some will find them from colleges, and others will find them from scholarship search websites or apps.

If colleges are sending you emails encouraging you to apply for a scholarship on their campus, APPLY!  Too many times students don’t follow through and throw away that opportunity.  Most of the best scholarship money comes to students when you are coming straight out of high school to be a college freshman, so you don’t want to miss out on these opportunities.  Often times these scholarships are renewable which means they help you all 4 years of your college career.  

I encourage you to ask the colleges questions about if they will look at updated information (like testing data) if you get the data before they are reviewing the applications.  Another great question you can ask colleges or read on their websites is what will you be required to complete in order to be able to maintain the scholarship over time.  

There is also value in considering scholarships that are beyond the college.  If you go to the Searching for Scholarships page on the Counselor website you will find lots of websites you can use for searches.  I also encourage you to make sure you check to see if there are any Franklin County Alumni Association scholarships offered for the colleges you are considering.  You should also think about organizations that you or your family are involved with – service groups, community organizations, religious groups, parent businesses, etc. On the WKHS Counselor searching for scholarship page there is also a sample tool that you can use to help keep your scholarship applications organized and that has been particularly useful to students in the past.

The reality is that college is expensive, but you CAN and SHOULD take steps now to help mitigate as much of the cost as you can.