4 Smart Steps for Institutional & Private Scholarships
By Karen Treon, Senior Editor & College Parent
If your senior has finished their college applications, they are probably in the mood for a break and a chance to enjoy the end of their senior year. We wish that for them, but we also know that in reality most families are turning their attention to paying for college, and this is the season for scholarship applications. In this post, we will explain a four-step process that helps students prioritize efforts that will make the biggest impact on the bottom line.The good news is that your student has probably already finished the first two steps of the process! We will review all four steps here just to be safe.
STEP ONE: MAXIMIZE MERIT AID
The good news here is that your student has probably completed this! Merit Aid is a term of art in the college-going world, and it means money that is granted to a student by the admitting university (meaning they don’t have to pay it back) based on the strength of the student’s application. This means it is based on grades, test scores, certain achievements or accomplishments, or some combination of the above. Not all colleges offer merit aid (specifically, the lower the acceptance rate the less likely it is that the school offers merit aid), but the majority of those that do make the offer based on admission applications. The factors can also be based on things like residency - such as awards through the Western University Exchange and other regional tuition exchanges. Merit aid can make a significant impact on the cost of college. Think of them as discounts - sometimes big ones - and they are typically renewable for four years. Merit aid awards do not consider a student’s financial circumstances.
Merit Aid offers usually come after an acceptance letter – but the timing is different at every school. If your student has completed the application process, they have completed this first step! However, if your student receives a merit aid award that is lower than they reasonably expected, they can consider asking the admissions office to consider awarding more. We have some tips on this in our Post on College Costs.
STEP TWO: FAFSA AND CSS
If your student has applied to colleges they (and you!) are probably receiving email from those colleges reminding you to fill out FAFSA and (at some schools) the CSS. For the nitty gritty on these very important financial aid processes, we will refer you to our Post on FAFSA and CSS as well as our Video Series on Paying for College. We can’t miss the opportunity to remind you how important FAFSA and CSS are. FAFSA is the gateway to need-based financial aid, and CSS can unlock even more need-based aid at some schools. We suggest completing this step BEFORE moving on to other scholarship applications.
STEP THREE: UNIVERSITY-ADMINISTERED SCHOLARSHIPS
Students and parents hear a lot of myths about “scholarships”, such as “there are so many out there” . . . “you should apply for at least one scholarship a day” . . . “some don’t even require essays” . . . “my nephew got paid to go to college” etc. etc. While there may be some partial truths in here, none of these statements come close to accurately describing the reality of college scholarships. There are some good opportunities out there, but to find them students need to prioritize their efforts and be savvy.
We suggest that students start by looking at university-administered scholarships. We aren’t talking about Merit Aid here, we are talking about something else. University-administered scholarships are usually privately funded by benefactors who ask the university to award and administer them. The benefactors usually specify the eligibility criteria, and the scholarships are designed to support priorities and goals of the benefactor. For example, a benefactor might donate money to a university to support a student pursuing a career in education or cancer research or soil ecology. Some of these scholarships will consider financial need, and may ask the applicant to explain the impact that the scholarship would have on them. The details of these scholarships vary widely, but because the university administers them they are reliable and they are often renewable. We suggest that students focus their efforts on these scholarship applications first. There are a few important things to know:
These types of scholarships are usually available in a portal that is available to students who have been admitted . . . and in many cases are available only to students who have accepted their offer of admission. The information is not publicly available. This means that students need to take charge of these! (Note that this isn’t universal – some schools have this information on public websites but it is not the norm.)
The limited accessibility also means that students can’t count on receiving this money when making their enrollment decision, because they can’t access them or apply until they accept the admission offer. It is definitely worth the effort to apply to these, but to be blunt, these scholarships are usually not gamechangers. They may alleviate some financial pressure, but they don’t usually result in an unaffordable college becoming affordable.
Students can tailor searches to their major or specific interests. The scholarship portals use easy-to-navigate search methodology.
Admissions officers and financial aid officers are there to help students. If an admitted student is having trouble locating this information or navigating the portal, they should reach out to the school - they are happy to help.
One last tip – students should revisit the scholarship portal every year! Some scholarships are for upperclassmen, and sometimes the eligibility criteria is easier to meet as an older student.
STEP FOUR: PRIVATE SCHOLARSHIPS
This category covers a lot, and we are here to break it down.
There are many types of private scholarships. Some are big ones - like the Coca-Cola Scholarship, the Gates Foundation Scholarship, Questbridge and National Merit Scholarships. Very few students qualify to even apply for these, and far fewer receive them. Those who think they might qualify should be in touch with their high school counselors in their junior year for more information and guidance. Because so few students qualify (and because if you are reading this you probably have a senior and are too late for these) we will focus here on smaller scholarships.
Finding small scholarships can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. It is important to be realistic before spending a lot of time writing essay after essay for smaller private scholarships. Higher education journalist James Murphy recently wrote an article about this exact topic and he did an excellent job - we HIGHLY recommend reading this outstanding article before developing a scholarship application strategy.
If your student does pursue private scholarships, we have a recommended strategy:
Local scholarships are a great starting point. Civic organizations and small businesses often like to support local graduates and those organizations and businesses usually promote the scholarship opportunities through their local high schools. Guidance counselors and college advisors keep track of these opportunities. Students should check out the bulletin boards and sign up for the texts to keep up to date.
Students might also check with other institutions they are affiliated with – their own employers, their parents’ employers, their churches, etc., to see if they offer any scholarships.
Unfortunately, there is no Common App for these applications, and many require a significant amount of time and effort. Students can be efficient by asking one or two teachers to write a generic scholarship letter of recommendation and let them know that they may be asking for it several times. Most teachers are adept at writing a letter that they can customize for different situations. Similarly, students can usually use their Common App essays as a jumping off point and write a scholarship application essay that will be useful (with minor editing) for multiple applications. Most seniors are EXHAUSTED by this point in the year, and they don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
After exploring the local scholarships that are available, students can turn to the larger databases. This doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Students should remind themselves that these large scholarship databases usually have almost the same information on them, so students can pick one that they find easy to work with and rely on it. There is no need to search them all. Some public libraries have scholarship centers and maintain databases, and those are often vetted and reliable. For example, the City of Phoenix Public Library has a College Depot and maintains a good scholarship database.
It is true that some scholarships are no-essay and have very simple applications. Most of these aren’t scams, but are sweepstakes of sorts. Winners are randomly chosen, and the entities that offer these are collecting data. They work out for some students, but be warned that they are really after your data and that winners are chosen randomly.
Finally, remember that many of these scholarships have one-time payments and are not renewable. Every dollar helps, but remember the temporary nature of the scholarship when budgeting for future years.
Every family will have a different approach to the scholarship search process, and our hope is to provide information that supports you in your decision-making. Good luck to your students!
