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Step 2: Applying for Scholarships and Grants
Scholarships and grants comprise $3 billion of the money used to pay
for education expenses each year. But you can only acquire some of
that money if you take the time to do research and submit
applications on schedule.
The process:
- Collect information: Do an exhaustive
search to find out which scholarships and grants are available
to you. Speak with your high school advisor and the financial
aid office of the college you are planning to attend, and
familiarize yourself with the numerous online resources. A good
place to start is
http://studentaid.ed.gov. Now is the time to brainstorm and
make a huge list of all of the possibilities.
- Narrow your search: Now that you have a
fact base to draw on, review your list and cross out every
scholarship and grant that you think is a long shot. Then, make a
"Top Ten" list of the scholarships and grants you feel could be the
best fit for you.
- Get Applications: Many scholarship and
grant applications are available online, but if you don’t see the
applications you need on the web, contact the sponsoring
organization to have an application mailed to you. Your school may
also require that you fill out the College Scholarship Service (CSS)
Profile to determine your eligibility for its grants and
scholarships.
- Write an outstanding essay: There are many
books available at your local library, bookstore, or online that
give advice and instruction on writing the perfect essay. Share your
essay with teachers, parents and friends to get input and make it
the best it can be!
- Meet the deadline: Scholarship and grant
deadlines are serious. One of the first ways to eliminate
applications is to cut those applicants who don’t meet the deadline.
Use our
Scholarship Search Engine to find available
scholarships and grants.
National Merit Scholarships
The National Merit Program awards more than $50 million
a year to qualified students. Qualification for the
prestigious $2,500 award is tied to student performance
on the PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test),
which is taken during the sophomore or junior year of
high school. The 50,000 students who score the highest
become semi-finalists, and one year after taking the
test students must fill out an application to become a
finalist. At that point PSAT scores are combined with
GPA and extra curricular activity data to determine the
15,000 students who will get the award.
While only a
small percentage of students will receive a Merit
Scholarship, falling into the semi-finalist (top 50,000)
category qualifies students for other scholarships. For
example, some employers offer scholarships to their
employees’ children based on their national merit ranking,
and some schools offer their own merit scholarships. In
addition, a National Merit ranking opens some application
doors: Generally, it’s easier to receive scholarships when a
student has already demonstrated high test scores.
For more information on the National Merit Program, visit
www.nationalmerit.org
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