Scholarships?
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Anonymous
| Did your kids win any outside scholarships to help pay for college tuition? If so- how did they find them and how much did they win? |
Anonymous
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My DS received four scholarships - total value: $5000.
A coach told him about the local Chamber of Commerce scholarship. He knew about one since he was in elementary school - it was given by a sports league that he played for since he was 8. Our local church gave out scholarships so he found out that one in the church bulletin. The last one was the local Rotary Club giving scholarships to Eagle Scouts. I think he heard about it in his Boy Scout troop. He also applied to a couple of others that he did not receive - they were listed in our school's Naviance. |
Anonymous
| Do colleges seize 100% of scholarships against need based financial aid? |
Anonymous
National Merit. |
Anonymous
They don't seize anything, aid is dependent on need. If you've merit money, it means those extra aid dollars should go to someone else. |
Anonymous
I'm the PP with the DS with four outside scholarships. One was sent directly to the school from the organization. One gave DS a check made out to both the school and DS. The other two wrote checks directly to DS. DS did not qualify for any need based financial aid, but if he had, the school would have only known about $3000 of the $5000 in scholarships. Unless they did some research, they would not have known about the other $2000. If you do an internet search on DS' name and scholarship, three of the four scholarships pop right up (the church didn't publish anything.) The only article that lists how much the scholarship was for is the one that was sent directly to the college. |
Anonymous
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By my calculation, getting a scholarship would not be worth it because the college then takes away Federal or merit money.
I'm sorry that I'm a downer on this topic. Too many scholarships I researched were VERY particular--you had to be a certain race, live in a certain state, have a parent with a certain profession, etc. OR the amount was SMALL. $500 is not going to help. Oh, and then some scholarships don't last all four years! I hesitated to ask the kid to write yet more essays for scholarships that may not last all four years or that may be such a small amount of money. |
Anonymous
Seems to me it’s the outside scholarship that should go to someone else. If you’re getting need-based aid, you should decline the scholarship from your local chamber of commerce. You’ll pay the same amount for college and your neighbor will be better off. |
Anonymous
| None of the outside scholarships for the most part seem to make a big difference. They were small amounts for one year or something like that. If you really want money, the better choice is to apply to schools that give aid for students that are above average for their, regular freshman group. That’s a much better way and you’ll get more money for more years. |
Anonymous
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Quite a few- National Merit (full COA). A $10k through a local foundation. A $3k through a National organization, and $500 from a local branch of a national company. and now some study abroad scholarships through college and an organization related to the major.
All merit so stackable. If we were eligible for financial aid, then the financial aid would have been reduced. |
Anonymous
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If your kid already gets need-based aid (grants, work study), outside scholarships displace that aid ("scholarship displacement")
For example, kid already gets $10,000 grant from school. Wins and additional $4000 outside scholarship. School happily takes the outside money (if it is sent or made out to school-most are) then reduces $10,000 original grant to $4000. Kid is in the same net position of $10,000 aid - $6000 grant aid, and $4000 outside scholarship. In essence, you're fund raising for the school. You need to win > $10,000 in outside scholarship to make a positive change. |
Anonymous
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Yes, DC (graduating senior) has been awarded a $5000 scholarship, and I expect will be awarded at least one more. We’re a donut hole family and don’t qualify for need-based aid, other than loans.
I researched scholarships that were a good fit for my DC, and tried to prioritize them by chances of success. Our HS sends out lists of scholarships every week, and I made a master list of ones where DC could apply (not first-gen college, not low income, and so on). It was a lot of work on my part to put the list together, and required DC to buy in and invest the time in writing essays and completing applications. $5000 so far seems like a solid ROI, though, and it’s only early May. |
Anonymous
| Will an outside scholarship reduce school-awarded merit scholarships? DC received merit (not need based) scholarship, and is interested in applying for outside scholarships too. The merit award letter says nothing about being reduced by outside scholarships, but want to ensure we’re not missing something. |
Anonymous
Depends on the school's policy. |
Anonymous
+1. Same. I was curious about the awardee list and the school list, so I looked it up - impressive company and impressive school listing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Merit_Scholarship_Program |