{"id":141833,"date":"2020-03-09T10:27:24","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T14:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/richmondmom.com\/?p=141833"},"modified":"2020-03-09T10:27:24","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T14:27:24","slug":"college-scholarships-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/richmondmom.com\/2020\/03\/09\/college-scholarships-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"College Scholarships Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CollegeThis is an exciting time of year for high school seniors and their families. After 13 years of schooling, graduation looms on the horizon and there’s finally a light at the end of the academic tunnel. Of course, at the end of that tunnel lies a whole new world of adventure – and a whole lot of questions. For high school seniors who have made the choice to continue on to a college or university, acceptance letters have already started rolling in and important choices must be made. For parents, however, there remains one of the biggest questions of all – how to pay for college. Even with a college savings fund, the rising costs of higher education have left many parents scrambling to make the numbers work. And that’s where scholarships can prove to be invaluable.<\/p>\n

Many of us associate scholarships with high academic performance or sports, criteria that may or may not apply to our children. However, even for \u201caverage\u201d students, there are thousands of scholarships out with millions of dollars in funds available to help pay for college. If you’re a veteran of the college-readiness game, i.e., you’ve already sent a child off to school, you may have already started the scholarship application process. This is a good thing as many scholarships have deadlines starting as early as January or February. If this is your first time going through the process, however, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed and unsure of where to even start the process.<\/p>\n

Getting Started: Find available scholarships<\/strong><\/h3>\n

From national funds to local organizations like Rotary clubs and government organizations, scholarships are, truly, everywhere. In addition to general scholarship funds, there are also a number of scholarships available in specific categories such as academic merit, financial need, leadership, ethnicity, intended career path, and much more. Keep in mind that scholarships are also available for trade and vocational schools, so even if your child is not looking at four-year institutions, there are still options.<\/p>\n

The first step, of course, is to identify the scholarships that are most applicable to your child’s academic standing, interests, and overall needs. To help you narrow down the options, there are a number of online search engines that allow you to identify scholarships by searching your own criteria or filing out a student profile. To get you started, here are a few places to look:<\/p>\n

CareerOneStop <\/a>
\nCollege Board \u2013 Scholarship Search<\/a>
\nCollege Funding Group<\/a> (includes Virginia\/Richmond area-specific scholarships)
\nGRASP<\/a> (include national, state, and local scholarships)
\nFastweb<\/a>
\nScholarship America<\/a>
\nTFS (Tuition Funding Sources) Scholarships<\/a>
\nUnigo<\/a>
\nQuest Bridge<\/a><\/p>\n

Step Two: Identify deadlines<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The bad news is that unless your child applied for early decision or early acceptance, by the time your child has received their regular acceptance letter, many scholarships have already passed their application deadline. But that doesn’t mean all the doors are closed. Thankfully, because of the wide variety of scholarships available, the deadlines for applications can vary greatly. This means that even if you’ve missed some deadlines, there are still opportunities out there to supplement college funding.<\/p>\n

Finally: Create a list of scholarships and due dates and start applying.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Once you’ve narrowed down the types of scholarships your child is suited for, you can start identifying deadlines and prioritize the applications accordingly. Be sure to create a schedule and stick to it, setting aside a specific time just for the purpose of applying.<\/p>\n

Here are some tips for the application process:<\/p>\n