Night Elf Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Now that dd17 has gotten into her first choice college, how do we go about finding scholarships? At the college information session she attended, the guy told the group how a student got a scholarship from Papa John's Pizza. She's got the Zell Miller Scholarship which pays tuition but we still need to pay mandatory fees, books, housing, and dining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Did you research whether the college itself offers scholarships and/or grants? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 Did you research whether the college itself offers scholarships and/or grants? Well, she wasn't offered a scholarship with her acceptance. I don't know how to find out about anything she has to apply for. We didn't pursue scholarships for ds when he started college so I have no idea how to even begin this kind of search and application process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 Well, she wasn't offered a scholarship with her acceptance. I don't know how to find out about anything she has to apply for. We didn't pursue scholarships for ds when he started college so I have no idea how to even begin this kind of search and application process. I just checked the financial aid website. Of the ones listed, she doesn't qualify for the scholarships which are for students with military or public service parents. The grants are all need based and she won't qualify for those. We're going to need to find outside scholarships that will award money based on merit or essays or something like that. I know there are some sites that help you look for scholarships you qualify for. Are there any reputable ones? I do know our bank offers some but those are need based as well. We'll apply for everything we find, I guess, but I'm not holding my breath for need based ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Have you applied for financial aid or run the college's NPC to find out what your EFC will be? Also, have you done this for all the other colleges your dd applied for? And looked at the scholarships they offer as well? If you do this, you can compare the schools by assessing the strength of the financial packages available for each one. Sorry, I don't have much info about small outside scholarships. I would start looking at your local organizations, first, to see what she might be eligible to apply for. Also, search College Confidential. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Have you checked to be sure outside scholarships will stack with the full tuition one she's already receiving rather than reduce the amount of aid the college is giving? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 (edited) Not to be a Debbie Downer, but many outside scholarships are one-time only awards. Institutional merit scholarships are usually renewable all four years as long as one maintains a certain GPA. And, unlike need-based aid, the amount does not vary from year to year. That is why institutioal merit scholarships are so desirable. I would definitely think long-term (meaning over four years). I hope she has a nice safety school that she likes that you know you can afford. Edited November 22, 2015 by Hoggirl 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 (edited) Sorry - double post. Edited November 21, 2015 by Hoggirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 There are often grants for certain majors. I see you are in GA. There is an engineering grant which pays $ per year and then after graduation if you stay and work in GA it is forgiven. If you leave it is a loan and must be repaid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I know at my school you cannot see all the scholarships available until you get into applying for the institutional financial aid. At this school, it is a separate application with a hard deadline of March 1. I would check to see if something is available at that school. Most of the time, it is not started until after Jan 1 as some of the FAFSA information is also needed to complete the application. I would probably call or e-mail the financial aid department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 (edited) A few things to look into about scholarships: - is this Zell scholarship a one-time award, or a renewable award (i.e., as long as the student maintains the required GPA and # of credits, the student is eligible to apply for the scholarship each year of college, for up to 4 years). - do the scholarship requirements start getting harder to maintain each subsequent year of college (requires a higher and higher GPA each year, or requires hours towards a project or service) - does the college allow "stacking" of scholarships -- in other words, do they award that same amount regardless of how many other scholarships you might bring in from "outside" sources (scholarships awarded by organizations other than the college), or does the college deduct the amount of the "outside" scholarships from their scholarship offer so you end up with the same amount of total scholarship money you would have had without the outside money - your student may have to pay taxes on scholarships/grants; any scholarship monies (from any source) that does not go towards tuition, or required fees/books/supplies (so, going towards room & board, transportation, and non-allowed supplies) is taxable income, so the student must declare it and potentially pay taxes on it, depending on what other sources of income the student has Post #5 of the past thread "Preparing for college, what scholarships/grants to apply for?" has a great run-down on how to do the scholarship search (it's a compilation of all the best tips from WTMers! :) ) Also, you might find a lot of the threads in post #5 of the big pinned thread "Transcripts…College Applications, Scholarships/Financial Aid… past threads linked here!" the top of the High School Board to be helpful -- topics include financial aid, scholarships, applying to colleges, freshman orientation, first time at college... And, if needing more ideas for reducing college costs, check out this past thread: "s/o Cautionary Tale/High College Costs -- a brainstorm $$ idea thread!" (This thread is also linked in the big pinned thread above.) Welcome to wearing your administrator/counselor hat 24/7! ;) Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited November 21, 2015 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 How much short are you? Are you looking for money to make a tight budget a little less so? Or, do you need substantial money for all four years in order to get DD through college? Scholarships from sources other than your college come in two generic flavors: Small, local one-time scholarships. These have fewer students competing for them, but have lesser value. e.g. $500 or $1000 for one year. For these, look for information at high schools and libraries, check with local organizations, etc. Larger, national scholarships. These will be much more competitive, but have greater value. For these, look at websites like fastweb. Be sure to understand how any outside awards affect the aid your college has already offered you. The more money you need and the more years you need it for, the less realistic the "earn a scholarship from outside the college" strategy is. You may want to do a financial aid appeal with the college to get need-based aid or choose a less expensive education option if the gap is too great. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 A few things to look into about scholarships: - is this Zell scholarship a one-time award, or a renewable award (i.e., as long as the student maintains the required GPA and # of credits, the student is eligible to apply for the scholarship each year of college, for up to 4 years). - do the scholarship requirements start getting harder to maintain each subsequent year of college (requires a higher and higher GPA each year, or requires hours towards a project or service) http://www.finaid.gatech.edu/zell Looks like "keep up the GPA" and you are covered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Wow, full tuition is awesome! You may be able to piece meal a scholarship here or there, but we found outside scholarships to be unfruitful. In the end, we received a generous and unexpected scholarship from the "friends of ..." Fund. That offer came in with our full package, which was delivered in April. Talk to the school about department scholarships as well. All of dd's scholarships came from inside the school, but not all were on our radar at first. In the end she received 4 different types of internal scholarships. We were only aware of 1 until we got her full package. It's a private school, so we have still had to shell out some money. Dd works and pays for her books and part of her tuition. We pay monthly towards tuition. She took out federal loans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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