Outside Scholarships

A Scholarship Bakers Dozen

1. Students should always explore ALL of their Financial Aid options and make sure that they complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form before May 1^st each year.
    
2. Consider your interests, hobbies, jobs, and affiliations (and those of your parents), and begin your search in your own hometown. Check with your high school, clubs, service organizations or wherever you have demonstrated special talents and hard work. Find out if your parents' employers offer any educational benefits.
    
3. Scholarships are NOT just available to the best and brightest students. All students should attempt the scholarship process.
    
4. Outside scholarships are considered resources, meaning that they reduce your financial aid package dollar for dollar.
    
5. The word ‘essay’ should NOT be considered a bad word in the Financial Aid vocabulary.
    
6. When searching out scholarships, the Internet is your friend!
    
7. There are numerous free scholarship sources available. You do NOT need to pay money for scholarship resources.
    
8. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Be very careful of scholarship sources that guarantee you a scholarship (almost always for a fee). 
    
9. If a scholarship is renewable, make sure that you understand what the criterion for renewal is so that you can make sure that you can retain it for future years.
    
10. Ask and you will be told that you should apply for a number of scholarships instead of banking on just one to get you through.
     
11. Make sure that you understand the different deadline dates. Traditionally, many scholarship opportunities open around Thanksgiving and close around the beginning of April. Be sure to apply on time.
     
12. ‘Thank You’ – You would be surprised how many times a simple ‘thank-you’ impresses the benefactor. A ‘thank-you’ could turn a one-year non-renewable scholarship into a renewable one.