Scholarship Mommy Tips & Ah Ha! Moments

WHEN DO I START?  This is the biggest question I see when scrolling through the multiple scholarship and college groups that I have joined. The answer as you may suspect is YESTERDAY. There are scholarships available from elementary to middle to high school, and even for current college students. There is something for everyone.

Scholarships are a game of numbers. The more you apply to the better your odds of winning are, however, there’s also quality over quantity.  
You should find scholarships that your student fits. My daughter is an artist, we don’t apply to many stem scholarships, it’s not her thing. The  more criteria, your student meets in a scholarship, the better opportunity they have for winning.

There are so many scholarships out there you can be choosy!

1) Get your service hours done early in High School so that its not a stress item. Join Clubs and take leadership roles. Meet with your HS Councelor often to make a plan.

2) Visit College Campuses and different sizes, you will learn a lot about what environment your child feels most comfortable in.

3) DID YOU KNOW...You can start applying for outside scholarships as early as Middle School. But definitely start by the beginning of your Senior Year it gives you so much time and opportunity. DO NOT pay for those websites to help find scholarships its a waste and not necessary.

4) There are so many scholarships to find if you put in the effort, create a system with your student.  At our house, I research the scholarships and my student applies for them.  This plan makes it less overwhelming and a strategic process, everyone is invested. We also sit down together and work on them as a team.

5) Some colleges will accept out of state awards. For instance SCAD will accept Florida Bright Futures and FL Prepaid (at the public university rate)

6) Many colleges offer Merit and Achievement Scholarships. THESE ARE NEGOTIATABLE I've learned.  The more data you provide the school the more power you have to ask for more.

7) Have the following to negotiate scholarships and to apply.  Student Resume, Letters of Recomendation, SAT/ACT Scores (retake several times if you have a goal), Transcript, Essay on why you want to go there, Portfolio if it applies.

8 ) Ask for your letters of recomendation at the beginning of the Senior year if you don't have them already.  The teachers will get overwhelmed with requests the longer you wait.  Provide the teacher with that Resume and any points you would like them to mention.

9) If you know what college you may attend, ask their transfer department what credits they will accept and take those Dual Enrollement or AP classes. This will cut costs.

10) If you have the opportunity to do a short summer pre-college program do it and ask for a scholarship to help pay for it.  This will get your student an inside look and also make a couple friends that maybe they can dorm with. Kaylee applied for a scholarship to the session and then split the cost with us.  This helped us know she was serious about the school and gave her a sense of accomplishment and she made sure to get her money's worth from the camp by participating in EVERYTHING!  LOL

 Before you apply for anything set up a new email address for your student. You will use this email address to apply for scholarships and monitor it for if you win any. You may be saying “Tiffany why do I need another email address? I already have several?” 

Reason 1- You are going to get spam. Some of these college scholarship websites are part scholarship, part marketing.
Reason 2 - Both the student and parent should have access to this email address. This allows  you both to monitor it, because let’s be honest, your middle schooler or highschooler is not going to check this email box often.

Lastly, make sure the email address is professional, you are asking for money. Don’t use an email address like slaygirl987@ or playerboy2025@…. Just don’t. 

 Sit with your student and create a BRAG SHEET.  Sure they may only be in middle school, but we all know the hardest part of a resume is the formatting.  Updating it is easy!  The resume should include Volunteer/Service Participation, including # of hours if it is an impressive number, Extra Curricular Activities/Clubs and make sure to include any LEADERSHIP ROLES.  Grade point averages if you have it or relevant classes to the application, and any Awards or Recognitions you have received.  If you are an older high school student, you can also include and work experiences.  You can find resume templates online check Pinterest, etc.  Lastly, a huge benefit to having this brag sheet is that you have all the dates and information in one place, AND you can pass it on to anyone that you would like a letter of recommendation from so that they have a reference to how awesome your student is!

When applying for scholarships based on hard experiences or learnings, make it personal.  My daughter complains it’s just a sob story. Well yes partially, it is OK to share the hardships you have experienced, you survived them after all. Share those intimate details as far as you are comfortable, but then follow it up the impact it has had on your life, or what you learned.  It doesn’t have to be a happy ending but it should have a silver lining of how it shaped you as a person. Lastly, I understand this is probably uncomfortable looking for scholarships based on circumstances but they are out there to support you for overcoming the odds against you.   

 Scholarship applications are very specific. One of the first disqualifiers is not following the requirements exactly. This includes word counts for essays, number of attachments allowed and which ones. Can a picture be included? Should the package be stapled or loose? Did it arrive on time?  Don’t let one of these simple instructions cut you out before they even start reading.  

 You’ve done the work, so present it to the scholarship committee in a package worthy of your work. Type It!  If you can type on the form, do it. If you can convert the document to type on it, do it. Typed just looks better and shows that you care by putting the extra effort into it. Print it on nice paper! Using a nice 24lb+  presentation paper makes it feel expensive and the print sharp.  Send it to a copy shop if needed for clear color graphics. (I do this for the resume) Lastly, if allowed package it up in a nice folder and label the front with your information. A $4 professional folder can make your application stand out from the stack of papers. Your goal is to get their attention so they NEED to learn more about this person who went the extra mile.

There are hundreds and hundreds of scholarships out there.  You could make it a full time job if you wanted.  You are going to miss deadlines, life happens, keep going. This weekend we worked on scholarships and I realized ”Oh Shizzle” next week is the 1st of the month! We had a pile of scholarships due then and there was no way it was going to happen, we had so much time, until we didn’t.  I learned to shoot for applying at least a month in advance otherwise you are always scrambling and it’s a terrible feeling.  If you are feeling a crunch prioritize the ones that fit your student the best or that are LOCAL and focus on those, then move on. We skipped several that are due the 15th to work on ones due the first of the following month. Be kind to yourself as a parent you are doing your best, be kind to your student they are trying their best, and have faith that your work together will payoff. 

Please reach out on our Facebook Group @scholarshipmommywinningtogether for real time discussion and join our chat for Q&A.