Did I start too soon?

Olymom
Sun, 17 Jun 2012 22:31:58 +0000

We didn’t have much luck at all finding scholarship matches via Fastweb. Our offspring both landed some scholarships through very local opportunities (think your local Garden club if you are going to be a botany major or your high school or your Rotary, etc).

Keep in mind that a huge proportion of scholarships are award through the college system. So you won’t know that you’re getting the Happy College Bessie Best scholarship for left handed tuba players until you 1) apply to Happy College, 2) fill out the FAFSA (the way you say “money, please” to a college); 3) are accepted and 4) happen to be a student who qualifies in the left handed tuba playing pool.

So what you can concentrate on right now is being the best “you” you can be. Whatever classes you take, work hard at them. Whatever your hobbies, extracurriculars or service activities, work to excel. Don’t shy away from leadership spots.

Target, don’t broadcast. It’s far better to think "I’m a red headed basketball player of Romanian descent who wants to major in ceramics, so what is there for a) red heads; b) basketball players; c) Romanian heritage students and d) ceramics majors.

Too many students chase after a handful of “big” scholarships. The $10K+ deals are brutally competitive. If you have a tip top GPA, and killer EC’s, you still may get your best scholarships through the college application/FAFSA route.

Instead of looking for a giant scholarship that covers everything, most students succeed by building a patchwork of scholarships, work and loans.

Good for you for starting now. The details are huge in this part of college life. Don’t bother putting in for things that don’t “match” you. Get a copy of “How to pay for college without going broke” and learn the details of the FAFSA.

Meanwhile, check with your state’s board of higher education and see if they have a website for your state’s residents. That may be more tailored to you than Fastweb.

Maybe there are people who have succeeded with Fastweb. I just haven’t met any!

Here’s the site for WA state: [theWashBoard.org | Login](theWashBoard.org | Login)

See if your state has a counterpart. Good luck!