My advice: ask your family for a loan or go to CC and transfer later.
The problem with applying for private or outside scholarships is that these foundations receive hundreds, if not, thousands of applicants for $500 here-$200 there. The competition is intense. I was on the board of a foundation that received hundreds of applications that were screened down to 50. The minimum requirements were challenging: Over 3.5 GPA, athlete- with 3 yrs varsity play, nomination into State finals, EC’s, and admission into instate public universities.
My kids, also Hispanic, applied for some merit aid, but we discovered that most of those associations were often need-based, even though their documentation indicated that accepting merit and need-based applicants could apply.
Our middle child was a star athlete and an academically strong applicant. She applied for a merit scholarship through the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and did not receive anything other than a thank you for applying. She later received an email to apply for residual funding ($100 scholarship!) and did so, but was later told that, “oops! sorry”, they prioritized their funding for very low income students and they made a mistake and realized they didn’t have funding.
Our youngest was a National Merit Winner, not a penny received from HSF, but he did get a piece of paper saying that he was a Nationally Recognized Hispanic Scholar. We were fortunate that we were frugal, had budgets and 529 accounts, for all three, and each kiddo had his/her own savings and jobs.
An added problem, this time around, is the pandemic-so summer and part-time jobs have disappeared.