@texaspg, if they only give $5,000-$6,000/year how do kids go $100,000 in debt by graduation?
@Sophmore1 @Hope2achieve, the good thing about 9-10 hours drive time is that it is still only a 1/2 day drive. You can decide relatively quickly to take a trip and If you leave early enough there is still time left in the day. Schools that require a flight require at least a month of planning in advance as well as pickup and drop off arrangements. Just trying to give a positive spin on this.
@Mysonsdad They get their loans consigned or take out private loans . The government will give loans of 5500 for freshman,6500 for sophomore , 7500 for junior and 8500 for senior
We have found that each college treats outside scholarships differently. Some list it very specifically on their financial aid website, and others require a phone call to clarify.
For several of the schools S16 applied to, the outside scholarships can be applied to the âstudent contributionâ part of the EFC, and can also replace loan offersâŠbut after that the need based aid offered will be reduced. Each school is a bit different though.
I have found consistently that schools do not allow outside scholarships to be applied to the EFC (parent contribution part) if the student has received need based grants as part of the FA package.
In addition (and we are dealing with this right now)âŠif tuition is covered by merit aid and outside scholarships are designated for tuition only, then the merit aid may be reduced at some schools. We have this issue with 3 schools S16 is considering, and two of them donât reduce the merit, and one of them does (for âtuition onlyâ outside scholarships). It is good to understand whether each outside scholarship is limited to tuition, or can be applied to any college related expensesâŠand how each school treats them.
@Sophmore1 Holy cowâŠ35 scholarship applications? Has she had much success so far? How on earth has she found the time to devote to that many?
Weâve had pretty much the same responses as @4kids2graduate . There is no one answer-itâs very much dependent on the college. So far, D hasnât actually been given any outside scholarships, but thereâs a good chance sheâll get a small one from her church this spring. It might be enough to cover a book or twoâŠ
@carolinamom2boys what you describe is what @LKnomad situation is like. How scholarships are used is a case by case and school by school thing. In our case we do not qualify for any need based aid due to current income. DD will only have merit aid and her school explicitly states that they âstackâ outside scholarships (with the exception of NM). Even though she would have to report all outside scholarships (most are paid directly to the school anyway) for tax purposes they will not reduce her merit aid.
@sophmore1 35 scholarships! ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^
I had a hard time finding merit scholarships that arenât tied to need or arenât âlotteryâ type things one or two had a section to explain unusual financial circumstances (that would be us!)\
Hereâs our list:
Fast Web type essay $500 didnât win
NM - no $2500 scholarship here (not a big deal since it wouldnât stack anyway)
$1K Regional church scholarship (nominated by pastor) didnât get it, kind of glad as she doesnât plan on attending church while in college so it could have been awkward!
Waiting on:
$2.5k employee sponsored scholarship (Due early January announced in mid April) (unknown number of awards includes internationals)
$2.5K meteorology scholarship renewable for second year so total $5K (Due in Feb. announced in May) 14 awards
$1K local community service award (due in Feb announced in late April) one award
$500-2.5K credit union (due March announced in May) up to 50 awards
$250-2.5k foreign language scholarship (due March announced unknown) unknown number of awards
$2.5K local power company (due 3/25 and announced 4/1 not sure how that is even possible!) 14 awards
$1k local Girl Scout Scholarship (due early April announced late May) up to 3 awards
$1k local Womenâs Club (due early April announced late May) one award
$10k major and state specific scholarship (Due early May announced end of July) 2 awards I really think they wanted to cut down on the number of entries to this one since you canât find this yearâs application form on Google or major scholarship searches, and they moved the deadline up by a week from last year!
various small $100 - $500 scholarships handled at the school through one application, most were not applicable to dd (announced end of May)
One piece of luck D16 has is a full-tuition grant for all four years of undergrad. But, to get it, she must be a residential student. So, thatâs where the direct student loans are coming in, as our household income has been taking hits since 2008 with no end in sight. She has a wee bit of savings, has applied to unlikely external scholarships, will work in school year and summers, take the direct loans, will aim for a competitive RA job, and weâll cash-flow the rest. This school will provide (for all intents and purposes) âdirect entryâ and advanced standing to an MSW program with a school SW certification, shaving one year off the typical 2-yr MSW. Plus, itâs her top choice school, hands down.
We have accepted this situation and now just hope to make the best of it, with fingers crossed that the old car and house donât crap out anytime soon. Weâre assuming 5 years of smooth academic progress, with no hiccups.
Wish us luck, eh.
Yes, the outside scholarships need to be reported to the school and it varies how schools deal with them.
We have a gap so the outside scholarship can help reduce that. If a school meets full need then yes they might reduce their aid and replace it with the scholarship. But you have to ask the school about their policy
I wonder how many kids at my dâs school actually apply for local scholarships. We got an email on Friday saying they were extending the application deadline that had been Thursday until Monday. Only reason I can think of is that not many kids applied by the deadline?
@mysonsdad - the one students can get on their own, Stafford, does not need a parent cosigner but everything else does.
@LKnomad We had the same thought that you did. Why spend so much time applying for outside scholarships when our schools would just reduce our aid, including merit in some cases
Scholarships affect D16 in this order at her school:
Federal Stafford Loan (Subsidized)*
Federal Perkins Loan*
Federal Work-study*
School Tuition Grant
Other institutional need-based grants/scholarships
State and Federal grants*
So thatâs why anything more than the 5K wouldnât be helpful. We are just trying to reduce the Stafford loan and Work Study that was part of her package.
@carolinamom2boys - what we have found regarding scholarships (daughter is interested in 2 schools), 1 gave a really great scholarship. They told us they would not reduce their aid to us, only the federal aid would be reduced. The other school is a very pricey school and she needed alot of outside scholarships even after a nice merit and need based award. So, no fear of running out there. We still need a few more to help out.
@mysonsdad - good spin on that drive :).
@4kids2graduate and @3scountsmom she has worked every free minute to work on these scholarships, lost sleep and a social life. We have won 3 scholarships at this point (around 20 to hear from). In all she has been awarded $29,000. The largest was $22,000.
@carolinamom2boys Yes, I am very thankful that they allowed my husband to transfer his 911 GI bill to our boys. I wish everyone that has GI BILL benefits could transfer it to family members.
@Sophmore1 thatâs fantastic that she has worked so hard at applying for scholarships. Looks like itâs paying off too.
Although the deep relief and joy I felt when I learned my D16 had decided to attend a nearby college rather than any of the ones requiring cross-county fights, I was ready for her to go to college far away. Those schools were all near international airports and we live near one too, so I figured we could reach each other quickly enough in an emergency. Costs would be tough, though. And Iâd miss seeing her for all the minor holidays. Still, I wanted her to have the option to get out of our region for college. But, she was not ready or interested. She has now said sheâs aiming for some study abroad in junior year, however. Itâs a vague idea at the moment, but weâll see.
Congrats @Sophmore1 Iâd call that a huge win!
@Sophmore1 I was speaking about our specific situation . I realize each school is different with how they distribute their money. We had 2 expensive schools on our list too. One provided enough merit to make it doable with small loans, the other was definitely a no go once he didnât qualify for the 35,000 scholarship. Sounds like a huge scholarship, but when COA is over 60,000 a year, not so much. I am so lucky that my sonâs first choice was also the most reasonable , and is almost a f
@dyiu13 Same here⊠Our son wants to be close to home too. He will be about 30 minutes away. He also wants to study abroad at some point.
We are not chasing outside scholarships for D16 but with a D18 in the wings it is certainly something we need to investigate more thoroughly in the futureâŠMost outside scholarships are generally one time payouts, correct?
We had a hard time identifying scholarships that were not need based, tied to GPA or a special criteria (affliation, intended major, state of domicile, etc) or a combination. We were easily able to identify scholarships if D16 had decided to stay in-state, so I readily admit that we only have ourselves to blame on that front. I am a horrible coupon user too.
D16 was offered $1200 work/study, which she will end up declining, because my husband is worried about D16âs adjustment to 1st year of college. Hopefully they will offer it again as a sophomore. D16 did apply for one local $500 scholarship, which she did not receive. A friend is on the selection committee, according to our friend. D16 was in the final top 3 but the committee decided to go with the student with demonstrated financial need (although there was no requirement tied to need). She said there was quite a heated discussion as the 3 candidates where really equal beyond family financial situation ( I am not sure if our friend was just not trying to save D16âs feelingâŠ). I did appreciate that this particular scholarship was handed out well before the kids have to commit. It is good to know before making a final college decision. I will be on the selection committee for our HS Cheer Booster Club Scholarship next year and it is my mission to make sure that the scholarship is awarded prior to April 1.
I really admire those of you that have been able to identify scholarship opportunities. ^:)^