<p>Is it too early to start applying for outside scholarships as a sophomore in high school? Is there a limit to how many scholarships I can apply for? If (God willing) I am awarded any money, can I use it for college without losing aid?</p>
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<p>That varies from one college to another. Some school will reduce a financial aid (need-based) award by the value of the scholarship. Others won’t.</p>
<p>But you’d be better off spending your time prepping for the PSAT. Do well on that test in the fall of your junior year, and it can earn you substantial scholarships at hundreds of schools! See [here[/url</a>].</p>
<p>Also, a good score later when you take the SAT or ACT can also earn you substantial scholarships offered by the colleges themselves. Look at these:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums](<a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/student_guide.pdf]here[/url”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/student_guide.pdf)</a>
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<p>And there are others that cover less than full tuition:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a></p>
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No, never too late or pointless to save for colleges. Savings give you more choices.</p>
<p>^ not necessarily as aid is reduced by assets.</p>
<p>No it is not pointless to start saving. I started my kids with college savings when they were born and had them pretty much tithe in terms of birthday and other money the got. When they started working, they put half their earnings or more in college accounts. If you are looking towards financial aid, it’s a good idea that the savings account be opened as a joint account with the parent’s name and ssn first on the account since when you do apply for fin aid, the student money is hit up at 20% with no allowance while parents’ are hit at 5.6% after an allowance. The more money you have stashed away, the more choices you will have. The whole idea is for college to be paid for out of past, present and future earnings of both parents and students with the saving representing the past. Too often, these days that part is being neglected with too much being put into the future, the loans deparatment.</p>
<p>Also learning to look for scholarships is good practice and who knows, you might find an early bird one? Rare but they do show up. Getting familiar with them will only help you when the time comes to apply.</p>
<p>Bear in mind, however, that the bulk of aid and scholarships tend to come from the colleges themselves and high test scores and grades are the important factors., so the most important thing for you is to keep those grades up there and do some practice tests to bring up the test scores.</p>
<p>As for outside scholarships reducing school aid, yes, it can happen but when it does, you are lucky and hit a jack pot. Most schools do not meet meed and substantial awards are very difficult and rare to get, so to get both means the planets are lined up just right. Not something to worry about, IMO. IF that happens, what it means is you don’t have the financial need you would have had without the scholarship, so you don’t qualify for the aid. But that’s only if you are defined to have need and got grants towards it.</p>
<p>“aid is reduced by assets”</p>
<p>Parent assets and student assets are treated differently. If the college list is FAFSA only, then running everyone’s numbers through the current EFC formula will give them a clearer sense of the types of aid that they might qualify for, and will let them make decisions about the best places to put the savings. <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091312EFCFormulaGuide1314.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091312EFCFormulaGuide1314.pdf</a> Putting a parent’s name as the first one on the bank account will make it a parent asset for the financial aid calculations.</p>
<p>Most places don’t come anywhere near to meeting need, so any savings will give you more choices. For example, if the difference between the local community college and the commuting distance state U is $5,000 each year, then $10,000 in savings could make starting at the state U an affordable option.</p>