Rising junior: too early to apply for scholarships on Fastweb? Other websites to check out?

Paying for College
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<p>D16 is an A student, good EC’s, volunteer work. My EFC is 13000, she will get no aid according to the FAFSA forecaster but will get merit money. Her colleges of choice should meet everything except for 10000 a year (room and board), which we, thankfully, have saved in her 529. I know there is always the change of National Merit, although we know this is a slim chance. We would rather not touch it if possible as she is looking at a PhD or possibly med school. </p>

<p>1) Is it too early to start looking on Fastweb?
2) Is Fastweb worth the effort?
3) Are there any other websites we should be looking at for outside scholarships?</p>

<p>TIA
-K</p>

2

<p>If your EFC is $13,000, your student will get a portion of the Pell Grant. </p>

<p>Her SAT or ACT score will help give you a better sense of where she will stand regarding merit awards.</p>

<p>She should do some prep for the PSAT which she will take this fall. A good score on that could put her in NMS range and that would be another help to you.</p>

<p>The very best merit awards are offers through the colleges directly.</p>

3

<p>A FAFSA EFC of $13,000 will not result in a portion of the Pell Grant in 2014-2015.</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1401.html”>https://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1401.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>An EFC of $5,157 or below for 2014-2015 will result in a Pell Grant.</p>

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<p>Sorry…I misread that! I thought their INCOME was $13,000. No…they are not Pell eligible!</p>

<p>Oops!</p>

5

<p>D16 has a 27 as an unprepared sophomore on the ACT and is prepping for the PSAT. I know what merit she will get from the schools she is looking at. I’m asking about outside scholarships please</p>

6

<p>i dont think that there are any she can apply to as an incoming jr in high school.</p>

<p>however, most of what she finds as a senior would be small awards for frosh year.</p>

<p>any decent PhD program should be funded. However, if she gets into med school, that wont be funded.</p>

<p>what state are you in?</p>

7

<p>I would suggest you talk to your school counselor. There were a small number of local scholarships that juniors could apply for in our area. Most were for seniors…but ask. </p>

<p>Fast web…yes, folks do get fast web scholarships…but we know someone who submitted 200 applications and didn’t get one single fast web award (and yes, he was a strong student).</p>

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<p>We are in Ohio. I will have her touch base with her GC. Thank you</p>

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<p>As thumper1 said, your best bet for potential scholarships is to prepare thoroughly for the PSAT at this moment. How come your D has already decided where to go for college even before Junior in HS? She should keep her mind open. With $13,000 EFC, you should be able to get a lot of aids from in state public and need met schools. With a good score in PSAT, she may be qualified for NMF and would have access to scholarships at many schools. Those external scholarships from Fastweb or other sites are usually small and only good for freshmen. They are still good money to have but it would not help much financially.</p>

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<p>We have seen several colleges thus far. She was toying with graduating a year early so we got a jump on it. We plan to see several more. . She know what she wants and doesn’t want in a college. She is not interested in going out of state for example. I’ll speak to her GC </p>

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<p>Billscho, I’m not so sure about good aid at instate publics with a $13000 EFC. My EFC is several thousand below that and D would have been full pay at our instate publics!</p>

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<p>Thank you @glopop11‌ I assumed the only money she would see would be merit. I doubt there would be any need met. </p>

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<p>Unless this student is instate for UNC-CH, UMich or UVA, I would guess the only aid she would see at her public universities would be the Direct Loans.</p>

<p>Kandcsmom, you are doing the right thing by planning ahead! This gives you sufficient time to really ferret out merit awards from the colleges…or elsewhere.</p>

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<p>She wishes she was instate at UMich. Lol. Go figure but we are Ohio transplants! </p>

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<p>Lots of good choices in Ohio! I’m from there and there are so many fine instate public universities. Plus a bunch of very nice LACs that really fly under the radar screen.</p>

<p>Lots of options in state! </p>

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<p>@thumper1‌ we saw OU. I’m a bobcat and she hated it. She loved bowling green, and Miami. She really loves UK. We are going to see Toledo and Akron. What else should she see ?</p>

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<p>I sent you a PM.</p>