Looking for scholarships right now as a senior! I know of all of the big scholarship search sites so I’ve looked there. Everything I find is huge and ultra competitive like the coca cola. Are there any that aren’t worth as much ( 500-2k?) but are more unknown and attainable. I have searched local but there aren’t too many. Wonder if anyone knows of any like this/ has won one like this/ has a kid who’s won one like this? I have NO financial need so any that take that into consideration are out. I have very good stats but not quite coke good. I’m willing to put in work by writing essays/send rec letters so I’m not just looking for easy money, more just realistic chances
These will, $500 - 2000 are your best odds.
Check with your parents employers too. Mine gave me $2k for one and $1k for another.
But for most, these will be hard and your best money will be from the schools themselves.
I’d make sure to apply to schools that have the full rides. 10% of W&L enrolled win the Johnson.
They also have a full tuition for a Dallas area student - if you can get your parents to chip in.
This type of school gives you much better odds.
There are more - @Bill_Marsh mentioned some.
You already noted a few publics you said give you a full ride. I noted Troy and Prairie View etc. N Texas would be free tuition and you could live home.
Vandy, Wash U, Emory have full rides as do others.
But maybe none as plentiful as W&L, which is a top school in your discipline.
In addition to the 40 plus Johnson winners, they have this - guessing while there’s competition, there’s a lot less than things like Coke. Given your finances, you either go local or do an assured - and then swing with the schools that offer full rides and hope to get lucky - but yes it will be unlikely.
The Dallas Honor Scholarship was established by members of the Dallas Chapter of the W&L Alumni Association for entering students from the Dallas, TX, area. The four-year scholarship covers tuition and is awarded on the basis of secondary school preparation and contributions outside the classroom.
Any full ride scholarship is going to be EXTREMELY competitive! And the OP asked for smaller, less competitive awards.
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yes! im looking for small private scholarships, not school ones.
You’ve searched local - how? Have you asked your guidance counselor? In our part of the world, guidance has a list of many of the local ones. Usually there are dozens.
If not, search your local service organizations - VFW, American Legion, women’s clubs, local credit unions (you must be a member).
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You noted local. That’s where they will be. Occasionally you’ll hear people on here that say their kids got $10k. But that’s very uncommon - like winning five.
Your parents employers may offer.
Sign up for fastweb.
Run a web search for your city, county etc college scholarships. .
Many will be need based. You can find sites like fastweb or this - you have to filter through a lot but may find a few…
Check local furniture stores or car dealers, rotary , community service clubs…. Even by me an HOA offers one for a resident and one a non resident.
Talk to your guidance counselor and search the web. Your hs likely knows of many..
Note on this you needn’t be interested in an auto career etc. at 18 you likely don’t know your future interest..
My counselor has a newsletter with local ones. I have asked some of my friends who graduated and they pointed me towards a couple. I’m applying to my dads work one and my parents credit union one. There are a few clubs I am applying to but there aren’t too many where I live.
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I have looked at clubs and organizations. I don’t qualify for the rotary one ( it’s for certain high schools only. Searching for local furniture stores or car dealers is a good idea, thanks!
Look at the big link I sent. I found one like this - like I said you have to sift through.
Make sure they are legitimate ( not looking to steal your families life savings) and then do you have a chance ? No idea
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/scholarships/triple-v-storyteller-no-essay-scholarship
Go into your counselors office or the college advising office at your high school. There are MANY small scholarships that are probably only offered in your community. For example, your school PTA probably offers a couple. The local churches, Lions Club, Women’s club, Italian (or similar) club, possibly the town board of commerce, county scholarships, etc…
As an example, there is an organization in my community that helps families in need. They offered a $100 scholarship for a poster competition. About 50 entries were submitted and my kid won. Edit: I just remembered that I was active in a Newcomer’s Club in our town. We offered a $250 scholarship. Students had to submit an essay on what they gained from community service.
If you are looking for small scholarships, look locally. I just googled the name of my county and scholarships. Before she passed, a local woman set up annual scholarships in cooperation with the United Way, a volunteer group. The (name of county) Municipal Planning Federation offers $2000 scholarships.
For fun, I just googled chicken farming scholarships. At least 8 different organizations came up offering scholarships in the $1k-$2k range. Who knew? Look for scholarships aligned with your interests. There are all kinds of essay competitions and poetry competitions that people don’t know about. There are scholarships for left handed people. Also, you do not have to be an amazing writer to win these scholarships. Committees are mainly looking for authenticity.
Getting scholarships is like a job. They aren’t giving it away for nothing and you will have to do some work. On this site, look for a very relevant post by a former student here named @CourtneyThurston . She wrote the book on getting scholarships.
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Many of the smaller local scholarships did not come out until late fall or early spring. Many wanted to see college acceptances first. My daughter was awarded a local 5k scholarship in April of her senior year for example.
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Thank you!
Where we live, the local scholarships were not made available for applications until after the first of January of senior year in high school. Check with your school counselor to see where to look and when these will become available for you.
A reminder. Most of these smaller scholarships are for one year only and are not renewable…but we are in the “every Penny counts” family. Our kids got several thousand dollars worth of local scholarships.
And keep in mind, all of these local scholarships must be reported to your college(s) of acceptance and have the potential to reduce any need based aid you receive. Policies vary by college…so you need to check.
Some colleges do allow stacking of their need based aid with outside scholarships up to the cost of attendance.
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In our neck of the woods, most local scholarship applications were due Feb-April. They were awarded in May. Many - especially those done through the guidance office - were announced at an award ceremony the last week or two of school. The results were also published in the local paper.
It’s a little late now, but I often advise students to see who wins these awards from your school 1-3 years prior to see how you stack up. It helped us to know which ones to focus on for my younger son who did very well locally compared to his higher stat older brother. He did well enough, but he wasted a lot of time on the national ones. If you could find a list in a local paper, it might help.
OP has no need - but the parents won’t pay. Same OP as yesterday - the good news is they already qualify for full rides - they just need to be open geographically. Parents are helping with transport.
If this is the case, it would be too late for OP to use in making a college choice.
For my second kid, my employer scholarship came really late. They didn’t pay the school ti November if the first year (after I had paid).
So you raise a good point.
I don’t want to make it sound like my parents are outright refusing to pay, it’s not that, they just straight up can’t afford it. We are in the space between being able to just full pay it and receiving any aid.
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I have checked her account out but I can’t seem to find a book. Do you happen to know the title TIA.
Yes, I don’t know the reasons. The reasons don’t matter. You noted you checked TCU and others and saw no $$.
Just stating the facts that your folks will help with transport and I think you said food. Not making judgement.
So the points brought up are important.
If you don’t find out til May if you won a scholarship, by then you’ll have selected a school so those that inform then wouldn’t help.
Question - if you have full rides already (at solid schools), why go through the painstaking process of picking up $500 here, $1000 there ?
You still have to then somehow make tuition, room, and board.
I appreciate your hustle but unless I’m missing something, the math won’t end up adding up for you.