What is the primary method for getting scholarships/financial aid?

MrDefinitive
Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:45:05 +0000

Hello! I am a high school senior who is determined to start college this fall semester, and, as such, have worked on improving a current GPA of 3.8 while I remain in the top 20 of my graduating class. However, I find myself in the troubling position of not being able to afford college expenses for the semester. Being born in a household where my parents have either never attended college or have just recently graduated from local colleges with walk-in admission, I have been ill-informed about how the college process works.

Since elementary school, my parents (now divorced) have enforced upon me the notion that getting excellent grades was necessary in order to get the scholarships I would require for entry. They (and I as a result) were never aware of the requirement to apply for scholarships and similar methods of financial aid, as opposed to scholarships simply being offered to me through my high school or through phone calls. My high school counselors also did little to inform me of such. I only found out about the need to apply for scholarships through one of my friends late December of last year! Because of my state of being ill-prepared, I missed the scholarship deadline for one of the colleges (which I had managed to successfully apply for and be accepted into on time). Although I have been wait-listed by my first-choice college (Georgia Tech) and have filled out the supplemental form asked by the university, I realize that I should always be prepared for the worst. However, missing the scholarship deadline for the other university that accepted me will likely lead me having to pay a over $8,000 my first year! Now, even though I did fill out the scholarship application for Georgia Tech, if I get accepted from the waitlist I feel I will likely be subject to receiving much less financial aid than that of my peers, simply because there may be little left at that time.

Despite having saved a good portion of money throughout the years, I underwent a series of surgeries years ago that wiped away such savings. My father now lives on disability after having filed for bankruptcy and being forced to retire from work due to suffering from onset of a degenerative disease. My mother makes just enough to live off of at her job.

I have consistently heard of students getting full-ride scholarships. Taking AP courses and having participated in a variety of academic and volunteer organizations while, as previously mentioned, maintaining an academic career that meets many of the qualities of students who commonly receive such scholarship offers, I have yet to hear anything about a full-ride scholarship to the school that accepted me and suspect that this is due to me missing that deadline. I have already attempted to earn a variety of scholarships, but have not received any as of today. I made this thread hoping to find others who can inform me of their similar situations and/or offer me insight and advice for receiving financial aid. Searching for ways to pay for college has been stressful thus far and I know that this is the place to refer to for subjects of this matter. Thank you!

P.S. I’m new to this site and I can’t seem to add tags. The site says “You may add 25 tag(s) to this thread.” However, I had to delete all but two upon completion.