It’s Time to Apply for Scholarships!
It’s college application season, and seniors everywhere are frantically typing up writing supplements and hitting the “send application” button. But the fun doesn’t stop after the college application deadline- it’s time to apply for scholarships.
Scholarships are extremely important as the cost of college rises. The maximum award for government need-based scholarship based on the FAFSA is $6095 — a tiny fraction of the total cost for college. Most people will not get the maximum award. According to U.S. News, the average cost for a private college in the United States was $35,676 for the 2018-2019 school year- a number very likely to grow significantly.
This makes applying for scholarships an absolute necessity. According to Marian Akey, a GHS guidance counselor, “you never know if you’re going to get a small or even a large scholarship, so it never hurts to apply.”
Applying for scholarships pays off- most require only one essay, and the reward is great- anywhere from $500 to a $4000 per year scholarship. When you consider it being paid $1000 for a simple essay, the value of it is extremely apparent.
“Applying for scholarships is a pain in the butt” says Hayden Huard. But it is extremely important.
The process of applying is similar to college applications. First, you need to find a scholarship that you think you qualify for. This can be done through a number of sources. “You can find scholarships on Naviance, or by going to the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation website,” says Mrs. Akey. “There’s a lot of money there.”
Once you’ve found your scholarship, you fill out the required application, which usually includes an essay of some sort, and possibly a recommendation for the scholarship. The recommendations that you used for college applications can be used for scholarships as well, just talk to your guidance counselor.
Deadlines for scholarships vary, but many of the deadlines are coming up soon. New scholarships are added every day in Naviance, so be sure to check frequently. “We always recommend that students apply for as many scholarships as possible because it just means that much less stress down the line” says Mrs. Akey.
A large amount of scholarship money also goes un-awarded every year, simply due to a lack of applicants. This is unfortunate because it means that money that could have been granted to students in desperate need of it just sits in a fund somewhere not being used.
The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation alone gives out over six million dollars each year to students in need. The application for a four-year undergraduate scholarship will be available starting February 1st, and many other scholarships have rolling applications, meaning applications will be accepted at any time. Other websites that connect students to scholarships include fastweb.com, a scholarship database, iefa.org, which services international students, and bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search, which allows students to sort a number of scholarships by certain criteria.
Scholarships reduce the amount of stress that students have to face coming out of college, so talk to your guidance counselor and go get applying!
https://www.nhcf.org/how-can-we-help-you/apply-for-a-scholarship/
Lydia Von Schwanenfluegel is a Senior at GHS, and yes, she does know that her last name is very long; 18 letters, in fact. Lydia lives on a farm in Goffstown...
