When I was in college, we were bombarded with those "Pay us $50 and we guarantee we'll find you 5 sources of money for college" post cards.
Now with the help of the internet, scholarships are easier to find, but in two decades in the classroom I've never yet seen one of my students actually get one of those red-headed or left-handed scholarships that supposedly go un-awarded because no one applies for them. The reality is that LOADS of kids (and their parents) throw LOADS of energy (of varying degrees) into applying for scholarships.
Who's successful? Based upon my experience:
- Needy kids get. They get from FAFSA, and they are qualified for scholarships that are closed to middle-class kids. By needy, I mean kids with actual need. Kids whose parents spent every penny they earned are invited to take out loans. Beyond FAFSA, quite a few scholarships consider need ... I'm thinking of a student of ours who was up for a very, very prestigious scholarship from our state flagship university ... and he made it to the very last round, only to lose. When he saw the list of winners and their qualifications, he said sadly, "No matter what I do, I'm still the kid of a doctor and a business owner. I can't compete with this Cambodian refugee's story of survival." And it IS admirable that the Cambodian kid lived through horrors and still made grades equal to those of the kid I knew, but, at the same time, it's a bit disheartening to those who've worked their tails off ... but have done it from a comfortable middle-class home. In the world of scholarships, being middle-class is a disadvantage.
- Minority kids. This seems to be decreasing a bit. We have a fairly high Hispanic population at our school, and they're eligible for a bunch of scholarships ... but what happens SO OFTEN is that the kids apply, win the scholarships, and then they're unable to enroll in the school because they aren't citizens. Or they can't enroll as in-state students, which makes all the difference in affordability.
- Smart kids have a better chance. Better GPAs have a better chance at scholarships (like you didn't know that), but those better GPAs also need to have been earned in high-level classes. Kids who take all general-level classes do not get scholarships; scholarship committees want to see Advanced Placement Classes in the mix -- the student doesn't have to take ALL APs, but they'd better be in a few.
- Well-rounded kids get. In my experience, the profile of a kid who expects to get a scholarship and doesn't ... looks like this: 4.6 GPA, well-liked by teachers, took several advanced placement classes ... but it ends there. The kid who has a 4.0 GPA but who was ALSO captain of the swim team AND was in Key Club AND was active in student government all four years of high school is more likely to steal the scholarship from the kid with the higher GPA. The scholarship committees want to see involvement beyond the classroom. Community activities are just as valuable as school-oriented clubs, but they particularly want to see leadership experience. And it's better to have been active in the same club (progressing to officer as a junior or senior) than to jump from organization to organization haphazzardly.
- Kids who plan to go military. In the last five years, I've seen more ROTC scholarships than anything other single source. Keep in mind that this is a JOB for the student. He or she will spend significant time with the program -- time beyond the classroom. Related: Kids whose parents/grandparents were military or law enforcement are eligible for certain scholarships.
- Athletics are a fairly big source of scholarships, though most of them are not full-rides any more. In the past, a school paid everything for a student-athlete; today schools seem to lean towards paying tuition only for three athletes instead of full costs for a single athlete. It's good business for them. Keep in mind that, like ROTC, being a college athlete is a JOB. Even in off-season, the student will attend mandatory practices, etc. In my experience, parents tend to over-estimate their kids' chances of getting an athletic scholarship. Realistically, if your kid wasn't head-and-shoulders better than ALL the rest of the kids by 8th grade, he's probably not scholarship material. I don't mean he's a team captain and is one of the best players; rather, I mean, if he's scholarship material, he will be shutting the rest down by the time he reaches high school. Ironically, I see more athletic scholarships going to girls these days than guys.
- Most scholarships come from the community and/or businesses. Most are NOT school-based or school specific. Having said that, my youngest daughter IS on a school-specific scholarship, so they're not completely gone.
- Scholarships are widely available for kids going into teaching or nursing. STEM, business, art -- scholarships specific to those fields are rare as hen's teeth (which doesn't mean those kids won't get a general scholarship -- just that they're unlikely to get something for their specific major).
- We have a slew of scholarships awarded by individuals within our community. For example, one of our former state legislators was the first in his family to attend college; he now gives a nice scholarship every year to a student from his old high school. He gives it to the student with the highest GPA whose parents did not attend college. These scholarships are often fairly easy to get (though they are few in number). For example, a doctor's office in our area gives a scholarship to one student from each high school in our county (it's based upon community service), so your student's competition is rather small -- just his own high school! We have several scholarships that are unique to our county that are awarded in honor of a student who died or a teacher who served the community for years.
- And, as expected, the kids who apply themselves to the process of seeking out scholarships will have a better chance than those who pick out 1-2 and sit back to await the awards letters. My oldest applied to 40-50 scholarships; she was awarded two. My youngest had fewer at her disposal, but she applied to 25-30 and won one. Because I teach at the high school, I was aware -- painfully -- that my oldest was runner-up for something like 4-5 more scholarships. That was a bit heartbreaking. I never told her.
- Kids want scholarships, they do the research to look them up ...and then they quit. I see it year after year. They print the forms, but they don't write the essays, they don't gather copies of their transcripts, they don't ask their teachers for recommendations. And then suddenly the deadline has passed. I see this year after year. They think about their applications and scholarships ALL THE TIME, and they genuinely STRESS over them ... but they don't do the logical thing: They don't sit down, devote a weekend to the necessary work, and just get it done. I've said it before: The single thing my students do worst is time management.
Whew. It's a topic I know well, having helped students for so many years. An involved parent can absolutely help a student find scholarships, but the competition is strong, and no one is a shoe-in these days.