The Scholarship Process

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The Scholarship Process

• Information about how to apply for scholarships
  and the processes involved

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SCHOLARSHIPS HAVE THREE BASIC COMPONENTS

• MERIT
• FINANCIAL NEED
• MISCELLANEOUS COMPONENTS

• Scholarships usually have one, two or three of
  these components. The combination and/or
  strength of these components will determine how
  competitive you are for scholarships.

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Merit

• Merit consists of recent or current grades
• Very High Merit is 3.75 and above
• High Merit is 3.5
• Merit is 3.0
• Below 3.0 --there are very few scholarship
  opportunities and these almost always have
  financial need, gender, or ethnicity as the main
  component

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Financial Need

• There are two types of financial need in the
  scholarship processFAFSA need and individual
  scholarship assessment

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FAFSA or Free Application for Federal Student Aid

• (www.fafsa.ed.gov)
• Financial Aid Offices are required to utilize
  this government formula for federal and state
  grant funds and student loans. The FAFSA has a
  formula which uses income and income taxes,
  number of people in the household, age of parents
  and many other concrete measurements.
• Some scholarships utilize this formula to
  determine need.

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Individual ScholarshipNeed Assessment

• Most scholarship applications will ask for an
  individual assessment of your budget. This is
  the place to discuss special issues that need to
  be explained in greater detail. If there is no
  place for it on the budget piece, attach a copy
  of the explanation to the application. IF the
  application states no attachments are allowed you
  may want to devote some time to the situation on
  the essay, if the essay allows for it.

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Miscellaneous Components

• Community Service/Volunteer Work - ANYTHING you
  do for others - at an organization such as a
  school, church, youth organization or non- profit
  facility helping a neighbor or relative who is a
  senior or disabled
• Preferences - ethnic minority, first generation
  (neither parent has a four year degree), single
  parent and female are common
• Outside Work - part time or full time employment

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SCHOLARSHIPS ARE BROKEN INTO THREE GENERAL
CATEGORIES

• SCHOLARSHIPS INTERNAL TO THE UNIVERSITY OR
  COLLEGE
• LOCAL AND REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS
• NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS

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Scholarships Internal to the University or
College

• These are scholarship offered by the college
  or university and are offered in general
  categories
• such as
• Merit
• College or degree specific within a university
• General college/university scholarships available
  to all students who meet the specific eligibility
  requirements
• Applications processes vary by college or
  university from one application for all, an
  application for each scholarship or other various
  processes. Check with each school.

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Local and Regional Scholarships

• Local organizations - credit unions, churches
  organizations in which parents or students are
  involved
• Regional and state-wide organizations - such as
  labor unions, associations and non-profit groups

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National Scholarships

• These are highly competitive scholarships at a
  national level and more difficult to get
• Apply for these if you are competitive or after
  you have applied for the university and regional
  scholarships

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A STRATEGY FOR LOCATING SCHOLARSHIPS

• BEGIN NOW
• CALENDAR
• ENTERING FRESHMEN
• LOCATE SCHOLARSHIPS
• DEVELOP AN ONGOING LIST OF SCHOLARSHIPS

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Begin Now

• There is no good or bad time to apply as the
  process is ongoing
• Add it to your list for next year

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Calendar

• Develop a separate calendar to log scholarship
  data. Include scholarship name, date due, a back
  up date of six weeks to allow time to get an
  application and complete it, requirements of
  scholarship (application, transcript, essay,
  references) and additional comments (web)

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Entering Freshmen

• Locate scholarships at each college or university
  you are seriously considering. Apply for any
  scholarships for which you are eligible by the
  deadlines. In most cases you will have to be
  accepted into the university before you can
  apply. There are also regional and national
  scholarships designated for entering freshmen
  students. You can receive these only the first
  time you are entering college.

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Locate Scholarships

• Begin with the college or university you are
  attending. Locate all scholarships for your
  year group, major, ethnicity or gender and any
  other miscellaneous ones that apply to you.

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Develop an Ongoing List

• Realize that the process is ongoing. Develop a
  year round calendar. There is one available on
  the Scholarship/Resource web site in the
  Scholarship Process page.

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DEVELOP YOURSELF

• INTERNSHIPS
• VOLUNTEER WORK
• MAINTAIN OR IMPROVE GRADES
• CLUBS OR ORGANIZATIONS
• Good in high school great. Build on it.
  Otherwise this is a chance to start anew!

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REFERENCES

• ACADEMIC
• OTHER
• RESUME OR PERSONAL PROFILE
• Provide a resume or profile (web)

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Academic

• One or two faculty members or teachers who know
  your work

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Other

• A supervisor who has worked with you in your work
  or volunteer time

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Resume or Personal Profile

• Give each referee either a resume or personal
  profile with all of your activities as each
  referee usually does not know all of your
  activities in detail