Look at the various types of scholarships that are available and focus on the ones that best match your interests and abilities.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Dear Tuition Doctor: My daughter is a freshman in high school; is that too early to be trying to get scholarships? We really need help paying for her college!
Thankfully, there is hardly a time that is too early to start working on scholarships. (In fact, our school's only winner of the Prudential Spirit of Community Scholarship was a seventh grader who had a tremendous heart for service.)
Last year, a freshman came to me interested in scholarships, and I learned that her two great loves in life were writing and animals. As it turned out, the next morning I received an email advertising a national nature writing scholarship.
I normally am leery about recommending national scholarships to our students (because the competition is incredibly fierce), but this girl was so determined, I passed it along to her. Then, unlike so many who show initial interest but ultimately quit, she followed through, even submitting her essay three weeks early. I got an email the following month, saying she had won a scholarship, coming in second in the nation in her age group.
So, if you will assist your daughter in identifying what she loves most (writing, speaking, academics, etc.) and have her research that topic online, she will find any number of scholarships that match her special interest and talent.
Then, it will just be a matter of how much she is interested in working for what she really wants to achieve.
Dear Tuition Doctor: I am a senior in high school and my parents said I need to get more scholarship money to be able to go to my first-choice college. The problem is I am barely in the top 50 percent of my class, academically, and my highest ACT score is only a 22. Lipscomb is giving me money for academics and leadership; plus, I am getting the HOPE scholarship and I plan to work part-time, but I still need more help. What can I do?
One of the misconceptions about scholarships is that they are all about being in the top 25 percent of the class and making a 30-plus on the ACT. Obviously, high grades and test scores can help for a number of scholarships, but if those two criteria were all that mattered, 75 percent of your class would be left out of scholarship consideration.
Thankfully, it is actually the reverse. Oftentimes, close to 75 percent of the class can get at least one scholarship, if they know how to go about it and are willing to complete all the applications in a timely fashion.
You have already done the first, most important, thing: making the college application and scholarship deadlines. By doing so at Lipscomb, you qualified for $8,000 a year, based on your ACT scores, plus the $1,000 Vision Award for meeting their leadership criteria.
You also know that by getting a 22 on the ACT, you will be awarded $3,500 for each of your first two years of college. Then, if you maintain a 3.0 in college, you will more than meet the state's requirement to keep the HOPE and receive $4,500 each of your junior and senior years.
So, what else can you do to help bridge the tuition gap?
In your letter, you identified two areas you consider weaknesses (although one actually got you money from both Lipscomb and the state of Tennessee). What I would suggest instead, though, is to look at your areas of strength. More specifically, your one greatest area of strength.
My idea is for you to choose a "scholarship major," in much the same way that you will be choosing an academic major.
If you choose psychology as an academic major, for instance, it is because you have a passion and an aptitude for the study of the human mind and for helping people achieve their fullest potential.
Similarly, I recommend looking at the various types of scholarships that are available and focusing exclusively on the one that best matches your interests and abilities.
In addition to GPA and ACT, there are at least 10 other scholarship majors from which to choose: essay, speech, parental connection (club, work or church affiliation), community service, leadership, academic major, sports, fine arts, club membership and minority representation (including women).
For example, I had a senior once who decided to major in essays. She won three out of five writing competitions she entered, which is a phenomenal success rate. The key to her success was that she chose only one scholarship major and then put all of her time and energy into it.
We can only achieve greatness in one thing at a time. So, choose the scholarship major in which you have the most to contribute, and then give it your all.
Vincent R. Huth, Ed.D., The Tuition Doctor, served as a college placement counselor/director for more than 20 years, assisting Middle Tennessee students and parents in pursuit of affordable higher education. Send questions for Dr. Huth to thetuitiondoctor@yahoo.com or visit www.thetuitiondoctor.com for more information.
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Source: Tuition Doctor Q&A: Tips for bridging the tuition gap
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