To fully understand the importance of this article, you need to fully understand the financial obligation of a modern college student. For an example, let’s look at my financial break down, for one year at the private college I attend:

Tuition: $33, 950

Room & Board: $5,250

Meal Plan: $5.450

Activity Fee: $250

Health Center Fee: $156

Enrollment Deposit: $200

Room Damage Deposit: $200

Books and Supplies: $1,000

Transportation: $1,000

Insurance: $1,025

Misc./Personal: $1,000

Total: $49,481

By the time I graduate from college with my Bachelor’s Degree, I will have spent just under $200,000 on tuition, room & board, meal plans, various campus fees, books, and transportation. However, I will not owe that much in student loans because of one thing, scholarships.

Scholarships, the free money everybody wants, but nobody wants to take the time to apply for, is one of the best assets I am utilizing to make the school of my dreams, an affordable reality. A recent survey, conducted by Longmire and Company, found that only 33% of parents planned on contributing to their child’s college education, and would not contribute more than $5,000. If that was my case, I would still be left looking for over $44,000 for one year at my institution of study. No one wants to take out a student loan so large that they will be paying off their education till they die. Which is why it is essential that while a high school student is completing their senior year and college applications, that they are also filling out scholarship applications.

Scholarship applications are generally overlooked due to the high volume of work. However, when compared to college applications, they share a lot of the same similarities: your grades, recommendations, an essay about your career goals, and supporting information of your extra-curricular activities and community involvement.Both applications are looking for this information, so utilize the trick of copy/paste. Do not create more work for yourself by changing your answers every time, utilize the resources around you. When asking for a recommendation ask your reference for a letter that can be used for college applications and scholarship applications. Some applications will ask for a specific number of recommendations, if they don’t, always send more than one. I would always send five letters if the number was not specified so I could ultimately have a stronger application. When writing your essays for these applications double check the themes and reuse the materials if applicable. Finally, on your extra-curricular activities and community involvement, make sure to record everything you’ve done. Don’t hesitate to add a volunteering gig, just because it was only 45 minutes long. Adding all these small things adds up to a strong list of compiled involvement that scholarship applications want to see. They show your dedication to serving others and to your hobbies, furthermore, they show your excess skills of time management if you’re able to do all these things while maintaining a strong GPA. If you’re anything like me, during my senior year I served an office on 4 committees, had compiled over 800 hours of community service, all while keeping up on my studies, ending my last semester of high school with a 3.9 GPA.

Every week, I took time out of my Sunday, to sit down and search for scholarships that would help me afford the private college I wanted to attend. Most scholarships offered have some criteria to meet to be able to apply, however, with the extensive list of applications that are available, there is always something out there for everyone, never stop searching. A great resource that worked well for me, was unigo.com, on this website, you can add all the characteristics and traits that you employ, school related and personally. This will then match you with scholarships that you meet all the criteria for. Don’t think it’s too hard to find matches, when you have great resources like these!

My only regret during this time was that I did not continue the search when I still had ample time left. I ended up applying for 10 scholarships, and was awarded eight of them. Therefore, I began my freshman year of college with over $90,000 in scholarships. This will help me tremendously during the next four years of my post-secondary education. You can apply every year when in college, but the most essential time to do so is your senior year of high school.

So, instead of taking your Sunday afternoon nap, or instead of watching your favorite reality show, DVR it, and work on those scholarship applications, because in the end, the applications will be worth the compensation.