Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Spend More Time Searching for Scholarships
Spend as much time searching for scholarships that match your profile, as you would working a part time job! The returns could make your parents' salary look insignificant. Trying to get this concept through to college bound students is like get a square peg through a round hole. Still we must try and get them to understand. Anything is better than graduating with student loans. Be aware that there are many scholarship scams.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Searching for scholarships truely is a full time job. I am currently a college junior and I spend a number of hours searching scholarship databases (i.e. fastweb.com) looking for scholarships that I qualify for. Thankfully, I have been able to keep my grades up, but I find it hard to find the time to complete these essays. In the end, I get to probably half of the scholarships by the due date. A helpful tip is to find scholarships with due dates several weeks into the future to avoid the pressure of having additional work on top of an already packed school schedule.
ReplyDeleteSo I think that if I worked 10 to 15 hours each week just searching for schalarships I might get $200,000 to $400,000 for school? I heard a financial guy say this on TV.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of opportunities out there. Lots of community groups offer scholarships that often go unused because people don’t step up and apply. Don’t give up! Fast Web says, "1 in 8 Applicants Win Scholarships!" That's pretty good odds. Why not spend some time searching and applying??
ReplyDeleteHave an exit strategy. “Always start with the end in mind before you begin.”
ReplyDeleteHow old do you want to be when you exit your debt college loan situation? A child wanting to enter into college might ask, “What should I study?” The question should be, what does the child want to be after graduation? Broke, stressed and in debt for the next 20 years (considering NO NEW DEBT)? Or free from debt and live without stress?
The US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare tracked people over time from age 25 to 65 and found the following of every 100 people tracked:
36 were dead
54 were living on government or family support
5 were still working because they must
4 were well off
1 was wealthy
In other words, most seem to have a plan to work hard all their lives and retire poor. Excluding the dead, 59 of 100 people were financially strapped. Only 5 were well off.
The rich had a plan to be wealthy. Which plan do you want to follow? Apply for more college loans/debt, or spend more time, effort, and energy searching for and applying for scholarships??