Kids and Scholarships

[Eagle5US]

So I found a few threads here mentioning scholarships - but nothing that really gave me good direction.

My awesome and incredible female offspring is finishing her junior year of HS and looking at applying to the college where she spent last summer, and will be spending this summer, as part of their "Pre-College" programs. It is not a State school, is expensive...VERY expensive, but is a good school and they have a great track record for their graduates.

Now, as agreed on in the "Big D" - even though she lives with her Mom, I agreed to pay all of her tuition related expenses. I've already transferred my Post 9-11 GI Bill bennies to her - which will help.

Now I am looking to augment that with scholarship money.

AB honor roll student, 3.86 solid throughout school, numerous academic awards, she is graduating HS 6 months early and going to tutor learning disabled kids etc...
Most definitely NOT a jock or musician.
The counselors at her school SUCK.

On the advice of my uber smart brother, I am going to have her register at Scholarships.com as a starting point.

Direction / first hand experience would be appreciated.

Thx

[Romeo23]

My best bet is to get her into the colleges financial aid office ASAP. Also, depending on her major, I would recommend talking with the head of her department for possible scholarship opportunities that relate to her field of study. The college will have much better counselors than the HS and they will be happy to assist in any way, shape or form. Don't be afraid to tell her to write a few essays and get some hand written recommendations from some of her HS teachers. There is also a state education grant down where I live that grants you money for basically continuing your education. Down here it's called Mississippi Tuition Assistance Grant (MTAG). Maybe your state has one? Although it is for in-state tuition costs only. Worth a shot at looking though. Its an extra $500/year for Freshmen/Sophomore and $1000 for Junior/Senior. Guaranteed if you apply.

Also, if she has time or is capable (I was not one of those students) of being able to work and go to college full time. I would suggest work/study on campus. Some of the jobs are flexible with hours. Not to mention she could get a job somewhere that may pertain to her field of studies.

Hope this helps a little.

[Wiseman]

What does she plan on studying in college?

[Eagle5US]

Digital film design and production...

She is looking to go to the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota.

[Roguish Lawyer]

The financial aid/admissions office at the college is a better place to go for information than the HS guidance counselor's office. Long time ago, but I remember the HS hooking me up with a bunch of small local schollie opportunities and that's it. Rotary clubs and that kind of stuff.

[Eagle5US]

She is headed down there again in a couple weeks, I'll make sure she get's in to see them. She has a very good rep with them from last year and has stayed in contact with them.

Good ideas all the way around folks.

Thanks:lifter

[Cake_14N]

Don't forget to hit up all the organizations like the VFW, Elks Clubs and so on in your area your daughter should be able to compete for their scholarships as well.

Best thing I learned from my 7 years at college was to get somebody in the financial aid office to sign a hand-receipt for every single document you submit. Make sure you have a date and time on that receipt. More than once I was able to force the school to award me more monies because I could prove to them that they "lost" all of my paperwork by showing them the signed receipt. They paid up to avoid the scandal of lost paperwork by their financial aid department.

Have her apply for everything she even remotely qualifies for. It is amazing just how fast those $500 to $1000 scholarships add up. It might cost a bit in postage and application fees, but in the long run it will be well worth it. Also, once she gets a scholarship, have her follow-up with the organization with a brief, hand-written note giving the organization a status update on her progress towards graduation. Anything she can do to let them know she is effectively using their funds can only help her keep or increase scholarships.

Hope this helps,

Cake

[Eagle5US]

Also, once she gets a scholarship, have her follow-up with the organization with a brief, hand-written note giving the organization a status update on her progress towards graduation. Anything she can do to let them know she is effectively using their funds can only help her keep or increase scholarships.


MOST Excellent idea.

[PSM]

Also, once she gets a scholarship, have her follow-up with the organization with a brief, hand-written note giving the organization a status update on her progress towards graduation.

My father-in-law and his sister set up a scholarship fund at Redlands University many years ago. A couple of years ago one of the bright little darlings who benefited from it sent them an essay on how their scholarship had helped her. The grammatical errors and lack of punctuation made it almost impossible to read. She was not an ESL student. ;)

Pat

[tcb09d]

I'm from Sarasota and Ringlign is a great school and Sarasota a great city, When i was looking for scholarships our teacher made us sign up for a site called fastweb.com and come in with 5 that could work for us. There are scholarships for anything and everything. Check for scholarships relating to your nationality, veterans, look into those established by trades that you and your wife/ex are in, relating to your daughters major. The idea of Elks club and VFW are also good ideas. Don't forget about things such as Pell grants and such. good luck on your search

[Roguish Lawyer]

My father-in-law and his sister set up a scholarship fund at Redlands University many years ago. A couple of years ago one of the bright little darlings who benefited from it sent them an essay on how their scholarship had helped her. The grammatical errors and lack of punctuation made it almost impossible to read. She was not an ESL student. ;)

Pat

What do you expect from a Redlands student?

(Yes, I graduated from a rival school . . . :D)

[Sigaba]

QP Eagle5US--

Sir, two potential avenues of reducing costs may be for your daughter:
(a) to 'test out' of as many prerequisites as possible via AP exams and SAT II tests and
(b) to take classes at a JC/CC/public university during the summers and then to transfer the credits to Ringling College.
In the case of (b) she will need to communicate clearly with Ringling's Office of Advising, Records, and Registration Services so that everyone understands the conversion rate of apples to oranges.

In conjunction, these two options may position her to get the most 'bang for the buck' from the tuition if not also to graduate early.

HTH.

[219seminole]

While I don't think this helps in Eagle5US's case, the Southern Regional Education Board's Academic Common Market is a way to attend college in another state and pay in-state rates...if you live in one of the 16 participating southern states and the program you want is not available in your own state. We are referring to this a lot as our daughter prepares for grad school next year.

http://www.sreb.org/page/1304/academic_common_market.html

[Eagle5US]

Thanks everyone for this great insight. I really do appreciate it.:lifter

[Sigaba]

While I don't think this helps in Eagle5US's case, the Southern Regional Education Board's Academic Common Market is a way to attend college in another state and pay in-state rates...if you live in one of the 16 participating southern states and the program you want is not available in your own state. We are referring to this a lot as our daughter prepares for grad school next year.

http://www.sreb.org/page/1304/academic_common_market.htmlAlong the same lines, some graduate schools and academic departments have reciprocal agreements that allow students at school A to do course work at school B and, in some cases, even have faculty members at school B serve on committees.

[Pete]

My brother is an odd duck - and cheap. Together he and his son must have sent out a million scholarship applications. I think they even found a $50 one for right handed, red haired Scandinavian-American Boys under 130 lbs. He said "Hey, 10 $50 scholarships equal $500."

That was hard work but it paid for his College.

Don't forget the SFA. They have something like only 2 applicants for every scholarship - at least the last time I looked.

[f50lrrp]

When I got ready to discharge, I went to the Army Education Center and took the CLEP exams. Each one was worth 5 semester hours of credit for a total of 30 semester units of credit. This will save your daughter one year of her 4 years to get her degree. I understand that the CLEP Program also has many other courses that you can get college credit for. (CLEP.COM)

California has a fee waiver program at any California community college, state university or UC where the tuition is free for Veteran's wifes or children up to 27 years of age (& unmarried). You should check with Florida and see if they have a compareable program!

Mike S.

[Stedfast]

Try this my daughter used it years ago. I hope it helps, Scholarships for Military Children Program opens Dec. 7. By Tammy L. Reed, DeCA marketing and mass communication specialist. FORT LEE, Va. As families and friends come ...
www.commissaries.com/press_room/press_release/2010/DeCA... also this one
NCOA Scholarship Fund . The NCOA Scholarship Fund is one of the most important entities within the Association. Established in 1970, its single purpose is to help ...
www.ncoausa.org/NCOADynamicPage.aspx?pageid=36 ALSO HERE Or find alternate funding options with MOAA's new Scholarship Finder! ... © Copyright 2011 Military Officers Association of America MOAA is the nation's largest and most ...
www.moaa.org/education

[Groleck]

As someone said earlier in this thread, try and get into that financial aid office. Show them (or tell them) that another similar school is willing to give your daughter x number of dollars in an award package if she attends their school, and make them beat it.

Your daughter's GPA is excellent, they should want her and they should be fighting to get her to attend because she definitely has many other options.

Strong-arm them and convince them that your daughter would be doing them a favor by attending. Here is a link to a website that provides statistics to just about every college in the US. In the link is the profile for Ringling.

http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=3343

Check out the "Cost and Financial Aid" section. Average non-need based aid is $8,352. Your daughter is above average and Ringling should recognize that and pay her to be there. You might do some "comparison shopping" on this site as well.

I'm not sure how your tax situation is, but whoever files a FAFSA for your daughter should be the one who has less in savings and a lower AGI on your 1040. It will open her up for more need-based aid, if she qualifies for it at all.

A friend of mine was a stellar student like your daughter and went to Harvard for free, due to a combination of having low-income on his single parent's tax return and graduating as one of the top 10 students out of high school. Any way you can leverage her performance and make yourself look like you don't have much money will minimize your out of pocket college costs.

It's a private school, they have the money to spare. I hope things work out well for her!

- Dan P.

[Longstreet]

Would your daughter be interested in going to school in Canada? While I am out of the loop, years ago I remember many American students who went to school at McGill University (which is considered an Ivy League school) because it was considerably cheaper than going to an American university of the same caliber - even when paying international tuition fees. Here is a link you can check out which may help:

http://www.schoolsincanada.com/Tuition-Fees-For-Undergraduate-International-Students.cfm

I am not too sure how accurate the information form the link is, but it may cause you to seriously consider this idea and look into it. Of course there would be the added expense to get to Canada and the climate is terrible when compared to Sarasota, but it may still end up being cheaper despite travelling costs and your daughter would get an outstanding education.

Just remember, in Canada, university and college are not the same. University is more 'white collar' workers while college is more 'blue collar' workers.

If I can be of any help, let me know.

jaYson

[stfesta]

Believe it or not, if you are a 82D lifetime member, your children can apply for a $5000 grant. They have to apply yearly but, really that just means you add to last years essay saying "how this grant saved my academic life".

If she is a Jr this year, you get your membership and have it for two years so it doesn't look like you were taking advantage.

The price......$82. I did this years ago, sadly my none of my children have taken advantage of this opportunity.

I am sure the Major Command in you area has a similar program. If they don't, contact me and I will get it done for you.

There are all kind of grants out there that only require an essay. My cousin, applied for 15 different grants using the same essay, the grants ranged from $100 to $500. All of her friends laughed at her. They claimed it was a waist of time. She got them all, which paid for her first two years of school. Don't discount the smaller grants, they add up.

sf

[Ret10Echo]

(b) to take classes at a JC/CC/public university during the summers and then to transfer the credits to Ringling College.
[/INDENT]In the case of (b) she will need to communicate clearly with Ringling's Office of Advising, Records, and Registration Services so that everyone understands the conversion rate of apples to oranges.



Concur... As of the completion of my child's senior year, 14 credit hours had been accumulated through the dual-enrollment program at the local JC. Focus on General Education type courses, they have a higher likelihood of transfer.

[1stindoor]

I guess I'm a "bad father." I told my son of all the scholarships that are out there. I directed him towards all the places he should look, but I refused to do any of the work for him. My belief is, if he wants to go...he'll find a way.

BTW...he applied for three...got none of them. All were "full-ride" type scholarships. He said he thought the small ones weren't worth the time and energy.

Dumbass.

All that being said, he did tell me about a month ago that he did not want to go to college (there may be a relationship between the first two paragraphs...and this one) and wanted to join the Army. He swore in almost two weeks ago.

[craigepo]

In addition to the great advice thus far, I would also tell her to recognize the audience she is talking to when applying for a scholarship. For example, if she is applying for a Legion/VFW type scholarship, the people who will hand out the money are probably former military types; she should ensure that they know what her daddy did.

I am on a couple of scholarship committees, and we always try to ensure that we give money to people who will use the money to succeed. Stated differently, if we get a sniff that the person might not complete college, we toss the application. We have found that there is inifinite demand for free money, and very finite resources. We try to make sure we spend the money wisely.

Also, there are a bunch of masonic/scottish rite scholarships that get ignored.

[Eagle5US]

Thanks folks!
This is all great information and I appreciate everyone's input.:lifter