THE SCHOLARSHIP PROCESS INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS AND THE PROCESSES INVOLVED!

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.

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 there are not as many scholarship opportunities and these almost always have financial need, gender, or ethnicity as the main component

FINANCIAL NEED There are two types of financial need in the scholarship process—FAFSA need and individual scholarship assessment FAFSA ( 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.

INDIVIDUAL SCHOLARSHIP NEED ASSESSMENT Many 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, you may be able to 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.

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

SCHOLARSHIPS ARE BROKEN INTO THREE GENERAL CATEGORIES *SCHOLARSHIPS INTERNAL TO THE UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE *LOCAL AND REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS *NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS

SCHOLARSHIPS INTERNAL TO THE UNIVERSITY/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 (engineering) General college/university scholarships available to all students who meet the specific eligibility requirements **Application processes vary by college or university from one application for all, an application for each scholarship or other various processes. Check with each school.

LOCAL AND REGIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS Local organizations - credit unions, churches; organizations in which parents or students are involved (booster club, Dazzlers, etc) Regional and state-wide organizations - such as labor unions, associations and non-profit groups (ATPE for teacher’s children, etc.)

NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS These are highly competitive scholarships at a national level and more difficult to get. (Coca-Cola, Dell, etc.) Apply for these if you have a competitive GPA/resume or after you have applied for the university and regional scholarships

A STRATEGY FOR LOCATING SCHOLARSHIPS BEGIN NOW CALENDAR ENTERING FRESHMEN LOCATE SCHOLARSHIPS DEVELOP AN ONGOING LIST OF SCHOLARSHIPS

BEGIN NOW There is no good or bad time to apply as the process is ongoing. Just meet the deadlines!! Links are on the BNHS Counseling page: edu.fastweb.com password and username is northwest Seniors – Try to apply for two a week!!

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).

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. Search for ones by your year group, major, ethnicity or gender and any other miscellaneous ones that apply to you. There are also regional and national scholarships designated for entering freshmen students. You can receive these only the first time you are entering college.

DEVELOP YOURSELF INTERNSHIPS VOLUNTEER WORK MAINTAIN OR IMPROVE GRADES CLUBS OR ORGANIZATIONS

REFERENCES One or two faculty members or teachers who know your work A supervisor who has worked with you in your work or volunteer time

RESUME OR PERSONAL PROFILE Give each reference either a resume or personal profile with all of your activities as each reference usually does not know all of your activities in detail

SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!! *Most scholarships awarded come from the school the student applies to. For example, let’s say you are accepted into Texas A&M and they offer you $8500 for the first year. You then decide at the last minute to go to Texas Tech. You would lose that $8500. Scholarships that are not school specific can transfer to whichever school you choose to attend. *Winning a full scholarship may not be what you think it is. Get the details! Full scholarship could just cover tuition and leave you paying for room and board. Know what you are getting! *And is it renewable or for one year only?? Some may just be for one school year. Apply for those four year scholarships!

*How will I get my money? That depends on the scholarship. The money might go directly to your college, where it will be applied to any tuition, fees, or other amounts you owe, and then any leftover funds given to you. Or it might be sent directly to you in a check. The scholarship provider should tell you what to expect when it informs you that you’ve been awarded the scholarship. If not, make sure to ask. *How will a scholarship affect my other student aid? A scholarship will affect your other student aid because all your student aid added together can’t be more than your cost of attendance at your college or career school. So, you’ll need to let your school know if you’ve been awarded a scholarship so that the financial aid office can subtract that amount from your cost of attendance (and from certain other aid, such as loans, that you might have been offered). Then, any amount left can be covered by other financial aid for which you’re eligible. Questions? Ask your financial aid office.

* Don’t get scammed! No one can guarantee that they'll get you a grant or a scholarship. Refund guarantees often have conditions or strings attached. And you should never have to pay for scholarship information. Some agencies claim that they need your credit card or bank account number to "hold the scholarship." Never give out this information. Applying for a scholarship generally does not cost money. Only a few legitimate scholarships ask for a small application fee. If a scholarship requires a fee, do some research to make sure it's not a scam.

Lunch workshops for students September 17th: Navigating Home Access Center October 1st: College Search and Applications October 29th: Scholarship searches December 10th: Military January 9th: PSAT results January 28th: AP/Dual credit classes February 6th: Transcripts March 18th: SAT/ACT

Reminder 101: New this year, you can sign up to get reminder texts from the BNHS counselors. They will include reminders about upcoming events and deadlines. You can sign up by to