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Scooping Up Scholarships There's money out there — if you just know where to look BY BENJAMIN KAPLAN In the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, a wide receiver played by Cuba Gooding Jr. demands that his agent, played by Tom Cruise, repeatedly shout out four now famous words: "Show me the money!" Back in 1994, when I was a high school junior confronting college costs for the first time, I felt as if I were listening to a chorus of college billing officers bellowing similar words: "Let's see the cash! No dough, no go!" I was caught in the middle-income financial-aid crunch. It's a dilemma many families must face when their income and assets are too high to qualify for substantial need-based aid, but not high enough to pay tuition bills comfortably. Students and families caught in this crunch soon discover that a college's offer of financial aid can fall far short of what they feel they need. The obvious options: take on piles of debt, or settle for a much cheaper (and less desirable) school. Fortunately I stumbled upon a third way: one day, as I walked past my high school's college and career center, I noticed a stack of colorful applications for the Discover Card Tribute Awards program, scholarships given to hundreds of students across the country on the basis of various achievements. Here was a potential source of money for college that would not have to be paid back. The big question: Did a kid from a public high school in Eugene, Ore., actually have a chance to win one of these scholarships? Despite my doubts, I quickly stuffed the brochure in my backpack and decided to give the contest a try.
So I wrote a couple of short essays, filled out some activity forms and got a recommendation letter or two. Sending in the application was something like entering the Publishers' Clearing House Sweepstakes. Sure, I hoped for the best, but I was not exactly expecting the Prize Patrol to come knocking on my door. A couple of months passed. Then I got a letter in the mail that changed my life: Congratulations, it said, you've just won a $2,500 scholarship. The story gets better. A few weeks later, I got a phone call notifying me that in addition to the first award on the state level, I had just won another $15,000 in the national portion of the contest! Then I made another life-altering discovery: plenty of other organizations, corporations, associations and community groups are also eager to give away college money. So I filled out more forms, crafted more essays, gathered more recommendation letters and started expanding my involvement in school and community activities. By the end of my senior year in high school, I had applied for about three dozen merit scholarships, won more than two dozen awards and amassed nearly $90,000 in scholarship money — funds that could be used at any school I desired. Combined with some college credit I had accumulated in high school, the sum ended up being enough to cover virtually the entire cost of attending Harvard. Since then, I've interviewed dozens of other scholarship winners and have written a book, How to Go to College Almost for Free. Here are some tips to winning college scholarships. Understanding the Scholarship Game It's important to be aware of the three main types of merit-based scholarships available. The first is based upon a student's performance on a specified task, such as writing, artwork or a science project. This type of scholarship is never awarded on the basis of grades or test scores. The ThinkQuest Internet Challenge, for instance, doles out scholarships to student teams that develop and submit cool, educational websites. A second type of scholarship is awarded on the basis of past achievement in particular areas, such as extracurricular activities, community service or academics. In the Discover Card Tribute Awards, which was my introduction into scholarships, judges evaluate special talents, leadership, community service and other areas. Students are required to have a minimum 2.75 GPA, but anything above this is irrelevant. The final type is a hybrid of the other two and evaluates applicants according to specified tasks and past achievement. To win an Arts Recognition and Talent Search scholarship, for instance, students perform live for a panel of judges, as well as submit samples, portfolios or videotapes. Although a number of individual colleges award merit-based scholarships, those that come from nonprofit organizations, corporations, associations and community groups offer a clear advantage: they are often portable. You can use the money at the school of your choice. It's also important to note that your scholarship quest should not stop when you graduate from high school. A wide range of scholarships exists for students already in college: general programs like the Target All-Around Scholarship or specific ones for particular areas of study, such as the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. On the flip side, even students who have not yet entered high school can win money for college. The Craftsman/NSTA Young Inventors Awards, for instance, is for students in Grades 2 through 8. Finding Your Pot of Gold To begin your scholarship search, you can first utilize a variety of free Internet search databases. These services ask for personal information such as your age, extracurricular activities, organization affiliations and career interests, and then provide you with a list of scholarships that match your profile. Keep in mind that many of these Internet search databases have substantial limitations. In general, they lack information about community-based or newly created awards, disproportionately favor scholarships with websites, comprise mostly scholarships that have very specific eligibility criteria (such as residence in a specific town or attendance at a particular college), and omit or incorrectly list contests that don't fall into easily definable categories. So you will definitely want to expand your search at your school's guidance office, career center or reference library. Try to learn what types of scholarships former students have located by looking at old scholarship binders and talking to guidance counselors. Consult the past scholarship winners if you can, and find out what factors helped them win. What if your school doesn't have the greatest scholarship resources? Quietly check the scholarship libraries and guidance offices of other schools in your area to tap their resources. Be sure to canvass your community to unearth awards sponsored by local businesses, financial institutions, fraternal lodges and religious groups. Contact the agency in your state that administers federal- and state-sponsored scholarships. And use references like The Encyclopedia of Associations (found at most public libraries) to seek out scholarship opportunities at organizations related to your background, skills, interests and goals. A Winning Game Plan Finding scholarships, of course, is only half the battle. To win these awards, you will need to mount a strategic scholarship campaign. Make the commitment to apply for as many scholarships as you can. Winning scholarships is partially a numbers game; a variety of factors outside your control can affect the outcome of any given award. Only by applying for large numbers of scholarships can you minimize such factors and maximize your chances to bring home the scholarship bucks. This need not be as much work as it may appear. Survey upcoming scholarship applications, and isolate common themes and requirements (whether it is a similar essay question or a comparable extracurricular-activity worksheet). Attempt to bridge multiple applications with every sentence you write or form you prepare. In addition, go back into your archive of old scholarship applications (you will develop one quickly), and try to recycle and rethink essays and other past materials. Obtain as many recommendation letters as you can from people who know you in different capacities. What is the common thread among winning scholarship applications? Quite simply, they paint vivid portraits of the applicants. Painting this portrait means making each component of your application — whether it be an essay, activity list or recommendation letter — communicate one or two key ideas about yourself. It also means including unique and personal details in your application and trying to demonstrate virtues such as initiative, responsibility, teamwork and character.
If you follow these strategies — and add a little of your own elbow grease — you will be well on your way to scholarship success. Then when college billing offices ask you to show them the money, you'll stride up to the counter, flash a little half-smile that even Tom Cruise would approve of and proudly hand over your well-deserved scholarship checks.
Find Awards Through the Web
Here are some great free wes sites to get you started on your quest:
1. FastWeb
2. CASHE
3. Mach 25
4. SRN Express
5. MOLIS
6. WinScholarships.com
7. Scholarships.com Benjamin Kaplan is the author of How to Go to College Almost for Free (Waggle Dancer Books); waggledancer.com Source: TIME/The Princeton Review's The Best College For You 2001
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