Presentation on scholarships

1. Scholarships
How can you earn more money for
college?

2. Places to find scholarships
• Local service organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions,etc)
• Athletic booster organizations
• Your or parent’s employer
• Community or other charitable organizations
• Churches or church organizations
• University you are attending
• Alumni organizations (your high school and university
you are attending)
• Your university’s foundation
• Professional organizations (particularly the field you want
to work in – law, medicine, geology, education)

3. Professional Society Scholarships

4. Merit scholarships
• Usually based on grades and test scores (SAT or ACT)
• Completely based on merit, not your family’s finances
• Often renewable – make sure you know requirements
to renew (gpa or credits)
• Other areas of merit
• Athletic
• Artistic – music, dance, writing
• Leadership – ROTC, Student government, RYLA, Boy’s State or
Girl’s State
• Could increase if you increase your gpa or test scores
(but ususually only before you start school)

5. Need based scholarships
• Some donors and foundations want to provide
support to students who have financial need
• Usually requires the FAFSA
• Many university foundations have endowed
scholarships that are need based
• Understand “first dollar” or “last dollar”
• Aid Replacement – The federal government
requires schools to reduce the amount of aid it
provides if your outside scholarships exceed the
cost of attendance

6. ROTC Scholarships
• Army, Air Force and Navy offer 4-year ROTC
scholarships
• Usually must apply by December of your senior year
• Major factors in awarding
• Physical fitness
• Medical qualification
• Grades
• Test scores
• Academic major
• Tuition, stipend, books, sometimes room and board
paid
• Must serve on active duty, reserves or National Guard
for 8 year commitment

7. Scholarship Tips
• I think many students don’t apply for scholarships that
require essays because they feel it is not worth their time if
they don’t win. What other job could pay you $500 for a
couple of several hours of work?
• So many students do not answer the questions when
answering the essay.
• Grammar & spelling count.
• Yes, there are un-awarded scholarships every year. But, you
must still be qualified to receive them.
• Scholarships are not a substitute for grants or loans. There
are applications and deadlines to apply for a reason. You
can’t just call because your PHEAA grant was less this year
and ask for a scholarship.

8. Scholarship Application Strategies
• Start with your guidance office – it is likely the smallest
pool of students (your high school class) you will
compete against.
• This is not “one and done”. It takes work.
• Search engines
• Colleges you are interested in
• Develop a spreadsheet of scholarships you might be
eligible for
• Deadlines
• Amount of the scholarship
• Requirements: gpa, test scores, essay, recommendations
• Keep track of what you have / have not submitted

9. Scholar Snapp - www.scholarsnapp.org

10. Scholly

11. Search engines

12. Track your efforts
Scholarship name Deadline Amount GPA Test score FAFSA Recmndtn Essay Essy submtd App avlble App subd Other
Abbott & Fenner 6/12/17 $1,000 NA NA NA NA Yes (500 words)
Activia Training 4/30/17 $1,500 NA NA NA NA video to Youtube
Bridge Builders 4/3/17
Coca Cola 11/15/16 $1,500 3.00 NA
Dell 1/15/17 2.40 Yes Yes

13. David McFarland
Director of Scholarships
dmcfarland@clarion.edu
814-393-2108