I don’t know about you, but it seems like just yesterday that my oldest son was waving goodbye to me as he excitedly began his first day of kindergarten. Fast forward with lighting speed and suddenly he was graduating from high school, applying for college and trying to figure out how to get scholarships. How did that happen?
The wonderful news was that he was a smart student with a big heart. The shocking news was that he kept handing me shiny college brochures with six-figure total price tags. Hold on! Where did the time go? You know, all those years that my husband and I should have been putting aside our extra money into his college fund. Oh that’s right, we were swallowed up in the daily grind of raising three kids, paying our mortgage, running a business, battling our own student loan debt, and basically just living paycheck-to-paycheck as the majority of middle-class Americans do. There WAS no college fund. Our options were to let him borrow a staggering amount of money to attend his dream school, or I find a way to help him win free money in the form of college scholarships and grants. I picked plan B and am proud to share with you our happy outcome. As a result of intense research into how to apply for scholarships for college, what makes a scholarship winner and what kind of applicants the judges look for, my son won over $100,000 in scholarships and graduated from his first choice school with NO debt. YES! Since then, I have spent my time teaching parents and their students how to apply to and win scholarships for college. Here are seven fantastic tips that will help you or your student win more money for school: - Make scholarship work a partnership
Students who are handed scholarship applications and told by parents to “make sure you apply” will most likely struggle, get frustrated, and give up. A much better strategy is for parents to work with their students, forming a partnership that eases the work load and frustration for the student. This strategy involves parents finding scholarships and students writing essays. Also, mom can proofread each application and essay, while dad sends email or text reminders to the student about upcoming deadlines. Remember, when students win scholarships, parents also win in the form of less tuition to pay....... read more
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