Finding Private Scholarships

At The Core is excited to bring you this finding private scholarships guest blog from Joe Messinger, CFP®, co-founder of Capstone Wealth Partners. Joe is a leading authority on late-stage college funding. He frequently speaks to organizations and parent groups. He is also a highly regarded thought leader in the financial planning community, frequently speaking at industry conferences about his College Pre-Approval™ process. We are thankful for his Smart Money Moves for the College-Bound™ webinars!

High school seniors have received their acceptance letters and have received (or are waiting to receive) their financial aid award letters. At this time in their journey, they may be turning to finding private scholarships. They see a gap, are hoping to NOT fill it completely with loans, and hope outside scholarships may help.

Just to clarify…we refer to “outside” or “private” scholarships as those coming from third parties not from the colleges themselves. Private scholarships come from places like the Rotary Club, Coca-Cola, etc.

Parents are always surprised to find out that private scholarships are unlikely to fill the entire gap.

We all hear about the billions of dollars in unclaimed free college money each year, and that fact is not exactly true. Those stories about unclaimed college money are mainly talking about federal Pell grants for those in need and employer tuition assistance programs that go unused.

Most private scholarships (especially those with higher dollar awards) have multiple applicants and stiff competition. The private scholarships that go unclaimed are the really unusual ones like the Zolp scholarship…available only for students at Loyola University of Chicago with the last name of Zolp.

Parents are also surprised to learn that private scholarships are not the largest source of scholarships.

The majority (over 80%!) of scholarships students receive will come from the colleges themselves. Colleges reward merit and want to attract students by giving them scholarship money. A student doesn’t have to have perfect test scores either to receive scholarships from colleges. They just need to find the right fit.

Sometimes winning an outside scholarship can actually cause you to lose need-based financial aid! Affectionately called scholarship displacement. You can learn more here.

One of the keystones of our college conversations with families is looking at how they can find those colleges that will give them the most free money. Ideally, families need to be thinking about where they can find merit money from colleges before they even start the college search.

High school seniors are going to drag their feet.

Oftentimes the hardest part of private scholarship searches is motivating a teenager with Senioritis. Seniors will be “hesitant” to write one more essay. We use the word “hesitant” as a kindness. They may be dead set against it! Writing one more essay to apply for a private scholarship is not something a student is excited to do in the spring semester of their senior year.

What can you do if they refuse? There may be nothing a parent can do. However, sharing with them a budget of what their post-graduation life will look like with a large student loan payment can be very powerful. (Click here for our blog with a helpful budget worksheet.)

So, given all that why should a family even bother with private scholarships?

We use this phrase all the time. If you could earn $50 or $100 an hour doing a job, wouldn’t you? Share that with your student and see what they think.

Truth is if you find the right private scholarships to fit your student and can spend a few hours applying for them you may be surprised by the benefit. (Of course, nothing is guaranteed, so the struggle with your high school senior continues.)

Don’t ignore the small dollar awards.

The private scholarships worth $500 are not going to have as much competition as the $20,000 national Coca-Cola scholarship. Every little bit counts and spending an hour to apply for a $500 scholarship is a pretty good paycheck for an hour’s work.

Also, apply for more than just one. Shoot for at least 6 to 8 scholarships to give yourself the best chance of winning one.

Where are the best places to find private scholarships (in our preferred order)?

Start in your high school. Talk to the school counselor. They are often the best resources and are very knowledgeable about scholarship sources that would fit you.

Think personally. Employers, clubs, churches…what groups and organizations does the student and family belong to. Ask family members if they know of scholarships from their organizations/employers.

Look locally with foundations in your geographic area. Here in Central Ohio we have the Columbus Foundation and the Delaware County Foundation among others. (Note from At The Core for our Cincinnati friends, check out the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.)

The internet is your friend. Lots of great sites out there:

• Fastweb.com
• Scholarships.com
• Scholarship America
• Bigfuture.collegeboard.org
• Appily

Beware of scams though. If you have to pay money, it might be a scam. Proceed with caution.

Google your interest. If a student is thinking about being a financial advisor (yay!), Google “scholarships for financial advisors,” and you’ll see several that apply. (Our local FPA Central Ohio is among them.) You could Google “college scholarships in meteorology.” Many professions have associations and frequently offer some kind of scholarship at the local level, national level, or both. You get the idea.

Our advice…always look to the college first.

They have the deep pockets and we know that the majority of scholarship money will come from them.

Then when thinking about private scholarships, don’t wait until the last minute.

Scholarship application can take some time—essays may need to be written. Watch out for those deadlines, and be sure to keep looking each year during college. Many majors have scholarships specifically for upperclassmen.

Make a game plan and tackle the search and application process to find some free money. The awards may not fill all the gaps like you hoped, but the effort should be well worth the time.

 

Updated 1/2024

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