Gloria Kopp
There’s no arguing that college is expensive. It’s next to buying a house and is likely the biggest expense you’ll have in your lifetime. But, there are ways to lessen the financial burden of college – or even totally eliminate it. You don’t have to have a secret stash of cash or take out a hefty student loan to enroll in college when you’ve got these 5 secrets to winning a scholarship so you can go to college for free.
Quantity matters
Students who win scholarships typically did not just apply for that single scholarship they won. The majority of scholarship winners apply for every single scholarship they can get their hands on. Remember that the scholarship essay you’ve written for one application can be reused for another application, but might just need a few changes made to it. Writing a really great scholarship essay takes a lot of time and energy, so if you’ve put in the effort of writing that essay, why not get the most use out of it. You’ll also notice that many of the applications ask for the same information, so quickly duplicating that information and transferring it to a different application helps you save some time when applying for multiple scholarships.
Start searching now
Don’t wait until you’re about to head off to college to decide to start looking because by then it’s likely too late. Many students don’t realize that scholarships are available to students throughout high school, and there are even some for those in elementary.
“Look at what’s available to you now, and make note of what will be available as you go through each grade, so you’re prepared to apply when the time comes. Another advantage to this is that, since many students don’t realize these are available until it’s too late, you won’t have a great amount of competition to go up against”, – says Rose Whinstroll, an academic advisor at Academized.
Don’t waste your time
You don’t want a simple mistake to completely void your chances of winning a scholarship, so take the time to read the rules before you apply. The last thing you’ll want is to go through all of the trouble of applying, only to realize that a simple error eliminates you as a candidate. In the same way, you don’t want to spend the time applying for scholarships you don’t even qualify for because it will just be a waste of your time and efforts.
Essays shouldn’t be scary
Students looking for scholarships often get put off by the thought of having to write an essay to apply. For this reason, many of them simply avoid applying for scholarships that require an essay submission. The bonus for you is that this means there’s much less competition for a scholarship that has an essay component, which means your chances of winning are much higher.
Answer everything
If you’re using a scholarship matching website to help find available scholarships to apply for, be sure to answer all of the questions they ask, even the optional ones. Making sure you do this means you could potentially turn up twice the number of results. It’s like tossing out a big net into the ocean and trying to catch as many tasty scholarship fish as possible. The bigger the net you toss, the more fish you’re likely to catch.
Take the financial burden of a higher education off of your shoulders by applying for and winning as many scholarships as possible. With these secrets in your back pocket, you’ll increase your chances at nabbing those valuable scholarships and going to college for free.
