Like many students across the country, I remember intensely searching for scholarships to ease the burden my parents would have to pay for my college tuition.
I applied to anything and everything I could find, whether it was an obscure scholarship on the Internet or something my mom found at her school’s library. Through diligence, I found and earned enough to make my Whittier College education more affordable, so I’d like to share with you some of the scholarships you might want to apply for in order to earn money that you can spend on college tuition, or items like textbooks that your college professors assign you.
Essay Scholarship
As a high school senior, I remember one of the first scholarships I applied for was the SchoolsFirst Member Education Award for $500. Since my mom worked as a high school librarian, she sat right next to her school’s counseling center, where she sometimes found interesting contests and scholarships that she really, really encouraged me to apply for.
One day, she brought home a printout for a Member Education scholarship award sponsored by SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union. I looked through the application and spent plenty of time on the required essay, proofreading it and making sure it perfectly addressed the short essay prompt. Like most scholarship essays, it asked me to highlight my community involvement, so I made sure I mentioned not just the academic activities I was involved in, but also how I was working within my local community. I was lucky because I had been working for my city’s nonprofit newspaper for a number of years.
I applied for this financial aid award in my senior year of high school, applied again in my first year of college, and applied for a final time in my sophomore year of college. Each time, I ended up winning the entire $500.
For the SchoolsFirst scholarship, I had to ask a community member and a teacher for letters of recommendation. This is true for a lot of scholarships, so be sure to maintain strong relationships with your teachers or professors so that they can help you when you need it the most. Also, if you plan to apply for a scholarship that requires any sort of essay or other paperwork, make sure to pay really close attention to deadlines because you don’t want to miss out.
To be eligible for the SchoolsFirst scholarship, you need to be a member of SchoolsFirst FCU with your own member number, have an unweighted GPA of 2.5 or above, and be registered at an accredited college or university.
Talent Scholarship