An important message about Scholarship Opportunities from Emily Hsu, JGS College Transition Program Director


Hello JGS High School Seniors and families!

Despite popular belief, many scholarships have their deadlines in January and February. While we can probably find some after those dates, there are just fewer to choose from.

Some of you have already started working on scholarship applications – a gold star for you! For those of you who haven’t, let’s start now!


Scholarships are a game of numbers.
 The more you apply, the better likelihood you have of winning them. One student I know applied for 40+ scholarships and won about 7 of them. Put very bluntly, if you are only applying to 5, I don’t anticipate you winning any of them. Even if you apply for 10, I still feel uneasy…I 🙋‍♀️ applied to 5. I won none.


Consistency is key.
Apply to one or two a week from now till May and the probability will be much higher of you winning a few.

There are SO many opportunities and as illustrated in my example, apply to ones that don’t seem like things you would qualify for. I can think of three young men who won scholarships that were designated for young women because no one applied.


Scholarship categories are about as endless as Willy Wonka’s imagination.
 There are opportunities for you. Exhibit A: Here is a current scholarship for students who have parents who were injured on a job: https://www.azkidschance.org/.

For those of you who have already decided where you want to go, make sure to look at your university’s scholarship portal:

AND look at these scholarship search engines:

  • FastWeb
    • This is about roundabout but if you go on this page, they have grouped FastWeb scholarships and featured some Fastweb scholarships: https://finaid.org/scholarships/
  • Big Future Many of you have already set up an account here. This is the one run by College Board.
  • AZ Community Foundation Despite previous advice, this portal is not available until January 1 😁
  • Sallie Mae even has a scholarship search!

AND parents/families/guardians, your place of employment may have scholarships for your students.

*Parents/guardians who are currently serving or have served in the military, I am not as well versed in the process of how the GI Bill can assist your student in paying for college. However, I can definitely get more information pretty easily. ALSO, students! This means you are likely eligible for scholarships for students with parents who have served in the military – you should look for those categories too.

Just in case, here is a helpful article on scholarship scams: https://finaid.org/scholarships/scams/. As a rule of thumb, you should never pay to apply or redeem a scholarship. If the “scholarship” is asking you for money, don’t do it.

Remember! Only YOU can win scholarships. Meaning, if you aren’t applying consistently, then the likelihood of you winning any is very low or none.

As always, I am happy to help you with your search and applications. Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Emily

 

P.S.
I had another scholarship opportunity come across my desk (thanks Ms. Sam!)

This one is likely one of the EASIEST you could do (if you haven’t already). Big Future is run through College Board (the SAT people). They are doing monthly drawings from $500-$40,000 dollars. To qualify for monthly drawings, you just need to sign in to your BigFuture dashboard and complete steps, beginning with starting a career list and building a college list. Many of you already have this and are exploring what options there are. You might as well enter your information so you can have the opportunity to win some money! Scroll towards the bottom of this page to see how.  😊