A Little Scholarship Motivation from Downton Abbey . . .

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5 Tips for Winning Scholarships

The girls and I attended a great presentation from Central  Scholarship last month.  Here are a few of their tips.  Don't forget to check out their website for scholarships!

5 Tips for Winning Scholarships 1. Become Brag Worthy  Find your passion and celebrate it though action in your school, neighborhood, and local or even national community. Scholarship providers are seeking applicants who are active and have the potential to positively impact society. Who does not look forward to the moment when they can claim a future philanthropist, industry leader, or superstar as one of their own.  This could be you!  Start exploring your passion now. Over time your passion can develop into an expertise or you may decide there is a better fit out there. It is your life experiences, decisions, and actions that make you, well, you.     2. Begin with the END in Mind   Get started early searching for scholarships, chart your deadlines, and keep copies of all of your documents in one place.  There is nothing worse than creating your accomplishments resume, requesting outstanding letters of recommendation, and painstakingly writing and reviewing your essay only to miss your deadline;  not to mention thousands of dollars to fund your education! 3. Show Instead of Tell   A winning scholarship essay is personal, passionate, and specific. Your essay should paint a vivid picture of who you are through highlighting examples of your impact on the lives of others, involvement that showcases your shining personal qualities, and proof of the intestinal fortitude required of you to achieve your goals.  If you tell the scholarship readers that you are passionate about helping animals there should be examples that show your commitment such as  hours volunteered at the local animal shelter or possibly a memorable experience during your volunteer work that convinced you becoming a veterinarian is your destined career.    4. Secure Outstanding Recommendations Scholarship readers can review your laundry list of extra-curricular activities and every grade you have earned, this information is in your application. An outstanding letter of recommendation enhances the portrait that you have painted of yourself through your essay and involvement. Choose wisely when requesting a letter of recommendation. A teacher, counselor, supervisor, or mentor who knows you well and has witnessed your personal growth and accomplishments can help you highlight your best qualities. He or she will not mention that you were Secretary for FBLA but will highlight your accomplishments and impact on your peers while in that role. Your recommendation should, like your essay, show the scholarship reader why it would be wise for them to invest in you.   5. Be Persistent If you have followed all of the above steps, in your hands or on your computer, will be the makings of a winning scholarship package. Your polished application package in addition to persistence and careful scholarship selection increase your chances of submitting a winning scholarship application. Tailor your application to each scholarship and pay attention to the details. Apply, apply, apply and...  2013-2014 Central Scholarship Application. CLICK ME!

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Forbes Magazine Insider Tips

This writer looks at scholarships from an investment strategy perspective . . .

12 Insider Tricks To Pay For College

This story appears in the January 21, 2013 issue of Forbes.

Is this system nuts, or what? College has gotten insanely expensive, and the tuition aid formulas have gotten insanely complicated. But if you don’t figure them out you will be crushed.

Poor, brilliant students get a free ride at Harvard or Princeton. Rich families don’t care about costs. Everyone else–and that would be about 90% of America–has a problem.

The fanciest colleges cost $55,000 a year. Suppose you have three youngsters who will be attending a decade from now. If prices climb as they have over the past decade, you’ll spend $990,000. This has to come out of your take-home pay. So go ask your boss for a $1.5 million bonus.

If that isn’t feasible, learn how to work the system. Below, we outline a dozen techniques that families use to make bachelor’s degrees and graduate degrees more affordable.

Some families find a way to get a price break that isn’t contingent on income. Some outsmart the aid formulas, which, like the tax code, are full of traps for the unwary and rich in opportunities for the well-informed. Did you know that if your child is applying to certain elite schools, including Dartmouth and Duke, you should use extra cash to pay down your mortgage?

Continue reading this article

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Princeton Review's Top Picks in Colleges . . affordability, academics and ease of financial aid . . .worth a read!

The Princeton Review rankings just came out and I'm happy to report that the University of Maryland College Park and University of Maryland Baltimore County came out on top in terms of academics, affordability and financial aid awarded.  Other local schools receiving high marks were George Mason, James Madison, and Virginia Tech (my alma mater!)  University of Virginia holds the 1st place ranking and the college where my nephews and nieces attend, University of Central Florida, also ranked high.  This is a good site to research schools and the layout is very easy to use. The article that follows is taken from their website. But remember, the best school to attend is the one you can afford!

The Best Values in Higher Education
As college costs have risen dramatically in recent decades, it’s understandable that current students—and their parents—want to get their money’s worth. Today’s college shoppers search for schools that can provide an excellent education and, at the same time, minimize costs.

To augment this search, The Princeton Review’s annual “Best Value Colleges” list, published in partnership with USA TODAY, identifies schools with a commitment to both academic quality and affordability.

For the 2013 list—released today—we analyzed more than 30 factors related to academics, cost, and financial aid. We found 150 “Best Values” in higher education and identified the top 10 public and top 10 private colleges among them. (Click here for more info on how we did it.) Our number one public college is the University of Virginia; our number one private college is Swarthmore College.

Note: schools on the list with a high “sticker price” offset costs with generous aid to students with financial need. How much aid? Freshmen at the 75 the public schools in the book received, on average, a grant of $8,900. Freshmen at the 75 private schools in the book received, on average, a grant of $32,500.

Visit PrincetonReview.com for info on each of the “Best Value Colleges” and USATODAY.com for an interactive database of the schools. Also be sure to check out the companion book, The Best Value Colleges: The 150 Best-Buy Schools and What It Takes to Get In. This 450-page guide has detailed profiles of the colleges and advice for applicants on how to get admitted to—financial aid from—the schools.

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