You are probably sick of hearing about scholarships. You may have been applying to scholarships all year, or you may have been putting it off. Either way, spring is a great time to head down to your counselors office and see what kind of local scholarships you can apply for! An extra $1-5K can really help make your college option more affordable!
Spring scholarships can help bridge a small gap between your financial aid award and the amount that your family can pay for college. If you work hard, adding $2-5K to your financial aid award can really help make your first year more affordable!
Cover a gap of $10K or more. If your dream schools aren't affordable and leave with you with a large gap between what your family can afford to pay and the cost of the college, spring scholarships are unlikely to net you more than $5K. Don't rely on the vague promise of "scholarships" to turn an unaffordable offer into your college of choice!
The spring is all about local scholarships. They may be smaller in award but you might be more competitive for these scholarships since there are fewer students applying. Apply, apply, apply!
Although most large admission scholarship deadlines at colleges are typically in the fall or winter, you can still check two sources of funding.
Scholarship Portal
Many colleges have scholarship lists or portals with smaller scholarships for both incoming & returning students.
Departmental Scholarships
Usually departmental scholarships are for returning students, but there are often some opportunities for incoming students as well. Check on the department website or with a professor in the department for any opportunities for incoming undergraduate students.
There's no easy way to do scholarships, but after exhausting your local school & community, and your top choice colleges, you can try searching online to see what scholarships are still out there.
If you do not have U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, see below for some larger lists of scholarships that you may be eligible for: