Questions & Resources

Look for scholarships at the following link, updated often: Scholarship List

Other places to look for scholarships?

• Websites – National/Regional​

• Schools you’re thinking about attending​

• Employers – yours and your parents​

• Others: Churches, Unions, Relatives, Friends, Professional and Philanthropic Associations such as the Lions Club, Masons, AAUW, and more.

Need a Letter of Recommendation? Fill out a brag sheet ahead of time!

Brag Sheet: Students fill out this form and give it to those they ask to write a Letter of Recommendation. Taking the time to fill this out well will give your letter writers tangible, useful information to reference when singing your praises.

Additional Scholarship Resources:

Reach out to local Scholarship experts Patty Salo Downs of the Alworth Institute, (218)722-9366 patty@alworthscholarship.org, or Amber Burns of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, (218) 520-1123 aburns@dsacommunityfoundation.com

Scholarship Strategies

There are three main ways to pay for college: with grants and scholarships, loans, and out of pocket. Grants and scholarships are considered "aid," and are the way you'll want to finance most of your time in college, since they don't need to be repaid. Loans can be from the government or from private lenders, and do need to be repaid. Money that you take out of your pocket could mean money that you work to save, money that your parents are able to give you throughout college, or money that you have saved in a college fund.

It's likely that you'll pay for college through a combination of these means, and it's good to begin to talk about financing college with your parents in your junior year, so that you have a collective understanding of any money you might have saved, how much they are able or willing to share with you, and how they expect you to contribute.

Federal Government Aid: When you fill out the FAFSA, the federal government will determine what aid you're eligible for. Some aid (grants) don't need to be paid back, and some (loans) will. The Pell Grant is a need based grant that doesn't need to be repaid. There are three types of government loan: Direct Subsidized Loans (the amount of which you can take out is determined by the government), Direct Unsubsidized Loans (the amount of which you can take out is determined by the school), and Parent PLUS Loans (which don't have a cap, but can only be taken out by your parents).

State Government Aid: Minnesota has a state grant for students who exhibit financial need, as well as other specialized grants like the Childcare Grant, which can all be viewed on the website of the MN Office of Higher Education.

Financial Aid From Schools: This is money, loans, and work study you receive from the college you're going to be attending. Some financial aid (grants, scholarships) doesn't need to be paid back, and some (loans) do. Financial aid is based on financial need, which schools determine when you fill out the FAFSA (or, for some schools, the CSS). Some schools cover 100% of financial need with grants, like St. Olaf, while others cover a portion with grants and a portion with loans.

Scholarships From Schools: Also sometimes called merit aid, these are scholarships you receive from the college you're going to be attending. These don't need to be paid back. Often merit aid is need blind, which means it doesn't take into consideration financial need from applicants. Merit aid might be awarded automatically based on your application, like with St. Scholastica's Benedictine Scholarships, or it might require an additional application before or after you are accepted into the school.

Scholarships From Outside Sources: These are scholarships that you will apply to from sources other than your college, and don't need to be paid back. Some scholarships are need blind, while some are aimed specifically at students who exhibit financial need. These scholarships might be from your bank, church, or other organizations you're involved in (like Duluth Rotary, for Junior Rotarians!), but are often from scholarship foundations, like the DSACF. You should try to apply to three scholarships before going to college.

The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It's free to fill out, and the government and colleges will use it to determine the loans and grants you'll receive from them, like Pell Grant eligibility, school specific financial aid, and subsidized student loans. If you're going to college, you should complete and submit the FAFSA.

Beginning to look at colleges can be overwhelming- there are over 4,300 in the US- and everyone will do it differently. Still, it's nice to have some starting points.

1. Establish Parameters. College searching gets a lot easier if you know what you're looking for, so thinking about what you want out of your college experience can be a good place to start. Some questions to think about are "where do I want to be?" "how big do I want my college community to be?" "what majors do I want the college I go to to offer?" "do I want to go to a liberal arts college or a research university? A public or private college?" It's okay, too, to not know the answers to some of the questions until pretty far into your college search.

2. Talk to friends, teachers, and relatives

3. Go to college events and tours

4. Use online resources

5. Keep your mind open

6. Collect your colleges in a list

Community College: Community colleges are partially paid for by the government and are usually the most affordable college choice. However, they rarely offer schooling beyond an associates, or two-year, degree. Oftentimes people will go to community colleges for technical degrees, like welding, or to get some credits done cheaper before heading to an four year college where they can get a bachelor's degree. The Minnesota State Colleges and University System includes many community colleges, including Lake Superior College nearby.

State/Public Colleges: Public colleges are partially paid for by the government. In Minnesota, there are two public university systems: The Minnesota State Colleges and University System and the University of Minnesota. The Minnesota State system includes Minnesota State University, Mankato and St. Cloud State University, as well as other four year universities. The University of Minnesota system has campuses in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Crookston, Morris, and Rochester.

Every state has at least one public university, and public colleges have a lower tuition than private colleges. However, the price of a public university varies drastically between in-state and out-of-state students. If you're attending a public university within your own state, you'll get reduced tuition, while attending an out-of-state college can give you tuition prices as high as private universities. Minnesota has tuition reciprocity with Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and the Canadian province of Manitoba, which means that you are able to pay in-state tuition if you attend a public school there.

Private Colleges: Private colleges are not paid by the government at all, and so usually have a higher "ticket price," or base tuition than public and community colleges. Still, private colleges are often more affordable than you might expect, since many give both financial aid and scholarships to the majority of students they accept. A lot of the college names you might have heard before- like Harvard, or Yale- are private colleges. All 17 Minnesotan private liberal arts colleges are part of the Minnesota Private Colleges Council, and include colleges like St. Olaf and Hamline.

Early Action: An early, nonbinding application to a school. You can apply to as many schools as you want early action, and aren't required to go to any of them. If you apply to a school early action, you will also get an acceptance or rejection letter from them earlier.

Early Decision: An early, binding application to a school. You can only apply to one school early action, and if you're accepted, unless it's completely economically unfeasible, you're required to attend that college. You'll receive your acceptance or rejection letter from this school early, and if you're rejected you're able to go other colleges as if you hadn't applied. Early decision can boost your chances of getting into a school- sometimes by much more. Tulane University in New Orleans, which is known for encouraging early decision applicants, accepts two-thirds of its incoming freshman class from early decision.

Rolling Admission: A long, open window in which you can apply to a college. Rolling admission is nonbinding, and applicants are reviewed as their applications are submitted, which means that if you apply early, you'll also be able to be accepted early.

Brag Sheet: Students fill out this form and give it to those they ask to write a Letter of Recommendation. Taking the time to fill this out well will give your letter writers tangible, useful information to reference when singing your praises.