Scholarships vary in award amount, application requirements, and deadlines. Students should apply and continue the process of searching and applying for scholarships throughout their academic career. Generally more scholarship opportunities are available to seniors, but scholarships are available to younger grades as well. 

"As you plan to pay for college, start by applying for federal and state financial aid. 

You could get thousands of dollars to pay for tuition, housing, books, and more. Even so, financial aid may not cover all your college costs."  

-  CaliforniaColleges.edu

1. Start with the colleges that you are applying to 
   Most scholarship money earned by students comes from colleges and you can usually apply for scholarships while you are applying for admission. Don’t miss the deadlines! 

2. Think local
   Local organizations and businesses have less students applying for their scholarships. Applying to local scholarship opportunities means the pool of applicants will be smaller, and therefore, a single student's chances of winning are higher. National scholarships could have thousands of applicants, whereas a local scholarship could have less than 20 (sometimes less than 10!).  

3. Be specific
   Think about what makes you different from most students and find scholarships that are specific to you. Your heritage? Your desired major or career goals? Your personal characteristics? Your skills? (Academic, leadership, musical, athletic, etc.) Your life experiences? Many scholarships are targeting a specific population for a certain reason, such as: 

• financial need

• good grades 

• leadership or extracurricular activities 

• career goals like nursing, teaching, or engineering. 

• athletics 

• club or organization membership

• gender, ethnicity, or religion, or family situation 

4. Look at your connections
   Ask about scholarships at the companies where you and your relatives work, where you bank, organizations you or your family members belong to, and places you shop. Connections can make you more competitive for these scholarships.

5. Put in the effort
   If you apply to 0 scholarships, you get $0! Often scholarship applications will require the completion of a written essay, or short answer responses to questions. Take your time and try your best. Ask a teacher or counselor to review your writing before submitting it if you would like feedback. A well written essay from a student who meets the qualifications for applying can support a winning application! 

6. Follow-up with the organization to ensure that your application was received

The Middle Class Scholarship (MCS) provides undergraduate students, including students pursuing a teaching credential, with family income up to $201,000 and assets up to $201,000 a scholarship to attend University of California (UC) or California State University (CSU) campuses. 

• Scholarships are announced to Oceana students through a weekly bulletin

• Scholarships are shared with students in the Google Classroom Class of 202x 

• Financial Aid Office at each college you are applying to

• Foundations, religious or community organizations, local businesses or civic groups

• Organizations related to your field of interest

• Ethnicity-based organizations

• Your parents' employer

Here are links to find additional information about scholarships:

• https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/finding-scholarships

• Scholarship Web Search Engines 

• The U.S. Department of Labor's FREE Scholarship Search Tool

• StudentScholarships.org 

• CareerOneStop

• Big Future Scholarship Search

• Sallie Mae Scholarship Search

• Unigo / Scholarship Experts

• Fastweb

• Scholarship America