by Hope
Anyone else getting tired of their own cooking? Getting tired of stretching food and controlling the cost of each meal by adding beans? Or some other economical expander.
Sidenote: Did you know that bamboo can be used as a meal expander, it takes on the flavor of what it’s cooked with? I haven’t tried it, but I read about it recently.
Anyone else ready for some sort of normalcy?
We met with Princess’s guidance counselor this morning to talk about her senior year and the next steps for applying and financing college. Can you believe that she is 15 years old and a rising senior? I can’t! How did we get here!?!
We’ve got a laundry list of items to tackle, especially with the future so up in the air. And we’ve definitely got to start looking at scholarships, scholarships and scholarships. While Princess is on track to qualify for all the “free” college money from the state of Georgia including the Zell Miller, Hope Grant and more, with the goal of living on campus we are definitely going to need to add some additional monies to the pot.
I have to admit, I expected more guidance on the scholarship front from the school. She essentially told us she is too busy to help with that because of all the colleges the kids at this school apply too. I was shocked! It’s understandable that this college prep school pushes for college acceptance, but they don’t seem to be as invested in making sure the kids are successful there. Or maybe just most of their kids are well financed that it doesn’t really apply to many. I was still shocked!
Any college scholarship gurus here in the BAD community? I would love any suggestions. We are going to make a plan for Princess to start regularly applying beginning next month when school lets out.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Grandson is a HS senior and will have tuition and books paid for by a grant similar to Georgia’s program at our top state university. Princess needs to do very well on her SATs or ACT. A lot of students have excellent grades. Grandson has a 4.5 and is in the top 10 of his class of over 400. I’d make sure she preps this summer- I’m sure she has taken the tests at least once already. Clubs are great but numbers seem to be the most important. Also some private schools will give lots of aid for the first 2 years and then stop it! Good luck.
I think the internet/library is your friend here. In NC we have CFNC. Org which covers a lot on college and loan info, and there’s a section on scholarship searches. I’d also have Princess start to list her awards and achievements and reach out to teachers to ask if they’d be willing to write recommendations. And think about topics or characteristics she could use: like athletics/Volleyball or if there’s a military connection or Community service. But don’t pay for the searches or a scholarship finding service.
Research. Research. Research. There are scholarships for everything. Look up every subject you can think of. Academics. Sports. The type of business she wants to get into. Being a female (seriously, it’s a thing) Being of a certain ethnicity or race (my son got a scholarship once for being of indigenous blood) Huge companies have grants and scholarships. Make a list of large companies and look them up. Even celebrities have their own scholarships. Research anything you can think of and apply apply apply.
Check out collegeconfidential.com. That website has wonderful resources, and a very active forum where you can pose questions. The best money comes from the schools themselves, so school choice is going to be very important. And keep in mind that many outside scholarships are one-time awards, so that money will not be around after the first year.
Does your school utilize Naviance? That would have a big list of scholarships, all their requirements and applicable dates. That is a shame that your school is not more helpful. That is the job of the counselor, especially for a child who will need significant financial help to graduate without a big debt. There are also private College Admissions Counselors. Maybe you can find one who would help Princess in exchange for some of your work services. Getting a 4.0 or above, taking the hardest classes her school offers, and good test scores are paramount. Taking practice tests over and over and over are really helpful to manage timing. However, I have been reading that they aren’t requiring testing for the upcoming crop due to COVID so keep an eye on that. She should also join the FB pages of school she is interested in, write their admissions and ask for information, etc. Get her name in their system. Another option is there are schools that you can co-enroll in 4 year and 2 year school at once. It is less expensive but you get the 4 year experience without the full price tag. Good luck, exciting times ahead!
As a stellar African-American student from a low income household, at my private university Princess would qualify for a full scholarship, ie you would pay nothing. Don’t forget to include private universities in the Northeast in her college search. They are very well funded and desperate for student diversity. The competition for high level black students is pretty intense. My advice is invest in a good SAT prep course, have her ace the test, and watch the colleges come a-knocking.
We put four kids through college almost debt-free. (Two had debts of only $5,000) Do not rely on school counselors to show you the way. Do your own research and track down every scholarship you can. Some are local–grocery stores, the Rotary Club etc. We found that, in the end, we were much more knowledgeable than the school counselors. They have a heavy workload. Be your OWN advocate. You have to approach it like a job. Fill out the applications, help edit the essays the kids write etc.
I’m not sure which schools she’s applying to, but make sure that they’re schools with large endowments, which are usually more generous with financial aid. I had friends in college who paid nothing or very little because of the scholarships the school awarded them.
Scholarships are all over, but they aren’t handed out to kids simply because the kid exists or simply because she attends a private school. Scholarships require effort. Free money isn’t just going to show up because “she’s a good kid.” Search online. Fill out paperwork. Ask specifics at college tours or interviews.
It is *much much* more worth your and her time to spend 3 hours filling out a form for a $2,500 scholarship than to spend 3 hours recalculating food budgets for a 19th time or 3 hours at a minimum wage job. It just takes effort.
Yes, I figured as much. One of my friends, I may have mentioned this in the past, actually paid her daughter the same amount she would have earned at a min wage job to search for scholarships…it paid off in spades!!!
On FB there is a sizable group called “Paying for College 101” that has great tips and advise regarding the college search and payment process. I HIGHLY suggest joining that group. Within the group, there is a member named Sabrina Malone who is a parent with 4 students in college at the same time. She writes posts in detail about how her family goes through the search and payment process. I would follow anything she writes! Good luck!
Wow, thank you, joining that group right now!