Once you have been accepted to any college the next thing that comes to your mind in the form of stress is usually how you’re going to obtain the money needed to attend that school. In this article you will obtain the steps that you need to take in order to obtain all the money that you need, no matter what school you’re going to go to and how much money is needed.
1. Find Out How Much Money It Will Cost You To attend the school of your choice
This is the first step that you have to take when you’re about to begin the search for money to go to college. If you don’t already know the answer, visit the college’s websites and find out. If there is no way of finding out that way, then call your admissions counselor or make estimates yourself using college cost calculators around the internet.
2. Do the FAFSA (This is not for scholarships, but this will probably be your greatest source for school money.)
The FAFSA is the federal application for financial aid for students and you should fill it out no matter what. Sometimes students people don’t fill this out because they think their parents earn too much and that they will not receive anything. Don’t not do this though because it’s almost a for sure thing that you will at least receive a thousand dollars if not more. You should fill this out as soon as your parents receive their federal income tax returns.
3. Talk To Your Counselor. Ask Her To Notify You About Any Local Scholarships Available.
You should go make an appointment to see your scholarship or senior counselor as soon as you can once you become a senior. You should ask her/him if they know of any scholarships that you can apply to. They can usually tell you about 10, don’t put filling these applications out till later, fill them out as soon as possible.
4. Find Out If Your School Offers Any Scholarships
It’s almost a certainty that your college will offer scholarships to the incoming freshmen. Surf the school’s site under the scholarships or financial aid pages and look for all the things they offer that you may qualify for.
5. Register Yourself At “www.FastWeb.com”
FastWeb.com is filled with scholarships! Visit this website, become a member of it, and fill out as many scholarship applications as possible. You will get pointed towards the ones that you qualify for by filling out a survey once you sign up to become a member of this site. This site should be one that you visit constantly throughout your senior year for scholarship opportunities of all kinds.
6. Get Teacher Recommendation Letters
This may be something that you do not know how to do, but it’s actually fairly easy. Let two or three of your favorite teachers or school administrators write something nice about you on a one page letter. Tell them to leave it open ended and this is what you will use when you’re applying to colleges, scholarships, or to any other applications that may require recommendation letters.
7. Write Essays
The first essay that you will write will be one of three that you will have to submit with your college applications. Don’t hesitate to write these. What you should do, is find out what they are a couple of months before the due date and work on them little by little so that you don’t get really stressed over it at the last minute. The next essays that you will have to write will be for the scholarship applications that you will submit. Don’t worry too much about these, it’s just like an interview so write just the way that you would talk. Make sure to save all of your essays for further review and/or submission to other applications.
8. Get Transcripts
Transcripts can be found easily by going to your schools registrar’s office. Ask her for 10 official transcripts and these are the ones that you will send out to everyone who requests one.
9. Fill Out and Submit About 30 Scholarships
Now this is the last tip on receiving money for college. In order to get as much money as possible you will need to fill out at least 30 applications. If you feel that this is not enough and that you have more time to do more, you should do more.
