This is the second part about applying for scholarships. It is just a shortened version to help you get started.

You have done the State application, the college application. You are doing the FAFSA. Bear in mind that the FAFSA will take a lot of paperwork in prep. The basic tools that are needed is the parents W2s, 1040s and the social security information. You will need that information from your child too. It takes up to three days to get a pin, so you can register before you are ready. Remember save, save, save each time you enter a page.

This is the time you need to start looking for scholarships. The best place I found is www.fastweb.com. I tried other places but I never found actual scholarships. Fastweb has some that you know upfront are perfect, and others you would not do at all. At least you do have access to many and it is free. This area has many local scholarships, but I still branched out to find the ones few applied for.

I went to a meeting with our local 4-H Agent. She totally walked me through all of what I have told you. Texas A & M had a financial aid counselor that came to our school to walk us through it as well. Go anywhere that is free that will help you. As the Financial Aid says Aid is free to find it, no one should be charging you anything to find aid or scholarships.

The best tip I got was from the Agent she said to be sure at set up a file folder for each scholarship. At the time I thought I would not need it, but fifteen scholarships later I am glad I paid attention. Be sure and put the due date and the amount on the outside so as you are working you can find each one quickly. As the due dates got closer I would write on the outside what they needed. For instance: transcript and signatures. Then all you have to do is a few things. In our case we had fifteen due within thirty days of each other. I used spring break to get Dunk to do a lot of the work.

All scholarships have different requirements. Some need transcripts, some need essays, some need volunteer hours and some need activities. In a word, you are going to be doing it repeatedly. Get used to it; there will be one scholarship that asked for all of the above. I used that information repeatedly. The essays seem hard when you first look at them, but honestly, the people want a kid that wants it, that will use it to further his future. If your kid really taps into his or her heart then it will be great. Do not no matter how much you want to write the essay. It will not help your child in the end, and if they are unable to write a 350 word essay how will they do college? I know seniors are busy. Dunk is rarely here. He wrote 5-6 essays when he had to. All were different because what the scholarship asked for.

If you file the files by the due date with the earliest date up front, it will make it much easier. I put the FAFSA file, ACT file, SAT file and the Tarleton file behind the scholarship files. You may not get half of what you apply for, but it is free to apply and you get better the more you apply. Next year Dunk will apply for even more. That is what has to happen. We have heard from a few, but many have not decided yet.

Tomorrow I will talk about one scholarship that is special. After tomorrow I will be on to the next topic!

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