College scholarships for the average student
Boomer Bucks by Barbara
Whelehan • Bankrate.com
 Does
this describe you?
You saved some money so your kids could go to college, but
not enough to cover all of their expenses.
You filled out the requisite FAFSA (Free Application for Federal
Student Aid) forms, and discovered that your expected family contribution
represents a huge percentage of your income and that your kids
are not entitled to any grant money.
Your kids don't stand out academically or athletically. They
are average from the standpoint of the world, but you know they
have great potential and exceptional talent.
Your options are to moonlight at a second job or take out loans,
but you already work really hard, and you have an aversion to
debt. At the same time, you don't want your kids to start their
careers saddled with debt.
If so, you have a common American ailment -- the "My-Kids-Aren't-Average-But-Colleges-Think-They-Are
Blues."
Here are some of the best ways to cure those blues.
Tap free money
No one is going to recognize the intrinsic value of your diamond-in-the-rough
kid and just hand over a wad of cash. But you can tap financial
resources that are out there. Just ask Janine, who wrote me recently
with this piece of advice:
"As a retired high school teacher, I know from personal experience
that many scholarships go unclaimed. Please have any high school
student check with his/her guidance department to see if there might
be unclaimed funds 'floating around.' It happens more times than
you might think."
The bulk of college funding comes from federal and state governments
as well as from college financial aid offices. But if you don't
qualify for need-based aid, go for merit-based aid. This isn't only
available to kids with high grade-point averages, though good grades
do open up more opportunities. There are plenty of scholarships
available for average kids, but don't assume the money will come
easy. Your kids will have to work for it. It requires time and effort
to land a scholarship or award.
Look locally first
Your community is the place to start looking. Local scholarships
are perhaps easiest to obtain, since competition isn't as fierce
among a limited pool of candidates, as is the case in a national
competition for scholarship money. Sources include local fraternal
organizations such as the Rotary or Lions clubs, churches or synagogues,
and perhaps even the company that employs you or your spouse.
As Janine indicates, one of the best ways to find out about local
scholarships is through a high school guidance counselor, but you
should also check the financial aid office at the community college(s)
in your area and your local library as well.
Expand their horizons
Scholarship money is available not only for college-bound high school
children, but also for those already enrolled at university, from
freshman through senior year. So if your kids are home for the summer
(or even if they're away), get them to go online to check out free
databases of scholarships to see what's available.
Assuming you have a fast Internet connection, they
will spend an hour or so at each scholarship search site, creating
a personalized profile by checking off answers that apply to them.
They will be asked dozens of questions and will have to sort through
hundreds of possible responses (extracurricular activities, hobbies
and interests, clubs and organizational affiliations, etc.) to get
customized leads that best match their interests. Sometimes their
ethnic background or your military experience can lead to free money
for them.
Some popular sites
Among scholarship search sites is Fastweb.com,
an affiliate of job-search site Monster.com, which tracks more than
600,000 scholarships totaling more than $1 billion. Sallie
Mae's site offers a free scholarship search tool that culls
a list of 2.4 million scholarships worth more than $15 billion.
Petersons.com
also boasts a large scholarship database for undergraduates, with
a list of 1.7 million scholarships worth nearly $8 billion.
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