What does it take to be eligible to recieve a scholarship?

Question

My parents wont be able to afford to pay for me going to college so im curious what it takes to get a scholarship.

Answer 1

It usually requires a 3.0+ g.p.a from high school, thoughtful writing skills and patience.  Currently, I'm a senior in college majoring in psychology and three years ago I was facing the same difficulty.  You need to contact your school of interest and check their website for information, deadlines and so on.  Also, try to attend a community college to complete the first two years.   Community colleges are much cheaper than universities and you will get a change to explore around with less risk.  You will also obtain more free aid (money you don't have to pay back) at a community college than at the university.  The first thing you need to do is to fill  out the FAFSA to obtain money from the government and to apply to many need-based scholarships out there.  Feel free to visit the following websites:

www.fastweb.com:  Search here for thousands of scholarships.

http://www.finaid.org/: Here, you will find information about financial aid.

www.fafsa.ed.gov: In this site you will find the electronic version of the FAFSA plus other helpful information.

I hope you find this information useful and wish you the best in your educational journey.

Answer 2

Here's good info. from my fav site.  The info. is for senior high school students, but you can learn a lot from it.  Good luck!

http://www.mycollegecalendar.org/explore...

Answer 3

Scholarships are very difficult to get and there are specific things they look for when selecting a recipient.  The following is a list of things that you usually have to have to get a scholarship.  You shouldn't just have 3 or 4 of these, instead you should have a combination of all of these:

A Theme:

They like you to focus on a theme like animals, homeless, cancer reaserch, children, etc.  When you do extracurricular activities, they don't just want you to do random ones, they want you to focus on 1 or 2 main topics/themes because it shows that you care about what you are doing instead of just picking random activities so that you can put them on a scholarship application.

Volunteer/community service:

Volunteering and community service is one of the most IMPORTANT things that a scholarship provider looks at.  That alone can determine you getting a scholarship or not.  You HAVE to have volunteering on your app.

You should be volunteering at least 200 hours a year, but you really should be volunteering around 300-400 hours a year if you hope to get at least a couple.  Also you don't just need a lot of hours; you also need to have been doing the volunteering for a couple of years.  So if this is your Senior or Junior year and you have never done any volunteering before, it would just look like you are trying to do a last minute catch up.  So volunteering should be started 7th grade to Freshman year and no latter than sophomore year.

Sport:

They like you to also do sports on the side.  It shows that you like to be active and be part of a team and that you do not quit very easily.  Just another nice thing on your application, but a sport is not necessary.

Leadership:

You should have leadership to go along with your volunteering.  Leadership is VERY important, it shows that you are willing to lead others and take action.  You should ALWAYS have leadership on an app.

GPA ( and a few consider transcripts):

Most scholarships don't look at your GPA that much.  They might set a limit, like anyone over a 3.5 GPA can apply, but just as long as you meet the requirement, they usually don't put too much focus on it.  But its not a good thing if you are under a 3.75, you should be AT LEAST over 3.75 GPA.

Hardships and challenges overcome:

Lots of scholarships look at your hardships.  Divorce and depression is one that many people use, and its such a popular one that they don't always look at those challenges.  Some they might look at is the death of a mother/father, moving to the country, not speaking English, etc.

Whatever it is that you have experienced, you NEED to show that you have overcome it and learned from it.  They want to see that you have learned and have more experience from the situation that you were in.

Financial need:

Financial need is also a biggy.  A lot of scholarships require you to have a financial need, and to prove it too with tax documents.

Past awards and recognitions:

You should usually have a list of awards that you have received.  You should list at least 6.  This is where you can list National Honor Society membership, honor roll, etc.

A clear goal or career:

Scholarships providers want you to have a clear goal and know where you are going in life.  You should already have a career planned out, those who know what they want are usually more successful (that’s the way they look at it), it shows dedication.