Although many students want to go to college, few have
the financial resources to do so without scholarships, grants or loans. I’m
completely against loans, since they have a tendency to destroy a graduate’s
future. That leaves grants and scholarships, but they don’t magically appear.
Someone has to apply for them.
When writing my book, Free College Awareness, I realized I didn’t complete many chapters
without having a specific goal, with a time limit. Once I set this up, the
chapters almost seemed to write themselves. This could be true for scholarship
and grant applications too. I suggest setting up a routine for finding, filling
out, and submitting college scholarship and grant forms.
To this end, I propose a challenge over the upcoming
Winter Break. For most students, this means two weeks. For others, it may be
three. Whichever is the case for you, pick the number of applications you wish
to submit during this time. They will all be completed online, of course, so
you don’t have to worry about offices being closed. My suggestion is a minimum
of one per day, better yet would be two or three.
You’ll still have time for visiting with family and
friends, watching football or parades, opening presents, and eating lots of turkey
or ham. Discuss your family’s travel plans with your parents in advance. Block out
this time on a calendar (you can print templates online for free). Then block
out your sleep schedule. You’ll do a terrible job if you’re sleep deprived.
You now know when you have free time for meeting this
scholarship/grant application challenge. Use a red pen to outline the times you
are allotting to find, complete and submit your applications. If you have
already filed at least one, you know how much time you’ll need for each. The
average student takes about an hour, after the first one.
Sure, vacations should be fun, but why not dedicate 20
hours of the 500 over the upcoming Winter Break to applying for scholarships? Doing
so might result in you being awarded thousands of dollars for college. Go ahead
and do it. I dare you.
For more information, you’ll want my new book, Free College Awareness, coming soon from Griffin Publishing. How to avoid needing college loans; available soon to families of Pre-K through High School students.
You are reading from the blog: http://www.roadtofreecollege.com
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