Find Funding for College 5: You Deserve the Money

This continues our series on finding funding for college—let someone else pay for it. You can learn more at the federal student aid web site.
You must believe that you deserve the financial aid. Too many people doubt that they deserve the money that is available. They list many reasons why they do not deserve the rewards offered by the sources of student financial aid.

• The committees only give money to the rich, the poor, athletes, student leaders, performers, and anyone else but them
• They or their parents make too much money
• Their grades do not warrant a reward
• They lack the smarts or intelligence
• They failed to do anything deserving a reward.

Committees Reward Subject Criteria
Some sources of financial aid choose to highlight a certain subject. For example, Duct Tape offers a scholarship for those who create prom outfits out of Duct Tape. In addition, some professional associations provide scholarships for those interested in pursuing that particular occupation.
Subject criteria include:

• States requirements of the sponsor for the award
• Service to others
• Academic achievement
• Extracurricular activities
• Leadership and participation in school and civic clubs or organizations
• Traits specific to that grant, scholarship, loan, or assistance
• Goals or values of the organization

Committees Reward Personal Qualities
In addition to the subject criteria, financial award committees enjoy rewarding people who possess certain personal qualities. Typically, financial aid sponsors want to promote certain characteristics and traits in society. The personal traits they seek include people who demonstrate:

• Hard work
• Overcoming obstacles
• Teamwork
• Perseverance
• Individual initiative
• Passion & enthusiasm
• Responsibility
• Civic duty
• Purpose
• Character

An Exercise to Confirm You Deserve the Money
Let me share an exercise that will help you recognize that you represent the type of person the financial aid committees wish to reward.

• Review the lists in both of the sections of today’s blog
• Write down any of the items on the list that you do not possess
• You are someone they wish to reward if you wrote down less than three of the items

Friday we explain the need to act, act with confidence, and act with excellence