Find Funding for College 21: In Summary

This concludes our series on finding funding for college

We covered a lot of information in the previous posts. So, we thought we would put all the pieces back together in this final post on the subject.  Then you can accelerate your efforts to get the money you deserve. We hope it helps you.

5 Steps

1. Set a goal for how much money you want.  Recognize funding committees want to give the money to someone like you. Then, act with confidence and excellence
2. Find the financial aid through Internet scholarship search engines, high school guidance counselors, scholarship books, local organizations, and other sources
3. Prepare a master application containing the answers to all application questions. Include a list of awards, performances, competitions, and transcripts. Highlight 4 themes with 3 categories for each one. Write 3 home run statements for each category
4. Write 5-6 essays on topics preferred by scholarship committees. Edit them 2-3 times with an English teacher. Make minor adaptations as you submit them
5. Obtain letters of recommendation from people at work, in school, or at church. Ask the director of each organization you include in a service project to write a letter. Coordinate so that your letters restate your home run statements. That adds credibility to your application.

Stick With It

If you have a 3.0 grade point average or higher, and follow these steps, you will get some money. Everyone who ever followed this formula—and did not get money—either had a GPA below 3.0, or failed to include #, $, % in their home run statements, or were applying to attend for-profit, proprietary schools. We state publicly, this system will not work in the case of too low a GPA, poorly prepared materials, or for-profit proprietary schools.

Let us conclude with a return on investment analysis. Let us assume that you spend:

• 20 hours and only get $1,000. You earned $50 an hour
• 60 hours and get $25,000. You earned $417 an hour
• 80 hours and get $100,000. You earned $1,250 an hour

Those are pretty good salaries for a 17 or 57 year old! Don’t give up!