Think you Can't afford college?Feb 23 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Sport and Outdoor
The Bottom Line The money IS out there, you just have to look for it.
For lots of students and parents there always seems to be a hush go over the room when young Bobby comes home and tells his folks that he wants to go to Yale. The first words out of mom and pop's mouths aren't "Oh, wonderful Bobby, you'll excel as a student and have great opportunities there!" No, they say "You think we can afford to pay for that?!?! Go getcherself a job young (wo)man, Mc Donald's is hiring!" Luckily my parents didn't say that to me, but they did worry about where the money was going to come from. They told me that they'd help out as much as they could, but that wouldn't be much, and if I wanted to go to Concordia (University, a school that is nearly 19k/ year classes + room/board) I'd have to do it myself, for the most part. Making the Grade The KEY to going to the school you want without denting your parent's retirement, is to start early. Keep those grades up in your 4 years of high school (particularly your first three years-- schools look more at those grades when handing out the f.a. because your senior year is mostly taking those easy classes) so you'll be eligible for academic scholarships. Once you've got the grades, you'll not only be accepted to the school you want to go to, but you'll be offered money. Free money, scholarships and grants DO NOT have to be paid back. All- around type student Now, you want more money huh? Well, of course, you'll only get a few thousand per year or semester from academic scholarships (and that's assuming you were in the top 25% of your class with a 3.5 GPA or higher) . You need to be diverse. Schools aren't just looking at how intelligent or studious you are, they want to know that you are a leader, that you are a "team player", that you are dependable and that you are eager to serve. It's important that you get involved not only in your school, but in your community. Institutions of higher learning always look for those students that can make the grade AND show off real nicely. I can't tell you the number of friends I went to high school with that didn't get as much financial aid as me (that made as good, if not better grades than I did) that got shafted when it came to financial aid simply because: They didn't participate in enough activities. Some things you should consider getting involved in: · Academic teams/ clubs-- Beta Team, Science Club, Academic Decathlon, ROTC, etc. · Volunteer services (e.g. Hospital volunteering, camp counselor, Hospice Something for Everyone What if I screwed around my last couple years in High School and let my GPA drop to an undesirable number? Well, that happened to me. Everything was more important to me my entire High School career than school. Sure, I could make a decent grade just by going to class, but that 3.8 + was totally out of my reach, considering I left all of my books and notes at school every day instead of taking them home with me. After all, the 40lb. + bookbag was a little too cumbersome, I thought, and I simply couldn't be bothered with hauling that thing home everyday. Besides, why bother, I'd never open it once it reached home anyhow. I wasn't alone in this thought. I can remember tons of people doing the same thing. Leave the books at school, do the homework in the 5 0r so minutes we had before each class. It was a system, albeit, not a good system, but a system nonetheless. For us, luckily there was help. There are so many places that offer piddly little scholarships, and grants, and where 150$ many not seem like much for a scholarship when you have 10 or 15 of those, it helps out a lot. Wal Mart and Target offer scholarships, and if you're an employee, or a child of an employee, they're really easy to get. Because they're so small amounts, they offer many of them, so you can be sure to get your hands on one, as long as you fill out the paperwork in time. Did you know that only one in three persons are left handed? And did you also know that there are only about one in thirteen females that are left-handed? Guess what, I'm a chick, and I'm left-handed. I guess that's the compensation for having such an inconsistent, sloppy handwriting all my life, I'm offered money for school, if I can find it. How many of us have Native American ancestry? I do. Just because the government screws the full-blooded Native Americans (living on reservations) over, doesn't mean they aren't willing to give you some money for school if you have 1/48th Native American blood in your genes. All you have to do, is prove it. It's rather easy to prove too, if you utilize your resources (i.e. Internet). I can't tell you how many of these scholarships and grants are out there, all you have to do is look for them. The Internet is a great place to start. Or, if you don't feel like doing the research yourself, hire a headhunter, so to speak, to find them for you. The Military I know, I know, who wants to join? But in all truths, if you're going to enlist, this is the best time to do it-- during peace time. Each year the Armed Services up the anty for sign-on bonuses, and that in itself is almost worth it to a lot of folks. But, better still, they offer millions of dollars in scholarships and grants to persons each year. And all they want in return is your soul-- for 4 years. So hey, you get money for school, training in fields that could be useful once you get out, plus, you get paid. Not too bad of a deal, that is if you can make it through training and are willing to give them 4 years of your life. The Montgomery G.I. Bill can be a beautiful thing. That's not to mention what you'd get if you become an officer. Officers get more pay, more little "perks" and more money for school. Sure, they say you don't, but that's a lie. Considering your education could cost more, you'd get more money for it. Each year the United States Armed Services offer millions of dollars in monies for persons via ROTC scholarships, and it just sits there, for what reason, none's really sure. But it IS there. The ROTC scholarship is probably the best way to go. More than likely you can still go to the school YOU want to go to, they pay for it, provided you meet their standards, and then once you graduate, you serve for a few years. Not a bad deal.  |
| Read all comments (2)|Write your own comment |
|
Ads by Google
|
