Updated December 11, 2024. Post originally published July 2, 2019.
Do Not Wait Until Senior Year
Parents often tell me, “My son/daughter will start applying for scholarships in their senior year.”
I have often wondered why.
Senior year is a tale of two drastically opposed semesters. The first semester is a frantic flurry of college applications, essay writing, and test prep, in addition to class work and extracurriculars.
Why wait until possibly the busiest time your child will face in high school to throw on another task?
Conversely, you might think that second-semester senior year is the perfect time to go after scholarship money. Your child suddenly has abundant free time, the pressure is on to save some money, and it seems to be the sensible next step.
Let me ask you something: have you ever seen a second-semester senior?
Combine that with everyone else simultaneously going after scholarship money, making the competition more fierce.
When Should We Start Searching?
As soon as you can.
A surprising amount of scholarship money is available for students of young ages. A few scholarships are available as early as kindergarten.
Understandably, parents of young kids don’t have ‘apply for college scholarship money’ high on their to-do list, but it sure doesn’t hurt to take a few minutes and see what kind of awards are out there.
Scholarships for younger students cover a wide range of categories. You can find scholarships in creative writing, art, poetry, history, politics, and STEM, as well as more unique awards covering environmental advocacy, community service, and patriotism.
Google is your friend here. And speaking of Google…
Perhaps your child likes to draw. Take a look at Doodle for Google (K-12). The national winner gets a $30,000 scholarship, and the four runners-up win $5,000 scholarships.
Maybe your child is not an artist in the traditional sense but has a keen interest in supporting the community. The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes (ages 8-18) awards those who have accomplished exceptional service work with $10,000 to use for college.
These are only two of many scholarships for younger students. You can browse many more here.
Finding Scholarships is a Life Skill
It takes work to find the money. As a parent, helping your child find scholarships at an early age will not only help with college funding, but it will also help your child understand the power of hard work, discipline, and self-advocacy.
Even more, they will learn that nothing in life is free. These are all skill sets that will be needed in the real world as adults.
Parents often tell me, “My kid has too much school work and school activities; there’s no time to apply for scholarships.”
Look, I understand that high school can be an insane balance of classes, school work, friends, SAT/ACT prep, sports, extracurriculars, and family. That’s why I suggest looking at and applying for scholarships as early as possible.
However, the reality is that most families do not focus on private scholarships until later in high school. If you are a high school junior or senior, you must be creative and use your time wisely.
Set aside chunks of time on school breaks and weekends to knock out scholarship applications. Summer and winter breaks are especially useful.
I know of one family where the parents paid their daughter to spend the summer between her junior and senior year searching and applying for scholarships. Her parents paid her a set amount for each scholarship she received. By the end of the summer, she had made nearly $15,000 in scholarship money and a few thousand dollars from her parents. Not only did she help her parents save money, but she also made more money for herself than if she had worked at the local Baskin Robbins.
There Are Scholarships for Just About Everything
Don’t discount small, local scholarships. They may only be $500, but these awards are much less competitive than the popular scholarships that come to mind. If you can craft a process and schedule around these “micro-scholarships,” you may be surprised by how quickly the money adds up.
These scholarships are usually offered through local businesses and community, religious, and professional organizations. Talk to your college counselor, read local newspapers, and contact your Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, more targeted searches on Google should be conducted with the student’s location, age/grade, and hobbies/interests/career goals.
For a list of smaller national scholarships, check out Scholarship Owl. Every scholarship database has flaws, so you must manually verify the scholarship’s existence, deadline, and requirements by going straight to the source.
If your child has any unique skill or interest, there is probably a scholarship for it. There are scholarships for duck-hunting calls, asparagus, and being tall.
The money is out there. Go and get it.
More Scholarships for Young Students
- Action for Nature Eco-Hero Awards – Ages 8 to 16
- American Rocketry Challenge – middle and high school
- Angela Award – female students, grades 5-8
- Davidson Institute Young Scholars Program– ages 5 to 16
- EngineerGirl Writing Contest – grades 3-12
- ExploraVision Science Competition – grades K-12
- Scholastic Art & Writing Awards – varied age requirements
- Maryknoll Essay Writing Contest – middle and high school
- National Geographic Slingshot Challenge – ages 13 to 18
- Patriot’s Pen Essay Contest – grades 6-8
- Young Scientist Challenge – grades 5-8
P.S. Many families forget or don’t realize that many private scholarships are earmarked for college students only. Once your student enrolls in college, keep applying for those scholarships!
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