Tips to Get Money for College 6: Start Young to Prepare for Scholarships

Saturdays we share tips or cautions to facilitate getting scholarships or avoid problems
Vicki, an eighth grader, attended our scholarship workshop with her sister who was a junior. She decided to start working to earn scholarships right away. She completed profiles on three search engines and found disappointing results. We encouraged her to wait until she finished ninth grade to use the search engines. Instead, she started keeping track of her accomplishments, joined clubs, and performed service. As a result, she qualified for many more scholarships and impressed committees with her accomplishments and service.

When to Start Working on Scholarships

When we began teaching people about scholarships, very few scholarships were available to eleventh graders. We knew of none given to tenth graders. Today, we know of more than 200 scholarships available only to eleventh graders and more than 100 for 10th graders. We still know of none for ninth graders.
Therefore, we do not encourage youth to look for scholarships until they finish ninth grade. They tend to get discouraged when the search engines shared indicate they qualify for so little. However, they may begin preparing, and recording details about their activities, for scholarships as soon as 2nd grade.

What to Do at Each Age

You may consider the following timeline for scholarship preparation:

• 2-13 Years Old
  • Perform well your activities, service, and studies
  • Begin your master application by recording the details of what you do including numbers, dollars, and percentages
• 7th-9th Grade
  • Become involved in school clubs, activities, service projects, dance, drama, choirs, bands, and student government as your interests guide you
  • Participate in student athletics and sports if your interests tend that way
  • Compete in science fairs, math competitions, and writing contests
  • Update your master application with additional details, numbers, dollars, and percentages
• 10th-12th Grade
  • Continue all the above activities, competitions, and performances
  • Ask teachers to substitute classwork essay topics for scholarship topics
  • Use scholarship search engines, counselors, and other sources to find and apply for scholarships
  • Gather letters of recommendation from those you serve

Tuesday we review the National Scholarships, Fellowships, and Programs sponsored by BYU