Reusable Materials 15: Working with Schools on Reusable Materials

Thursdays we discuss how reusable materials help you WOW committees and save time

Jennie attended a scholarship workshop several years ago as a mother wanting to help her children pay for college. Jennie also worked as a high school guidance counselor. She invited one of our staff to meet with her principal, all of the guidance counselors, and English teachers in her school.

As a result, the faculty and staff changed the essay topics assigned in their 10th grade English classes to reflect the current topics requested by scholarship committees. Scholarship recipients in that school increased by 17% over the next four years (at which point we stopped monitoring). In addition, 4 other high schools in that school district made the same changes.

What Schools Can Do to Foster Scholarship Preparation

We honor our overworked and underpaid educators. We recognize that not all schools can implement what we advocate here. That does not make them bad schools. They work hard to prepare students for an increasingly difficult and changing world.

Some schools offer multiple assemblies a year to motivate students to prepare, qualify, and apply for scholarships. Other schools focus every guidance counselor on preparing students for both enrollment in, and obtaining financial aid to pay for, college OR technical OR trade occupations.

Some change their curriculum to emphasize applying for financial aid. Here is a very short list of possibilities:

• Ensure that students recognize the efforts to help them prepare for and pay for post-high school training (not just college)
• Encourage students to participate in clubs, activities, competitions, and service projects that will enhance their qualifications for scholarships
• Assign scholarship essay topics in 10th grade English and make them perfect
• Assign students to prepare reusable master applications and FAFSAs as part of their careers classes (for scholarship, college, and job applications)
• Teach, in financial management classes, how to wisely use student loans
• Emphasize in classes the financial and experiential benefits of working your way through school and managing your time to do both

Saturday we share a caution about avoiding identity theft as you apply for financial aid