Detroit News: College students scramble for funds
The Detroit News has this report today: College students scramble to recoup lost Promise aid.
A snippet:
Financial aid experts and school counselors say students aren’t dropping out, finding their own solutions to fill the gap left by the broken Promise Scholarships. Some are borrowing more; others are cutting their college living costs, trimming the family budget, finding scholarships or taking fewer classes.
“Our students seem to be willing to find the resources somehow to make up the loss,” says Skip Zabel, associate director of financial aid at Albion College. He says enrollment has stayed about the same for returning students this year, despite the lack of scholarship money and cuts to the need-based Michigan Tuition Grant, which helps students at the state’s private schools.
“All of our students were counting on the Michigan Promise program,” Zabel says. “In some cases, they’re turning to loans. In other cases, the families are just tightening their belts at home even more.”
The article also has tips and links on how students can find money for college – information that should sound familiar to readers who have looked through my college and scholarship archives.
Continue reading Detroit News: College students scramble for funds …
From Monroe on a Budget.
Common scholarship requirements
During the past three years, I’ve posted a lot of information on Monroe on a Budget for southeast Michigan residents about scholarship eligibility, deadlines and applications.
The sponsors and foundations who are helping to send students to college these days via scholarships are typically looking for volunteerism, leadership and community involvement in addition to good grades and / or test scores and / or financial need.
What’s the grade point expectation? A common requirement is a 3.0 GPA, which includes a lot more students than just the valedictorians or summa grads.
But there are other criteria you might not expect. These examples from my “scholarship” archives are for scholarships that have been announced during the past couple of years on behalf of students who are from, or attending college in, southeast Michigan:
- Older adults who need additional education to return to the workforce.
- Choir and band members who plan to continue music ensemble participation at the college level.
- A scholarship that was written for students who were home-schooled or is currently working at least 30 hours a week.
- A scholarship that was written for students who have a family member working as a professional truck driver.
- A baseball scholarship that doesn’t rely on the ability to play at the college level, but on how well the winner showed sportsmanship and love of the game at the high school level.
As I’ve said before:
The scholarship game is not a fair playing field.
It takes a lot of time and effort to fill out those applications.
There is no magic cut-off point where everyone who has a grade point above a certain level gets money for their education.
Whoever sponsors the scholarship money gets to decide where it goes.
There are, however, two ways in which you can build up your chances in getting whatever money that the foundations, sponsors, donors and colleges make available to students in your demographic or geographic area:
- Keep your high school (and college) grades at least 3.0 GPA.
- Get involved in a volunteer or community service project or cause that you are passionate about.
Continue reading Common scholarship requirements …
From Monroe on a Budget.
Monroe High School’s and MCCC’s scholarship pages
Now to explain what I’ve been telling you about looking FIRST to your high school counselor’s office and college financial aid office when you seek out scholarship funding, here are two links directly relevant to my local readers in Monroe, Mich.:
Yes, those pages already have information for scholarships that will apply to the 2009-2010 academic year. Be sure to check those links frequently during the next few weeks for updates.
Continue reading Monroe High School’s and MCCC’s scholarship pages …
From Monroe on a Budget.
College Scholarship’s Student Loans by the Numbers chart
The CollegeScholarship blog says on this chart on their site: Please help spread the word. You may embed the image in your blog or on other sites so long as you reference the original source. So here’s the link and here’s the chart!
Continue reading College Scholarship’s Student Loans by the Numbers chart …
From Monroe on a Budget.