Every high school student’s dream is to graduate from high school and move on to other more exciting things in their lives. For many students the next path in their lives is to pursue their college education. This is a new and exciting chapter in the life of each individual who chooses to seek advanced education. The benefits of obtaining a degree can be very meaningful.
Clearly, the costs associated with getting that degree can be significant and increases 5-7% each year. So what is one to do? For those who are in High School, whether they be a senior, junior, or even a sophomore, the time to begin one’s investigation into scholarships and other forms of educational awards is now…right now. And the best place to start is with the low hanging fruit….those scholarships that can potentially be easy pickings and I am talking about those types that take very little time because perhaps they don’t require you write a novel of an essay or maybe its the kind you can quickly do right online.
Exploring High School Students Scholarships
You have probably heard of the saying, “less is more”. Its a bit philosophical in its orgins, but there is a degree of practicality to this notion. Google is one of the champions of this concept. Go to their home page and you find essentially a search engine box and just a bit of text. Most of their web page is a BIG white blank. The story goes that when Google was in their beta test for their search engine home page, the room full of users stared intently into their computer screens waiting for the website to fully load. They waited and waited. The Google executives started getting nervous as no one was using the search application. As it turned out, the website had fully loaded up immediately. It was just that the test users were surprised to see such an uncluttered page. The rest is history, proving the point that sometimes “less is more”.
Now let me introduce you to the other side of the coin. When it comes to the scholarship hunt, “More is More.”. You don’t want to just apply for 5 scholarships or 10 or even just 15. Oh, no. That is not even close. Lets assume that for every 10 scholarships you apply for, you have a solid chance of being awarded one. So lets apply for 50 scholarships or various forms of education awards. Lets buck the odds. Does that sound like you might be going overboard? Absolutely not. In fact, the more I reflect on it, why not apply for 100 scholarships. The cost of 1 year of college inclusive of tuition, books, room, and board can run around $20,000 or more. As a high school student, you should commit yourself to apply for scholarships….a lot of scholarship…..a whole lot of scholarships….and Now! The sooner, the better. If you are a sophomore or junior, then even better as you will have a head start on the process. You need not make applications all in the same month. You can do it over time while you are in high school. You can also continue to apply for scholarships and education awards when you are in college. We refer to this strategy as the “Principle of Many”. There are many, many scholarships and education awards out there. Literally, many thousands. And your job is to apply for many. The more, the better.
Throughout our website, we provide you with many ideas on scholarships you should apply for, so be sure to check our articles and review the face of our website. In this article we cover the following scholarships you should explore:
- Key Club International Scholarships: this organization is run by students and is one of the oldest student service organizations that exists. You can learn more information about their scholarship programs for high school students by clicking on http://www.keyclub.org/home.aspx
- Dell Scholars Program: this high school student focused program enables students with financial needs to seek higher education. http://www.dellscholars.org/
- AFSA High School Essay Contest: since 1999, this organization has offered high school students an opportunity to write essays with winners receiving monetary awards. http://www.afsa.org/essay_contest.aspx