Scholarships (how to catch them)

          Okay, let’s get one thing out of the way, applying for scholarships can be a full time job. There are plenty of myths about scholarships that turned out untrue for me, but maybe they work for you.

           The first myth is something that I made most of my academic decisions based on up until college. The good old “if you get straight A’s, have a stellar ACT score, and are an overall good person, colleges will pay to get you.” I did my best, I think during COVID and online classes I did get a B or 2, but I had an ACT score of 32 and was overall well liked by my teachers. The problem with this myth is that it is outdated. When I look back, most of the people saying this to me were in college 20 to 30 years ago (early 2000s and earlier).

           If we will allow a minute for a history fact, university and higher education in America started out as a symbol of wealth and status. Meaning the only students were white men from wealthy families.

          In the Post War Boom period after World War II (1945-1970), university became an option for middle class white men. This was the first big push for universities to include anyone who couldn’t afford the cost of education. After that, slowly, women and people of color were also allowed to attend universities. But the university system is still and always has been a business. In exchange for your money, a university is giving you an education (hopefully) and a degree that certifies you know something. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the cost annually in 1980 was $10,231. And to be clear, that amount covered room, food, classes, and books.

           But then we hit a recession. And another. And the cost of living went up. Then it went up again. Every change to the economy in America, is going to impact the cost of higher education. Up until the recession in 2008, most universities were getting a lot of funding from the government. Crazy right? Now universities depend more on student payments than government funding. And university is always going to operate as a business when it does not have government funding or oversight.

          The average cost annually for university in 2025 is around $25,000. Do you see how all those events changed the cost? It is also important to not that with less federal funding, students are getting less federal scholarships and loans, meaning more debt.

          Now I am not saying every higher education institution is trying to profit for the sake of greed, some universities want to profit so they can innovate and expand. That profit can go into research studies, new technological advancements, and health care organizations. All of which are wonderful uses of money. But this is why students are looking at such high costs.

          So the next time someone tells you that college will be affordable if you are smart, get good grades, score well on tests, please direct them to my tiny history lesson on why that is a wildly inaccurate ideology.

          Okay, now that I have given an unnecessary rant (it was totally necessary), we can move on to myth number 2 about scholarships. This is the “they are so easy to find” nonsense that caused many screaming sessions in my senior year. (Screaming sessions are very therapeutic ways to regulate your nervous system and we will discuss them later) Scholarships are the most finicky nonsensical system and also somehow people are profiting off of them? Websites like ScholarshipOwl or Niche are promising students access to thousands of scholarships, which they do. But they also charge students fees for access to more scholarships and they store student data.

          Am I telling you not to use these websites and systems? Absolutely not.

          ScholarshipOwl and Niche collect all the wild scholarships and allow students a database to search through. It is a wonderful product, I simply think there is hypocrisy in charging money while trying to help students save money.

          And even with ScholarshipOwl and Niche, students still have to spend a lot of time applying to scholarships. I wasn’t kidding when I said it’s a full time job. I made scrolling through Niche my hobby when I was a senior in high school. But if that sounds insane (it is), maybe let’s set a reasonable goal?

           And as you set this goal, keep in mind myth number 3, “there are millions of dollars worth of scholarships unclaimed every year.” I have tried finding where this rumor came from. There is no exact number nor actual legitimate source, just some blog posts, scholarship databases saying this, and even a childcare organization website that mention it. So no, there are not millions of dollars just sitting somewhere in America, waiting to be your college tuition. That would be crazy and should be the next Indiana Jones movie. Indiana Jones and the Sholarship Overflows? We can work on the title later. But there are plenty of scholarships that get overlooked, that money just goes to something else if it isn’t claimed.

          I am not telling you all this to discourage you from applying.

           Instead, I want you to be an informed applicant. I want you to know that applying for those small $100 to $250 scholarships is in your best interest. I want you to be aware that scholarship databases are businesses just like universities are. And while you are trying to get an education, they are trying to make a profit. Higher education is a system built originally for the wealthy, and while times have changed, a lot of those original systems are still in place. So use that knowledge to your advantage. I am all for “work smarter, not harder.”

          And that goal I mentioned? Set it. I believe mine was to spend at least 3 hours a week looking for/applying for scholarships. If that feels intense, try an hour a week. If it feels like too little, do more. A goal can change too, try it one week, if it feels right, do it the next week.

          And if a time-based goal isn’t your vibe, set a different one. You can say “I want to fill out at least 1 application a week” or “I want to submit 3 scholarship applications a week.” Great. If your goal looks different, that is fine but make it a goal. Because students ignoring scholarships means students are missing out on scholarships.

          And for those of you thinking to yourselves, “well I am not a straight A student and I don’t do community service so I won’t get any scholarships.” I would like to admonish you with some curse words but that is not kind so instead I guess I will just say nice things about you. You managed to get through the American school system which I could write a whole book on how hard that is. You did that. It is undeniably a huge feat, and I don’t honestly care if you did it Hermione Granger style with all As and gold start stickers or if you just survived with Cs. You are just as deserving of scholarships as that Hermione Granger student. So apply. Apply to everything. Please. I am BEGGING you to just apply as much as you can.

          And be organized. Keep a list of all the scholarships you applied to. Set up an email account just for scholarship applications so you don’t miss anything. Keep copies of every essay or written response you write for those scholarships. And if you win any? Figure out how much and when or where it can be used. I had a scholarship from my home town that I was allowed to spend on purchasing a laptop or any material things I needed for college. Some are specifically for tuition or housing. Keep track.

          Happy hunting!