OC HIGH / STUDENT NEWS & VIEWS : ‘The Ultimate Guide to College Scholarships’ : <i> Teen reviews of books, music, movies and other things of interest. </i>
Picture this: You just got accepted to Yale, after working your brain to the maximum. But tuition costs put a brick wall between you and your dream school. You’re a good student, but you are not rich, and you didn’t get the perfect 1600 score on your SAT that might persuade a top college to let you attend for free.
Where do you go for the money?
According to Cynthia Ruiz McKee and Phillip C. McKee Jr., there are a lot of places. The McKees are the authors of “Cash for College: The Ultimate Guide to College Scholarships,” (William Morrow and Co., $16.95) a listing of more than 4,000 college scholarships and awards.
The book grew out of the McKees’ personal experience of trying to find college money for their son, Phillip. They say Phillip was a great student, but not class valedictorian or salutatorian. He was involved in school-related extracurricular activities and volunteer community work at a local nursing home, but he wasn’t a star athlete.
The McKees spent six months researching scholarships for which their son qualified. In the end, he was offered more than $342,000 in scholarships and financial aid. The McKees decided to share their knowledge by compiling information about all the scholarships they could find into this book.
Reading it, you learn there is a scholarship for almost everything. You don’t have to be a genius to qualify. You may be eligible because of your ethnicity, religion, career goals, hobbies or gender.
If you have a disability, if one of your parents is a veteran or belongs to a union, if you write short stories or play musical instruments, there are scholarships available.
For example, the AT&T; Bell Laboratories Engineering Scholarships are given to “African American, Hispanic American or female high school seniors entering an engineering or computer science program.”
The American Council of the Blind awards scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $1,500 to legally blind individuals who are accepted to a college or vocational/technical program.
The James J. Bloomer Trust will help “high school seniors who are of the Catholic faith . . . based on academic record and financial need.”
The New York State Children of Veterans Awards grant money to students whose parents are veterans “who either died or were 50% disabled as a result of a service-connected injury.”
Do you want to become a golf course superintendent? Are you a female helicopter pilot who needs help? Is your last name Defores or Leavenworth? Believe it or not, there are scholarships out there for you.
Also listed in this guide are contests that award cash prizes that can be put toward college. The Poetry Society of America has competitions for excellence in poetry; Seventeen Magazine has a short story contest, and the National Sculpture Society has a competition for young sculptors. Composers may be eligible for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation’s Music Composition Awards Program.
There is an index that lists the scholarships by categories such as “Fields of Study” (including accounting, film/video production, mathematics and sociology); “Native Ancestry/Ethnicity” (from African American to German to Puerto Rican to Welsh), and “Specific or Unusual Traits” (such as dog breeder or bowler).
Each listing gives you the entry deadline and the address to request an application.
“Cash for College,” also includes advice and tips for students on how to prepare for college and the college application process.
It goes into things like learning how to study properly and the importance of having hobbies and non-academic interests (joining a club, performing in talent shows, getting involved in student government, the debate team, etc.).
“Don’t get so wrapped up in making good grades that you don’t have time to do other things,” advise the McKees.
There is also advice on putting together creative resumes, what makes for a good recommendation letter, how to write persuasive college essays for your college and scholarship applications and more.
While this book is not hard to use, it does take time to find the entries right for you.
I only wish I had found this book on the way to my freshman year in high school, instead of in my senior year. I really feel younger students may get the most out of these tips, but I’m not excluding us high school “senior citizens.”
If you’re planning to apply to college, I say give it a chance. After all, $16.95 is pretty cheap compared to college tuition. What have you got to lose?
