Tips for Ka‘ū Students to Secure College Funding
By Tim DeLozier
It’s almost spring! That means graduation for high school seniors is fast approaching. It also means that we’re in peak scholarship application season.
There are millions of dollars in scholarships that go unawarded each year. Why? Because no one applies for them! Imagine missing out on having all or part of your college tuition and expenses paid for — how sad would that be?
Luckily, finding scholarships is far easier with technology than it used to be. There are countless websites and ways to search via the internet for scholarships. Here are a few tips for students seeking scholarship awards.
Read the scholarship information and application thoroughly to make sure you qualify. Some scholarships are limited to certain educational fields, others have minimum GPAs, etc. Don’t waste your time applying for a scholarship that you don’t qualify for.
Start early! The earlier you start on completing scholarship applications, the more time you’ll have to proofread and submit a complete application. Many scholarship programs toss out any incomplete applications. Procrastination leads to sloppiness.
Follow application instructions exactly. If the application instructs you to complete it in purple ink while standing on your head, submit a photo of you using a purple pen while standing on your head filling out the application (LOL).
Sell yourself! Brag about your accomplishments, making sure to list all your awards and extracurricular activities. Prove to the scholarship committee that you are the most deserving applicant.
Write quality essays. If the scholarship requires an essay, double-check it for grammar, sentence structure, etc. If there’s a word count limit, be sure not to exceed it.
Ask for help. Have at least one other person help you proofread your essays and review your application for completeness and errors.
Think of this: if you spend 40 hours applying for 15 scholarships and you receive $5,000, that means you earned $125 hour while completing scholarship applications. Where else are you going to earn that much per hour? Use your spring break to get busy and submit as many scholarship applications as you can!
Ka‘ū High School Counselor Regina Blanchard-Walker has a great website that lists lots of scholarships available to Ka’ū students: https://sites.google.com/k12.hi.us/khpes-hs-counselor-page/scholarships
