Applying for colleges is one of the most stressful times for juniors and seniors in high school, and on top of that finding money to pay for it is even harder sometimes. There are many resources to help students fund their college experiences, and all one has to do is apply. Scholarships help fund a student’s education and there are hundreds of them awarded for everything from being left-handed to wearing glasses. But sometimes they can be hard to find.

Senior counselor Katy-Jane Johnson provides help for students in receiving scholarships.
“It’s really important students understand that 80% of the scholarship money they receive in general comes from the schools they apply to,” said Johnson. ”It’s really difficult to get third party scholarships because in today’s economy a lot of that money is no longer available. The smaller the community it’s being pulled from, the better.”

Just like students, Ms. Johnson encourages parents who can also increase their child’s chances of getting scholarships.

Religious organizations are a great place to start because they often have scholarships or available resources to create one.

“It’s also good to have parents talk to their places of employment and ask if they fund any scholarships because the smaller the pool is, the more personal the connection is, and therefore the less competition there is,” said Johnson. “The bigger scholarships like Best Buy or Coca-Cola have a lot of people competing over them and it makes it harder to receive those because you’re competing against kids all over the country.”

Another really helpful resource for students is St. Louis Graduates.

“It’s an organization here in St. Louis that runs a really detailed website and works with the Scholarship Foundation just for St. Louis students,” said Johnson. “The Scholarship Foundation also has a lot of different resources. They offer students no-interest loans, so if you haven’t been able to get a lot of scholarship money but you still need to make up that gap, that’s a great resource because a no interest loan is obviously the best kind of loan.”

It’s hard to find a sole scholarship that will fund your whole college experience, so collecting them throughout high school can also be useful.

“Starting small is usually the best way to do it,” said Johnson. “Students think that the merit scholarships they receive based on GPA and ACT scores are the only ones available, but almost all universities offer departmental scholarships where you can apply for a biology scholarship or if you do a lot of community service or a leadership scholarship those can all be stacked on top of each other, and they’re all determined by different committees.”

Most importantly, however, is the student’s academic involvement because it primarily determines the scholarships you receive.

“Even if you don’t get an academic scholarship freshman year, you can increase your scholarship fund throughout your high school career, which is why it’s so important to be focused academically your freshman year because you can also lose those scholarships if you don’t meet the requirements,” said Johnson.