How to Find $Money for College
When I served as a program assistant for afterschool college prep programs, we focused on academics. Do students attend the right schools? Have students taken college prep courses? These are the courses that are a baseline for admission into 4-year accredited colleges. Have students taken standardized exam prep classes? Have they scored well enough to be admitted into their dream school? Is there a curated mix of extracurricular activities that align with the college application and essay requirements? Can you say “yes” to all the above and that you checked all the boxes?
What if your child secures acceptance letters, but the financial aid package doesn’t quite meet your expectations? That’s where the Financial Aid Bait Box comes into play!
I know that a Financial Aid Bait Box is a valuable part of being fully prepared for college. During my time as a college admissions counselor, I worked with my colleagues to focus on awarding scholarships to a select group of amazing students. The top students will almost automatically be considered for institutional scholarships. That’s good news for the top performers, especially if they cover all cost. Realistically, financial aid awards often fall short of covering most or the total cost of tuition. I’m expanding the college readiness conversation to include building a bait box. College readiness should include a Financial Aid Bait box, which contains resources for attracting financial aid.
Think of the Financial Aid Bait Box like a well-prepared toolkit for fishing—it’s all about being ready to catch those great opportunities when they come along! This box should hold valuable resources that will help attract the financial aid your student or child deserves. A bait box keeps you ready to go fishing when the opportunity presents itself.
There is an informal, seasonal calendar for scholarships, especially for students graduating from high school. The application due dates are often close. With a complete bait box, you and your student will be ready to apply. If you’ve ever gone fishing you know that catching fish involves having the proper bait and timing. Whether you are working with a sophomore, junior, or senior high school student, you should have a bait box.
I host Fishing for Financial Aid workshops. When students attend, I spend time asking about their current email address and talk with them about updating their email addresses. Expressive emails addresses are great for friends and family, i.e iamcookiemonster@xxx.com. For the bait box, you need a basic, dedicated email address to use for scholarships, fellowships and college applications. Do you have your email address already?
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