It’s that time again - time to figure out how I’m going to pay for my upcoming year at college.
Here’s some background information:
I am about to start my third year in a state school in southeastern PA where the total cost of tuition and room and board is approximately $10,000 per year. My parents are divorced (I live with my mom when I’m not at school). My father contributes nothing to my education and my mother is currently out of work on disability, so she also contributes nothing to my education. I had $16,000 in bonds that were left to me when my aunt passed away. To pay for the last two years of school, I received some government grants (Pell Grants), took out student loans, and paid for the rest out of my savings. Now that savings is gone and I’m starting to panic.
I’ve filled out the FAFSA form (the standard government form that helps figure out how much money they are willing to give me in financial aid). Now I sit and wait to hear from them. Hopefully, I’ll be able to have a large portion of my tuition paid for in grants, but that is not a guarantee. I’ll be working over the summer as much as I can, but I still have living expenses to consider, bills to pay, etc.
What I would really like to do is apply for scholarships. I have gone several times to the financial aid office, but sadly, they aren’t of much help. I have heard of several online scholarship web sites. However, some are better than others, some shadier than others. What are the better ones?