There are many things for high schoolers to consider as they prepare to graduate: whether college is the right option, standing out in the college admissions process and how to help pay for education are just a couple.  One such consideration in how to pay can be scholarships.

Scholarships can be a significant funding source for your child’s college education. For instance, the U.S. Department of Education annually awards an estimated $46 billion in scholarship money, while most states have their own programs for providing financial help to its residents. Private sources, ranging from the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation to the Society of Women Engineers, award over $7.4 billion annually in college scholarships.¹

Many tools exist for identifying the sources that may be most relevant to your child’s situation. Examples include Best Colleges, the College Board, Fastweb, Scholarship America, Peterson’s and Chegg.

The real challenge in winning college scholarships, however, may not be in finding those opportunities or the competition for them, but in motivating students to apply for them.

Six Ways to Motivate Your Child to Apply for Scholarships

1. Offer a reward for every scholarship he or she is awarded. As an example, you could offer 10% of the value of each scholarship awarded. This incentivizes your child to work on finding scholarships and applying for them, and saves you money. Plus, it costs nothing if he or she is unsuccessful.
2. Discuss college costs and finances with your child. Young adults are often not aware of the financial burden of a college education. Having a discussion about college-related financial issues may make them more appreciative of the high costs of sending them to college, providing a spark of motivation to help out.
3. Help them to organize a strategy for their scholarship efforts. Explain where they can find sources of advice, how to narrow down the menu of choices to the most relevant candidates, and plan their time efficiently so they can still get their homework done and have time with their friends.
4. Provide them accommodations. Offer to relieve them of normal household responsibilities (e.g., mowing the lawn) in exchange for working on their scholarship hunt.
5. Offer non-cash incentives. For instance, reward success with a spending spree (with a dollar cap) or tickets to a concert.
6. Create accountability. Set up a weekly meeting to discuss progress, problems and new ideas. Consider linking with the parents of your child’s best friend to make it a joint effort so they have a partner with whom they can share the experience and be accountable to.

Remember, the more scholarship applications your child completes, the greater the chances of he or she finding success. Good luck!

Source:

1. https://educationdata.org/scholarship-statistics

Please reference disclosures at: https://blog.americanportfolios.com/disclosures/