College is expensive! For a public four-year college, the organization College Board reports that for tuition fees, and room and board it is about $20,000 a year. For a private college, that number more than doubles. Kaleigh Quick is a BYU-Idaho student who is going about getting her funds for college in a way that is not new but entirely undervalued, scholarships.
Missing the Deadline
Quick had forgotten to renew her Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. The form determines eligibility for student financial aid including federal grants. To cover her costs for schooling she got on Google and just looked for scholarships.
“I did a nice Google search and I came up with one website in particular, Scholarship Owl, and they just had lists and lists,” Quick said. “Eventually I found over 150 and I eventually narrowed it down to 150.”
It’s Easier than it Seems
From applying and just looking at the scholarships Quick says the thing she has learned is just how easy it is to apply.
“When I printed off my list of 150 I saw there are some that have the same exact essay requirements,” Quick said. “So, you can write one essay turn it in for like 10 scholarships, so really your work isn’t as much as it seems.”
She found herself feeling daunted thinking she might have to write a 10-page paper.
“But then I realized some of these are short, some of these are fun like doing a video,” Quick said. “There is one I found for doing a celebrity impersonation.”
Requirements for scholarships can be simple and easy questions to answer. Quick said that a lot ask questions like “What are your career goals?” and “What are you doing right now to accomplish your career goals?” She has even seen scholarships from cleaning companies that just ask what it means to have a clean home.
Many People Miss Out
Many of these scholarships have been ignored. One scholarship Quick is applying for hadn’t had a winner for three years.
“People are missing out!” Quick said. “I went and looked up this winner’s submission, and it was a video submission this time. And the video was 30 seconds long and done on a cellphone. Anyone could have done that and even done a better job, and she was granted $1,000.”
Find Ones You are Interested in
Some of her favorite scholarships are ones that apply to her major, which is food science.
“The ones that ask me like what technology in your field will be coming out in the next field, or what technology are going to make a difference, those are really exciting for me,” Quick said.
There are scholarships out there for any type of interest. Quick has found scholarships that have questions with zombies, questions about travel, and one that asks that you send in the first chapter of a book you want to write.
“A lot of people have a dream of writing a novel someday or something and why not start your first chapter and get paid for it?” she said.