High school students, especially seniors, are currently applying for scholarships online in hopes for getting funds for college based on their academics and ambition.
Scholarships will be opening and closing throughout the school year, however if students apply now there could a better chance of being granted the money.
“Start applying the second you can, especially if they’re national scholarships,” Benson alumni Vannia Duarte-Camacho said.
Applying as soon as possible could help people get rid of some stress and competition.
“People should start applying as soon as they open, there are a lot of competitive people out there who want that scholarship too,” senior Dynesha Smith said.
By filling out the ‘Benson High Application,’ students will be able to apply to more scholarships at once.
“Through that application there’s a scholarship committee of teachers at this school that sit down and discuss about the applicants,” counselor Andrea Brown said. “Anybody who fills out the Benson High scholarship would be considered the grant, the same application will allow you to apply for over 20 different scholarships.”
Scholarships are here to help students who are applying to college and people should take advantage of them.
An estimated $46 billion in grants and scholarship money is awarded by the U.S Department of Education each year.
“In honesty you wouldn’t have to stress about money that much in college,” Smith said. “When you graduate from college, you wouldn’t have to worry about paying it back.”
The ‘Free Application for Federal Student Aid’ or more commonly known as the ‘FAFSA’ is another way many students get passed college without paying.
In 2017, the government financed roughly $100 billion in student loans and $30 billion in grants.
“The number one thing you want to do is fill out the FAFSA,” Brown said. “Students get wrapped up in scholarships thinking it’s the only way to pay for school and unlike scholarships, you don’t really have to prove to someone that you deserve that money.”
When students start looking for scholarships, checking what their future school can grant could potentially help students.
After checking their school’s potential of grants another way student’s can do is check their local and national scholarships.
“I’m excited to see what the future will bring me once we get closer to graduation,” Smith said.