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You've probably heard, many times, that a gazillion dollars in scholarship money goes unclaimed every year.
There's a good reason for that.
Some scholarships are so specific, so restricted, so oddball, that few people ever qualify. The scholarship's sponsors might be looking for left-handed lacrosse players from Louisiana, for example. Right-handers need not apply.
At the other end of the scale are scholarships so insanely competitive they might as well be lotteries. Coca-Cola has about 250 scholarships that each year attract more than 100,000 applicants.
Even if you could qualify for many scholarships, the potential reward may not be worth the effort. Many payouts are low -- $100 to $500, which might not pay for a semester's worth of books or beer -- and the amount of work required to apply is often substantial.
What's more, colleges often deduct any money won in scholarships from a student's financial aid package, meaning you're essentially doing all that work for little or no net financial reward.
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So should you give up on scholarships altogether? Not necessarily. Here's when it makes sense to apply:Your family won't qualify for much, if any, financial aid. In this case, scholarships are money that can really help reduce the cost of college.
Your college of choice tends to offer loans, rather than grants. "Free" money is always better than money you have to repay. Call and ask about the college's typical loans-to-grants ratio, and make sure any scholarship money would be deducted from the loan side.
Your college doesn't completely fill your financial aid needs. Some colleges' financial aid packages meet only part of the student's financial need. If yours has such gaps, then typically scholarships are allowed to supply some of the missing money without reducing your overall aid package.
The effort required on your part is minimal. Some employers or unions hand out money to workers' kids without requiring much more than a one-page application. Boeing, for example, automatically gives $1,500 to any worker's child who scores high enough on the PSATs to become a National Merit Scholar. You might as well grab the cash. In addition, many universities use their own merit scholarships as a way to discount tuition for students they really want to attract. You can't apply for these scholarships, but they can be a valuable part of a financial aid package.
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Unexpected college expensesTuition is just the beginning. Who pays for books, fraternity dues, the cell phone and the rest?
You haven't got much competition. Small, local organizations -- churches, temples, mosques, service clubs -- may offer money each year with few takers, or at least none as brilliant as your entrant.
The scholarship would look really, really good on a resume -- and you don't mind competing for it. Some competitions are so prestigious that winning is a true coup. As long as your competitor is up for the challenge, you might as well go for it.
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