How I Will Pay For College

Unfortunately, I do not have many ways to pay for college, which I will be entering into in the fall of 2011. I do not qualify for either of the Cal Grants, or the Pell Grant. However, I can apply for scholarships including a scholarship from whatever college I decide to enter into. In this essay I will be showing the list of scholarships I have and will be applying for. I will lay out my estimated expenses along with what I hope to earn.

I plan to attend a private Christian four-year college in the Fall 2011 semester. The average cost per year of a Christian college can range between $22'000 per year to $38'000 per year. Obviously, I need financial aid. My GPA is high enough that if I do very well on my SAT's there is a chance that I will receive a good scholarship from the college I choose to go to. So, the first step in my process of paying for college is to keep my grades high and do well on my SAT's, much higher than the last time I took them.

The second part of the process for me is to be continually looking for and applying to different scholarships. The first thing that I did was sign up for fastweb.com, scholarships.com, and zinch.com. All these sites give a list of scholarships that I am eligible for. Many are essay based scholarships and some do not require an essay. Zinch.com even has a weekly scholarship that only requires 2 to 3 sentences.

Here is a list of the scholarships that I have applied for:

ScholarshipPoints.com-$10'000,

Cappex "A GPA isn't Everything" Scholarship-$1'000,

Zinch Weekly Scholarship-$1'000(once weekly),

College Prowler No Essay Scholarship-$2'000,

Elks National Foundation Most Valuable Student Scholarship-$60'000,

Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation Four Year Award For Seniors Scholarship-$20'000,

Scholarchips.com "Tell A Friend" Scholarship=$1'000

Here is a list that I will be applying for after this project is due:

Third Annual Freedom in Academia Contest-$5'000

AXA Achievement Scholarship-$10'000-25'000

NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund-$1'000

John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay-$10'000

Annual Create a Greeting Card Scholarship-$10'000

Sam Walton Community Scholarship-$3'000

The California Association of Collectors Educational Scholarship Foundation-$2'500

Best Buy Scholarship-$1'000

Bank of America Student Leaders-varies

National Italian American Foundation Scholarship-$10'000

Southern California Association of Governments Scholarship-$3'000

McDonald's of Southern California Ronald McDonald House Charities/Scholarship-$2'000

Friends of California State Fair Scholarship-$5'000

Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year Award-$7'500

Frame My Future Scholarship Contest-$1'000

The "Save Me A Spot In College" Scholarship-2'500

The "Do Something" Award-$10'000-$100'000!

The Mary J. Szczepanski "Never Give Up" Scholarship-$500

A Patrick Charnon Scholarship-$6'000

NEWWA Francis X. Crowley Scholarship-$3'000

Healthy Choice Academic Scholarship-2'500

Essay Competition for Children of Public Employees-$500

The Scholastic Art Awards-10'000

The scholarships that I plan to apply for are in order of application deadline date. I will be working on them as they approach. I am looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish as well as if it pays off. Looking at all I have to do some of these may not be accomplished but I will be doing the best I can with the time I have. I am prepared mentally to accept the fact that all of my schooling may not be payed for and I may have to take out student loans. This will not be my first choice obviously, but I am prepared to do what I have to.