I have a daughter that starts school in fall. If I cannot come up with some money she may not be able to go right away. Please help! Mike
1. For most people in most situations, especially younger people, the financial aid office of the school is a good place to begin. 2. Many colleges subscribe to a service called CASHE (College Aid Sources or Higher Education), a database of more than 200,000 scholarships, grants, loans, fellowships, and work study programs. Some schools offer the service free to potential students; others charge. 3. Don't bother with the "Scholarship search" services. They very rarely help, other than telling about token awards available to many (such as the $100 American Legion awards). 4. For unorthodox approaches that many people have told us about working for them, see Finding Money for College by my daughter and me. (She got $42,000 from eleven different sources to pay for her Master's at NYU). A bit out of date, but still lots of useful stuff for about seven bucks. www.degree.net
Take a look at http://www.finaid.org/ -- lots of information on scholarships, loans, all sorts of financial aid. And start searching scholarship databases online, such as the FastWeb Scholarship Search at http://www.fastweb.com/ See http://collegeapps.about.com/cs/financialaid for links to more financial aid info and scholarship searches. Get your daughter to work on her own behalf -- she should have been haunting her adviser's office all spring, getting information about scholarships and grants and following up with applications. She should be calling her school's financial aid office now for information and advice. And get her to work -- delivering papers, detasseling corn, whatever she can do to raise money for her education. (Generally the ickier the work, the better the pay and the more it will impress upon her the value of an education.) Surely you've filled out the FAFSA and received some information from the school? ------------------ Kristin Evenson Hirst DistanceLearn.About.com
If it comes down to it and your daughter can't attend this fall due to financial constraints consider equivalency exams (e.g. CLEP exams - see www.collegeboard.org/clep). They are MUCH cheaper than paying for a class and your daughter could potentially earn the equivalent of several quarters/semesters without ever having to sit in a class. All she would have to do is a little self study then sign up to take the test. Many schools also offer independent study at a discounted tuition rate. They send you the book and what to study and then she goes to campus and takes the test within a given period of time (up to a year at some schools). Another possibility would be a community college if you have one near you. They generally are much cheaper than 4 year schools and many now have credit transfer agreements with 4 year schools (such as 2+2 programs).
