CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Every week that passes, could be a week that you're missing out on money.
It's scholarship season and, if students put in the work, businesses and foundations are looking to hand over the cash.
"It's never too early for parents and students to start thinking about scholarships. [As a] matter of fact, you know, they need to start right away as early as middle school," said Audra Jeffries.
Audra Jeffries is the Supervisor of School Counseling for Chesapeake Public Schools. She said younger students can get early scholarships. If they apply and are selected, they'll likely get a check which can help them start a college savings account.
"That's the beautiful thing about scholarships, it's never too early, and it's never too late," said Jeffries.
It's also never too unusual either. Rick Castellano is with the consumer banking company, Sallie Mae. He said there are scholarships for just about everything.
"We're talking about scholarships for things like skateboarding, for being left handed, for being over six feet tall," he said.
Meanwhile, Castellano said more than half of students don't fill out the Free Application For Federal Student Aid, commonly known as the FAFSA.
"Every family, every student is able to complete the FAFSA and should complete the FAFSA, for that matter. There's no income limit to completing the FAFSA, and just about every student who completes the FAFSA is going to apply is going to be eligible for some form of aid," said Castellano.
Jeffries also practices what she preaches.
"I am currently in graduate school right now working on my PhD for free on a scholarship by doing those the same methods that I'm talking about here," she said.
Everyone will qualify for something and scholarship season, as Jeffries calls it, runs from now until the end of January.
Here's her best advice for completing your applications:
- Take a weekend to do some "googling" and online research
- Find scholarships that are applicable to you and print them out
- Put a sticky note on top of each scholarship with the month that the paperwork is due
- Set your deadline for the last week of the month prior
Helpful scholarship websites:
