When I hear about scholarship “promotions” I always ask extra questions and this time I’m glad I did!  Over at Zinch.com, registered users can win a matching scholarship if they submit news of their winnings to Zinch and FOLLOW all of the rules, of course.  Did the capital letters stand out there?  Here are the rules.

I point that out because less-savvy students might get caught up in the hype and not pay attention to the process by which they must make their claims.  Stay sharp, stay focused, follow the rules and you could be doubling your money!  Good luck,

The Scholarship Lady

Last week on The Scholarship Lady Show I was able to interview Kevin Ladd of Scholarships.com.  It was a great interview with tips on how to use Scholarships.com to improve your odds of finding scholarships.  Kevin also announced that they will again sponsor the Resolve to Evolve Essay scholarship competition (starts in May).  I asked him for tips on winning scholarships and here’s a few pieces of advice:

1.  Realize that everything gets noticed.  Everything.  Your spelling, language, neatness, etc.

2.   Your effort is evident.  If you throw it together at the last minute just know that you are competing with students who spent a great deal of time perfecting their applications.

3.  Be genuine.  You need to stand out and using cliches or generic essay material won’t put you ahead of the competition.  (Being genuine and memorable will)

Listen now or download the podcast to hear trends in the scholarship world and the advice Kevin gives to students:  Inside Scoop from Scholarships.com

Do you want to know what breaks my heart?  When highly qualified students contact me  – in a panic – in August and ask me if I know of any scholarships because their tuition is due in a week.  ugh.  I can feel the pain.

If you are not aware, NOW is the time to apply for most scholarships if you need money for fall college enrollment.  January, February and March have more scholarship deadlines than other times of the year.  Why?  Because the scholarship providers need time to review the applications and make their decisions before school’s out.  Students want to know before they head off to college how much money they have to help pay the bills.  This timing also coincides with preferred financial aid deadlines at many colleges.

If you haven’t started applying for scholarships yet, don’t wait or you will miss out on the money!

If you need a tool to help you, please get my book, Scholarships 101:  The Real-World Guide to Getting Cash for College.  It’s full of street-smart advice, organizational tools and time-saving tips.  C’mon, all the cool kids are doing it. 

I was in Houston last week at the National College Access Network conference in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and felt overwhelmed and inspired at the same time. The conference organizers, scholarship sponsors, and pre-college program staff were all there to learn from each other and share industry insights. What left me feeling strange, was the fact that the hotel workers, shuttle drivers and airline employees seemed to be in a stage of disbelief and semi-relief. They wanted our business and wanted to work (to earn money for college, for some of them!) but they still did not have gasoline and electricity in their own neighborhoods and homes. School in Houston was scheduled to start that week.
Tragedies like this are a part of nature and I know of several people who chose not to go to the conference. I chose to go because I knew that our area was relatively safe and I knew that when the work dries up it makes a dire situation worse. At least the Houston area residents who were college students and parents with jobs as event planners, waiters, storekeepers and more could keep on making a living. Three people personally said to me, “thank you for coming, we were afraid they would cancel.”
I know this blog entry isn’t about how to win scholarships as usual but I felt compelled to share this story because it’s about perseverance and hope–two traits of successful college-bound students.

(This entry was originally posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008)

Don’t wait until you get a financial aid package from your prospective schools to decide if you are going to apply for any scholarships. The fact is that if you win scholarships, the school will most likely replace the loans that you qualified for with your newfound scholarship dollars. Some people are disappointed to hear that, but I think it’s great. You probably can’t even imagine what it feels like to graduate without loans. Neither can I. I have student loans that I’ve been paying for more than a decade…those scholarships would sure come in handy now!

 
This entry was originally posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

Back when the Internet started, people built websites and over the years loaded them with content. You can visit some of the biggest and best scholarship websites and get all of the information you want for free, and it’s really good information. You must of course be willing to search for it all, read it on your own, digest the information and make your own decisions based on that information. In the end, it’s just information. What I have learned is that many of my students and their parents suffer from information overload. They want someone to guide them. They want more support than their guidance counselor can provide. They want their specific questions answered. I’ve also learned that not everyone learns by reading. In fact people only retain about 10% of what they read…they learn much more by doing, which is why I wrote the book with clear exercises and action steps. Successful students won’t just read the book – they will take action, complete the tasks, and build a team of champions to help them.
This entry was originally posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

You might be wondering why there are no comments on the blog. Well, I’m wielding my web sword and trying to slice and dice the spam. Since I woke up today I received 46 spam posts to the scholarship street blog. Unless I open each one it’s hard to tell sometimes from the IP address if it’s a legitimate message. So…
If you really have a question or comment, just send me an email and I’ll get back to you.
kim at scholarshipstreet.com
Thanks for understanding.
This entry was originally posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008