Child’s Scholarship Application It’s safe to say that the majority of students don’t even consider applying for scholarships until their college or university bill arrives in the mail.
Although now is an excellent time to search for scholarships, earlier would have been preferable.
Thus, when should your youngster begin submitting scholarship applications?
We’ll explain the “scholarship seasons” in this piece and help you know precisely when your child should start looking for large money for college.
Seasons for general scholarships
We normally divide the year into three Child’s Scholarship seasons in The Scholarship System: Fall, Spring, and Summer.
August through December, the fall season
The scholarship season for the upcoming academic year “kicks off” with this. Although there may be a few late deadlines in August to get funding for the upcoming fall semester, the majority of deadlines will be for funding for the following academic year.
For instance, if August 2021 rolls around, most Child’s Scholarship will be available for the next academic year. Applications submitted in August 2021 would therefore result in funding for the 2022–2023 academic year.
According to our experience, October and December are key deadline months. The holiday break is the ideal time to complete the year’s final applications.
Winter to Spring: January to May
The “high season” for scholarships is the spring semester. Throughout these months, millions of cash are up for grabs. From January through May, deadlines appear to be distributed equally. Just know that your child should be working on scholarships during these months as it is scholarship season!
Finding out exactly what your child wishes to apply for may be done towards the conclusion of winter break. Even some applications may be submitted ahead of schedule. In addition, doing several of these during spring break is a terrific idea.
Summertime: June through July
The “final stretch” months of June and July are when everyone scrambles to obtain last-minute funds for the fall. The good news for students is that we have just discovered more and more scholarships with later deadlines!
For our course participants, we launched our scholarship fund in the summer of 2016, and I chose to have a late deadline. We determined that this would be useful since we are aware of what it’s like to be in the last few months, scrounging for the remaining bucks.
The one drawback of applying during the summer is that other kids may have delayed their applications as well, which might result in a stiffer competition.
Don’t disregard the process throughout June and July though if they need some additional cash for the autumn or if you are ahead of the game and your child is going to possibly the next year or later. This is because there ARE scholarships out there with deadlines during these months!
After discussing the “Scholarship Seasons,” let’s look at the times of the f year when your kid should be concentrating on scholarships.
IF YOUR CHILD IS UNDER 10 YEARS OLD
You might be startled to learn that your child should be seeking scholarships if they are in grade 10 or below. As I said before, kids as young as 4 can apply for Child’s Scholarship.
Even if it might seem a little early, it’s a good idea to start searching now so you and your child can prepare for the situation. And having some cash on hand beforehand doesn’t hurt at all!
We advise parents of kids in this age range to passively search for their child’s scholarships, concentrating their efforts over the winter and spring break.
Additionally, your child can increase their scholarship competitiveness throughout the year. When kids start applying for chi scholarships, volunteering, joining clubs or groups, babysitting, and more may help prepare them for success!
If your kid is an 11-year-old
The junior year is a time for test preparation, college tours, and much more. This is also the year for them to begin looking for scholarships and developing their scholarship paperwork, however, we don’t want to overburden you or your child.
Just imagine how busy next year will be with final exams, college applications, FAFSA, AP classes, and other activities. Although you’d assume they’d have time ‘the next year’ to look for scholarships, their schedule will only get busier. The junior year is the ideal time to establish a regular scholarship regimen, and there are many scholarships available to juniors in high school.
Thus, if you were thinking of waiting, don’t. The time has come!
While they should begin the scholarship search, we advise either concentrating over the holidays, much like the 10th-grade and younger children, or merely dedicating an hour each week to the task.
They should begin devoting 2+ hours a week to the procedure the summer after their junior year. If you recall from earlier, the “fall season” is filled with thousands of deadlines, many of which, unbelievably, pertain to financial aid for your child’s first year of college.
If your child is a senior,
It’s now senior year! Even though you and your child have a long list of tasks to complete, let me squeak in one more: scholarship applications.
The early bird gets the worm even though the majority of students wait until the spring semester to begin their scholarship applications. And with scholarships, that is unquestionably the case. In addition to helping them be ready for important scholarship months, having your child start applying for scholarships in the summer months before their senior year (as we discussed above) may provide them an advantage over their peers.
They’re already in their senior year’s spring semester. Not to worry.
For the college’s autumn term, there are deadlines as late as July. However, you won’t want your youngster to put off starting their applications until the last minute.
Senior year should be focused on perfecting their scholarship papers, having a consistent strategy for applying, and finishing the applications. Junior year and younger are focused largely on becoming involved and increasing competitiveness for scholarships. It’s getting close.
Another topic you ought to concentrate on with a high school senior? FAFSA.