From about $9,000 dollars for the tuition at a community college to about $55,360 at an ivy league school, the average tuition for any college will cost a nice chunk of change. Loans, grants and scholarships are a way to take a few dollars or a few thousand dollars off of college costs. With the end of the year approaching, procrastination can be costly. With applications for financial aid, the deadlines that come with them can be costly as well.

An SHS senior shares her knowledge on scholarships and her plans for college. SHS guidance office staff give advice on scholarships and inform the Journal.

As with senior Taylor Staples, many students do not know that there are scholarship applications available throughout the year, and even into one’s college year.

“I thought that [the deadlines] had all already passed,” Staples said.

Staples plans on attending Ivy Tech before transferring to another college to continue her studies. She states that, as far as her payment plans for college go, she will be saving up and getting a part-time job with some assistance from her parents as well. Staples says she has filled out a couple of scholarships that she has found on websites, but she finds it hard to balance the time it takes to fulfill her high school requirements and plan her future for college. Contrary to what Staples had previously thought about scholarships being passed due, Guidance Secretary Kim Bova states that

“Every scholarship has its own due date….take a look at that and plan accordingly,” Bova said.

In the guidance office, Bova assists students in navigating the scholarship wall.

“We have a guidance scholarship wall that is posted and it will have the name (of the scholarship) and due date on it,” said Bova.

Bova also says that she suggests coming into the office weekly to check on any updates to the wall.    

    According to Bova, the ideal time to begin thinking about college is junior year.

While scholarships are there to help out students, they can only help those that qualify for the financial aid. Some students, because of their parents income, make too much money to be considered for scholarship help.

“There are a lot of different programs that help students when their parents don’t qualify. Naturally, the higher one’s GPA, the more money opportunities they are going to have,” Rascoe said.

While some scholarships’ deadlines have already passed, it is never too late to find one to apply for. If one does not qualify for a need-based scholarship, there are academic scholarships or loans to give help. If none are available, work studies during college can out as well.