“Congratulations!… How much are they offering you?” When the topic of applying to college comes up, money is always the next thing to be discussed. It’s hard to celebrate being granted admission to the universities we want to attend with the question of money lingering in the background. It was emphasized that I needed to do my best in school to get a “full ride.” However, it wasn’t expressed that full rides don’t always cover everything. Some only cover tuition and not room and board. The cost of living in a dorm sits around $15,000.

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO COME UP WITH THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY AND BE A FULL TIME STUDENT?

One might think work study programs would be a great solution to this, but after talking with a college counselor it came to my attention that those positions only cover a small fraction of the cost of attendance. Even with all of the hard work and dedication with a side of being “broke” the money universities are offering still isn’t enough to go to school debt free. 

     For the last 3 years of high school, I’ve told myself that all of the long nights of studying and completing homework assignments would get me to the university of my dreams and for “free.” I thought all of the stress, effort, and grinding I’ve done would be my way of paying for college, especially because that is all I have to offer. I don’t come from a family that makes 6 figures. I don’t have a family that is willing to pay for my education. Now knowing that full rides could only be tuition, I’m really starting to stress about the money. 

      I’ve been trying to knock down the price of furthering my education with scholarships. However, my course load and home life don’t make it easy to apply to scholarships frequently. Scholarships take a lot of energy and attention. Most of them want an essay about how I plan to impact the world, how I have impacted the world, how I am a leader, and why I deserve a scholarship. However, with all of the differing word counts and differently worded yet similar questions it’s hard to keep up and continue writing while stay on top of school work. With all of that aside, my biggest problem with scholarships is most of them are not renewable.

I NEED RENEWABLE SCHOLARSHIPS.

I cannot worry every year where my money is going to come from, so my best bet is to apply for scholarships at the institution I plan to attend. I don’t know how it will go, but I have faith that it’ll all work out how it is supposed to. Hopefully, I get the money.