How to Get a Scholarship to go to College for Free
College is extremely expensive, but it is possible to go to a great school for free or for significantly less than the cost of full tuition. One of the best ways to lower your tuition is through merit-based scholarships offered by individual colleges and universities. These scholarships are free money awarded to attract top students to their school. Here are some tips that will help you lower your tuition bill by thousands of dollars.
Instructions
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Ace the SAT or the ACT. Spend lots of time studying for these tests and get a tutor if you are not doing as well as you hoped for. The majority of merit based scholarships are based off of your grades and SAT scores, so if you score high enough, there should be plenty of money for you. If you don't score well, there are two articles in the related resources section that will outline how to improve your ACT and SAT score.
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Get good grades in hard classes in high school. Again, merit aid is all about your grades and your scores, so you need to do as well as possible to boost your class rank and GPA while taking challenging classes.
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Build an impressive list of extra curricular activities. Try to participate in activities for several years and show a dedication to your school and your community through being an athlete, volunteering, and participating in school plays. In this case, quality is better than quantity, so spend several hours a week dedicated to one or two activities.
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Apply to colleges and universities your are overqualified for. When looking at a school's GPA and SAT range, you want to be above the 75th percentile to have the best shot of receiving scholarship money.
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Interview at many schools and ask about the scholarship programs. In several schools interviews are required for scholarship money, and for schools that they are not required, interviews can give you valuable information on what type of aid is available to you. Additionally, you may be able to get an admission fee waiver, which will save you the $50 admissions fee.
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Apply to several private schools. In most cases private colleges and universities have more money to give out, so be sure to apply to a handful of private schools. Even though the sticker price on the tuition is often higher than a state school's tuition,
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Fill out the FAFSA and submit it early. Even merit based aid that is often not dependent on your family's income requires you to fill out this form, so submit is as soon as possible to be sure you are considered for every possible scholarship.
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