1. Helping with the scholarship search

Helping in the process of searching for scholarship is one of the best ways you can make a significant contribution to your child’s scholarship success. From assisting in an internet search to visiting other high schools or colleges in your area, you can really help leverage and multiply your child’s time. Scholarship search is an ongoing process. When you can discover new scholarships for your children to apply for, you allow them to focus more of their time and attention on the critical job of strategically completing each scholarship application.

It’s a great idea for parents to schedule time with a school counselor to discuss the scholarship resources available at the school. If you don’t know other parents who are knowledgeable about this, try attending a PTA meeting, and talk to the parents there.
 

2. Strategizing with your kids

An important point to emphasize to your children is that scholarship applications aren’t thrown together haphazardly. The best ones are strategically crafted. Therefore, one of the most important roles you can play is to help your child work out a strategy for each scholarship application

3. Providing research assistance

If you have younger children as well, get them involved in the process of helping their older sibling in the scholarship game. It’s sort of like playing in the minors before being called up to the majors. They’ll be that much further along when it’s their turn at bat.

4. Keeping it, all organized

Managing the stack of paper work and keeping track of the various deadline can test a student’s organizational skill or lack thereof especially when he or she must write two papers, study for three tests, and complete two scholarship applications all in the same week.  During these busy times, parents can help by sending out letters on your behalf or making phone calls to request scholarship applications packages. Or helping you by filing deadlines on a big scholarship calendar.

5. Listening Ear

Being a sounding board also means helping your child prepare for any upcoming scholarship interviews. Helping your child through the interview process with persuasive on the spot answers. Parents can be an important source of general feedback on an entire scholarship application. When serving in this capacity, try to offer suggestions, rather than criticism, highlight what you like about the application as much as what can be improved.

6. Review the application

Parents, counselors or English teachers may also be good resource for helping with scholarship searching and proof reading. You can identify grammatical and punctuation corrections, provide ideas for reorganization, and offer content suggestion, but don’t make the mistake of inserting your voice in place of your child’s. Scholarship judges are adept at detecting when it’s not the real you.

7. Giving Support and Encouragement

One of the most important things parents can do is be supportive, regardless of the outcome of any scholarship application. A common trait among successful scholarship applicants is that they know they are not going to win all, or even most of the scholarships they apply for.  They take things in stride and apply for as many as they can to put the odds in their favor. So, help your child laugh off any scholarship rejection letters that come in the mail. Remind your child to pick themselves back up and continue the journey forward and look to what’s next. Stick with it over the long haul.

Remember those that are successful in the scholarship game, are the ones who didn’t’ give up and have created a scholarship game plan.

If you need a strategic scholarship game plan, please sign up for a 45- minute strategy session. to review specific areas to make you more competitive.

Scholarships & Beyond

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