How to Obtain Scholarships in Michigan

My high school aged son and daughter are both academic achievers, so we have researched a lot about scholarships. We found that there are so many kinds of scholarships, and they are all handled differently at various schools.

In addition to academic scholarships, there are scholarships for community service, music, sports, financial need, etc. etc. Below is a basic summary of information that we found.

1) The best way to get academic and other scholarships is directly through the colleges. So we visited eight schools for Steven and eight for Ellie, and couldn't believe the difference in the way they all handled scholarships.

For example, University of Michigan and many schools give full scholarships to a handful and they are all top scholars competing, writing essays, testing on Saturdays, etc.  The slightly less selective schools all have Honors Colleges and they tend to give much better scholarships to attract top scholars.

We found a few college in Michigan that offer full tuition scholarships to anyone who meets their GPA and ACT criteria. Wayne State University, Oakland University, and Saginaw Valley State University. all offer full tuition academic scholarships that are renewable each year as long as you keep up a certain grade point average.

Click here to obtain a table of information about Michigan colleges with information on upcoming open houses

2) When students take the ACT/MME as a junior, most of them qualify for $4000 from the state, doled out over first two years.

3) In order to obtain many scholarships and financial aid, including the $4000 from the ACT/MME, students have to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid Form (FAFSA). This can only be done online at www.fafsa.ed.gov, and should be completed as soon as your taxes are complete in January of a student’s senior year. This form asks for all of the parents' finances and is used for financial aid, usually based on need. However, every student who received MME or academic scholarships also has to fill out the FAFSA, even if their scholarships aren't based on need.

4) Other places in the community, such as our church, give scholarships to parishioners. We're counting on $1000 from them for each kid.

5) There are several great websites to use to search for national scholarships:

http://www.fastweb.com
http://www.collegeboard.org
http://www.finaid.org/nasfaa
http://www.fastap.org

6) The schools also get all kinds of scholarship brochures that they normally don't pass on, but keep in their counseling office. For example, at my son’s school, each senior was assigned to apply for five scholarships that came through the school mail. They all applied for the Coca-Cola scholarship, and none of them received anything. Yet they also all applied to Comcast, and 8/8 seniors received $1000 each.

7) There is a book written by Marianne Ragins, who garnered $400 K from many sources for her expensive PhD education. She writes about many big employers who offer scholarships, big corporations that offer them to the community, etc. Her book is called "Winning Scholarships for College."

That’s enough for you to get started! The sky is the limit.

Michigan Colleges and 2008-2009 Open Houses

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