+ MILITARY BENEFITS: The plan to enlist in a branch of
the military is how one of our Million Dollar Scholars, featured
in the August issue, earned more than $930,000 with offers from
a few Naval academies and a sizeable ROTC scholarship. The
National Guard and other branches also have lucrative funding
available to students interested in furthering their education.
+ COMMUNITY COLLEGE: ACT and SAT scores aren’t
needed to enroll, so students can get a fresh start at a community
college and transfer to a four-year school later. Plus, the net price
that students end up paying for college has decreased in twoyear colleges and increased in four-year colleges, according to
studies done by the College Board:
+ YOUR EMPLOYERS: Popular restaurants and grocery and
retail stores, including Starbucks, Publix and Wal-Mart, tend
to honor their student employees by offering them college
scholarships. McDonald’s not only hosts a $2,500 scholarship
competition for employees, but it also helps its restaurant
managers turn their training into 16 college credit hours
accepted by many private and public institutions. Your parents’
jobs might also offer scholarships.
With so many opportunities to earn scholarship money, even
students without perfect grades can find ways to maximize their
college dollars as long as they are willing to put in the effort.
• Increased by 34.3 percent at four-year public colleges
• Increased by 2.9 percent at four-year private colleges
• Decreased by 12.2 percent at two-year public colleges
+ UMMER CAMPS/ PROGRAMS: Junior League
S
For a listing of local
scholarships in
Alabama, visit
potentialmagazine.com
and HOBY leadership conference are among the many
summer programs that host open scholarship competitions to
participants. The Alabama Sports Festival Foundation offers
eligible student ambassadors a maximum $2,500 scholarship,
and athletes who compete in their annual summer mock
Olympics also have a chance to win a $2,500 college scholarship
in their opening ceremony.
DON’T GET IN
These days, it’s not uncommon for a teen to have 16-hour
days, filled with club and leadership obligations, practices
and maybe even a part-time job. This is all on top of homework, projects and the day-to-day responsibilities they’re
expected to do at home.
With so many balls in the air, it’s easy to see why some teens
get overwhelmed in their attempts to impress admission
counselors. Crystal Edenfield, Assistant Director of
Enrollment Management at Jacksonville State University,
shared that it may not be necessary for students to get in over
their heads with extracurricular activities. In fact, it can often
be beneficial for some teens to do the opposite. Here are her
tips:
STRIKE A BALANCE: “Balance is the key to success and
that is what colleges and universities are looking for when
reviewing a student’s application. A well-rounded student is
one who is involved on campus, successful in the classroom,
participates in athletics or the supporting of a team and can
volunteer or work in the community.”
Over Your Head
PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS: “I do not want to see a student
being involved in everything under the sun, but failing their
courses. The extracurricular involvements are supposed to
enhance a student’s application and experience, not hurt it.”
GET MORE THAN JUST THE T-SHIRT: “We want to see
that a student has picked one or two organizations and grown
their leadership skills while being involved. For example, if
the student is a freshman or sophomore and gets involved,
then we would love to see that person become secretary or
treasurer of an organization by junior year and maybe even
vice president or president by senior year.”
Colleges are more concerned with a student’s ability to balance
schoolwork and extracurricular activities than the actual
number of activities they are involved in. So instead of risking
burnout, teens should leave some room in their schedules to
simply relax, have fun and enjoy being, well, a teen.
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