When our children are growing up, we read fairy tales to engage them in a story that can teach them about the real world.  

That’s great when they are young, but by the time they are in high school and applying to college, we need to be honest with ourselves and them about reality.

Applying to private scholarships and winning enough to pay for college is one of those fairy stories you shouldn’t pass on to your kids.

What Are Some Facts About Scholarships?

Become familiar with our tips on scholarships for high school seniors.

According to prepscholar.com, ” Fewer than 20,000 students per year will earn a private full-ride scholarship award.”

(This refers to full-time college students enrolled at four-year colleges.)

The money to cover the free ride comes from a combination of money from colleges themselves, federal and state grants, and private scholarships. To be even more realistic, there are fewer than 250 private scholarships that even provide enough money to cover all college costs.

So, the likelihood of winning a full-ride scholarship or even piecing enough scholarships together to cover your college costs is pretty slim.

Before your student starts looking for private scholarships, understand the following five realities and share them with your student too…

Is it Worth Applying for Private Scholarships?

The largest scholarship a high school senior will receive will come from the college they attend.

According to the latest data from the College Board’s Trends in Higher Education, 25% of all free aid money (money that does not need to be paid back) was given by colleges to students.

Scholarship money from colleges is second in dollar amount to what the government gives out in loan money.

Only 6% of free aid money came from private and employer grants.2 

If your student is going to be efficient with their time, it’s more worthwhile to find colleges that are going to offer the most money in either financial aid or merit scholarships, as opposed to searching and applying to private scholarships.

Private scholarships reduce financial aid students receive from colleges.

If your student wins a private scholarship, they must report that information to the financial aid office.

Many colleges practice something called “Scholarship Displacement,”  that is, they use the scholarship money to reduce the amount of need-based aid they offer.

Some colleges choose to reduce the college’s grant or others may reduce loans included in the financial aid package.

Reducing the loan amount is better for the student, but in either case, wining a private scholarship doesn’t give you more money than what you would have received from the college and government anyway.

Frustrating – right?!!

Private scholarships last for one year, merit scholarships are for four years.

Private scholarships are usually for just one year.

If your student is depending on private scholarships, they’ll have to apply to scholarships every year to continue to find scholarship money for each year of college.

On the other hand, merit scholarships are usually offered for all four years of college, assuming students continue to meet the requirements (like GPA minimums and no academic or legal violations).

Which would your student rather do – research and apply each year for new private scholarships or do the upfront research to find a college that will offer need aid or merit scholarships for all four years?

Don’t count on private scholarships to get your child through college debt-free.

It’s possible to earn scholarship money to help with college costs, but know that the average student will only win $1,000-5,000.

Here’s advice from Kevin Ladd, VP at Scholarships.com: “I say if you’re really good you might win one out of every six scholarships you apply for. If you’re average you might get one out of ten.

If your circumstance is unusual you might get a higher ratio, but typically if you want to win ten scholarships to pay for 90% of your need, you’re going to have to apply to five to ten times that many to win them.”

Let’s do the math – If you want to earn $10,000 from private scholarships, you’ll probably have to apply to 100 scholarships in the hope of earning 10 scholarships, for $1000 each.

How much time do you think that will take?

Is that a private scholarship or a sweepstakes your student is entering?

Over the years, more and more scholarships look like sweepstakes, rather than scholarships awarded based on defined criteria.

If no specific information is required to apply for a scholarship, especially “no essay” scholarships, then what criteria is being used to pick winners?

These scholarships are really just lotteries used by companies to collect student information. When you see the words “no essay,” think advertising and lead generation.

So, if your student plans on entering these types of scholarships, make sure to at least create a new email address to use, so they don’t get overwhelmed with marketing emails.

Even if you believe and agree with these five issues about pursuing private scholarships, it doesn’t mean students shouldn’t give it a try to find and apply to scholarships.

There are some very good local and niche private scholarships that will help fill some of the tuition gap. 

And if your student is motivated, and has the time, go for it!

Just be realistic about the effort needed and the potential outcome.

And remember, if you really want to make a dent finding money for college, the best time spent will be used towards targeting schools that are more likely to offer financial aid or merit scholarships.

Check out our essential guide for researching colleges and developing a list of affordable schools.

Save time, energy, and money using our R2C Insights tool.

With data on over 1500 four-year colleges in one place you can filter, sort, and compare schools to find those that are most likely to offer your student either merit scholarships or need-based aid.

Bottom Line

It is NOT a waste of time pursuing private scholarships! There are many, many success stories out there, BUT, you need to be realistic about how much your student can win, and weigh that against how big your tuition gap might be.

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Use R2C Insights to help find merit aid and schools that fit the criteria most important to your student. You’ll not only save precious time, but your student will avoid the heartache of applying to schools they aren’t likely to get into or can’t afford to attend.  

Other Articles You Might Like:

A Full-Ride Scholarship Winner Shares His 7 Best Tips to Earn College Money

Merit Scholarship Guide: Factors, Tips, Full List, and Search Tools

A Community Member Shares HBCU Scholarship and College Application Tips

JOIN ONE OF OUR FACEBOOK GROUPS & CONNECT WITH OTHER PARENTS: 

PAYING FOR COLLEGE 101

HOW TO FIND MERIT SCHOLARSHIPS

²https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/total-undergraduate-student-aid-source-and-type-over-time

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