Dollars for Scholars FAQ's
How do I apply for a Dollars for Scholars scholarship?
Generally, Dollars for Scholars chapters provide scholarships to graduating high school seniors planning to attend any accredited postsecondary educational institution. This includes trade and technical institutes and colleges, community and junior colleges and four-year colleges and universities.
Why should I start a Dollars for Scholars chapter?
Dollars for Scholars provides an effective, proven way for you and your community to provide academic support and financial aid to local students.
It's a fact: The cost of college keeps rising at a rapid pace, two or even three times the Consumer Price Index since 1980. Moreover, inflation-adjusted tuition has more than doubled in the past 15 years. This means that the very thing many have always believed holds the key to our society's future--a postsecondary education--is now beyond the financial grasp of many of those who are society's future.
The Dollars for Scholars program empowers communities and groups to help themselves by helping to educate their young people. In turn, it inspires students to achieve by showing that others care about them and their future.
What are some general tips for searching for scholarships?
Begin your preliminary scholarship search as soon as you can. Check in with the counseling office/career center at your high school, and let your counselor know you are interested in going to college and finding available scholarships.
The next resource to check is a local community foundation, which may serve specific towns, groups of towns, or a countywide area. It often has scholarships that go unclaimed simply because eligible students are not aware of them. If you can not find a listing in the phonebook, try the chamber of commerce, United Way, or your local volunteer center.
Other resources to try are local service clubs and organizations: churches, Elks, Junior League, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, Soroptomist, YWCA, etc. Many of these organizations generally give small scholarships. All have different criteria, so the earlier you start checking with them the better.
Check your local library resource section for directories of nationally available scholarships. These tend to be specific in nature.
You also should check with the postsecondary institution you are planning to attend. The financial aid office might be able to suggest local sources for scholarships and might even have some institutional scholarships you can apply for.
Last, but not least, you can do a scholarship search on the Internet. One word of caution--investigate the source, ESPECIALLY if it charges a fee for its scholarship search and referral services. Here are some possible sites to check out:
Wiredscholar.com: Wiredscholar is the Internet's premier guide to college admissions and financial aid. It offers advice and tools to expedite, simplify and optimize the admissions and financial aid processes.
Fastweb.com: Find money for college by searching 600,000 scholarships worth more than $1 billion. Get expert tips on financial aid, careers, and more.
Collegeboard.com: For more than 100 years, College Board has been connecting students to colleges and opportunities. It created the SAT, Advanced Placement Program, and PSAT/NMSQT. Take charge of your future with collegeboard.com.
Scholarships.com: Scholarships.com is the Internet's premier free college scholarship search engine and financial aid resource, which connects students and parents with financial aid opportunities. Their search engine matches your profile with a database of over 600,000 scholarships--from about 8,000 sources, worth more than $1.4 billion--finding the most relevant and obtainable scholarship awards. Search results include award summary and a custom application request letter.
FAFSA.org: FinAid -- The SmartStudent guide for Financial Aid.
Studentaid.ed.gov: US Department of Education web site that provides a better understanding of Federal Student Aid.
Is Dollars for Scholars a reputable charity?
Dollars for Scholars is the largest, grassroots, volunteer-driven scholarship organization in the United States. Each year, SmartMoney, The Wall Street Journal's magazine of personal finance, publicizes its list of the top charities in the United States. Scholarship America, Dollars for Scholars' parent organization, has consistently been at the top of the education charity list. This means that the money goes where it belongs--right to the students. It really is local philanthropy at its best.
Why bother with a chapter if you already are giving away scholarships in your community?
There are several advantages to having a Dollars for Scholars chapter:
First, there is the local opportunity to donate and receive a tax deduction. There are examples of people who wish to donate to scholarships for local kids but could not receive the tax benefits because high schools are not 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations. The mission of Dollars for Scholars is to promote all types of postsecondary education for local students by creating scholarships. The Dollars for Scholars organization has many tools and techniques available for local programs to review and adapt for local use. The numbers of scholarships provided and the funds available will not grow on their own, but an organized effort will assure that as many local students as possible will find support, and will hear the message behind the money: "Our community values education, we are behind you, and we wish you well in your future."
Another important advantage to creating a local Dollars for Scholars organization is related to the selection and distribution of local awards. If your community currently provides five scholarships, and all five are applied to and awarded separately, then the same student may possibly receive two or more of these awards. Communities know that there are many deserving students. As a result, coordination of awards becomes very attractive to communities. Dollars for Scholars organizations ask everyone to complete a common application. Scoring of applications is completed by a committee--without names of students and using a point system that is fair and easy to compute.
Chapters can award scholarships to as many students as possible. They use local guidelines determined by the local board. Other organizations can provide a pass-through scholarship. In other words, the local club or business may sponsor a scholarship and provide the funds to do so, but the Dollars for Scholars chapter does all the application and selection work. The organization may have a representative on the awards committee, but a coordinated effort means more students are recognized and awarded scholarships. In the end, a coordinated, community-based effort receives far more recognition and publicity than one group could on its own, and all parties involved receive maximum benefit from the scholarship program.
What are Collegiate Partners?
Collegiate Partners are colleges, universities and other accredited postsecondary institutions that demonstrate their commitment to the development of private sector student aid by supporting the mission of Scholarship America and the Dollars for Scholars program.
Collegiate Partner institutions make the following commitments relating to undergraduate students.
Dollars for Scholars scholarships will be used to fill any unmet student need remaining after the institution's financial aid package has been calculated.
When unmet need no longer exists, Dollars for Scholars scholarships of up to $1,000 will be used to adjust the self-help portion of a student's financial aid package. Dollars for Scholars prefers that loans be reduced before work-study grants.
Some Collegiate Partners will match the Dollars for Scholars scholarship up to a specific amount. Check with Mrs. Hardt in the guidance office for a list of Collegiate and Matching Partners.
