Expert: Andrew Youngker - 1/20/2011

Question
Hi, my name is shameka bradford and I was adopted at the age of 10 and i am currently 19 years of age, still in high school. I failed last year in 2010 school term but i am for surely grdauating this coming may of 2011! So my question to you is How do i go about getting a scholarship?!?!


                                      Sincerly, Shameka Bradford!

Answer
Hi Shameka,
Congratulations for graduating this upcoming year. As far as scholarships go, sign up for Fastweb.com, contact the prospective college, or your high school counselor.
For advice from an actual college student that gets paid to attend school, here we go. Fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible using the appropriate tax information. It usually involves your tax information as well as your parents. You would be considered a dependent student as of now, so your parents income will be taken into account. After the process you are going to get a number known as the EFC. Pay no direct attention to this number because each school has their own criteria for financial aid eligibility. Sign up for financial aid at the college you are thinking of attending. Sometimes the school has their own funds to give out to students.
Another thing to think about is to be completely honest with yourself with your academic progress. By the sounds of things, you have a few failures and are repeating a year to get done. Merit based (grades) scholarships may frown upon this fact as of right now. This doesn't mean that you can't revisit them next year when you have some college classes done. My suggestion is look at need-based (income) grants and scholarships. These are funds that are available to those with the highest need.
Another tool to pay for college are student loans. There are many different types of loans to suit your needs. Contact the college loan officer for more information and help with that. I personally have never had a merit based scholarship, but I have about $10,000 a year in other grants.
Another option if you are planning to get to a University is to take classes at the local Community College first, then transfer in. Talk to the school counselors before doing this, but can same a lot of money on fees.

The bottom line: contact financial aid, fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible, think about grants, and consider other avenues for funding your education including taking cheaper classes.
Good luck to you on your future education.