Video: Scholarships Equal Free Money

New Hope, Miss. (WCBI) – Seven months from now, thousands of high school students will be getting ready for the next step in life.

Once seniors are accepted to college, they think their worries are gone, but many fail to plan how they’ll pay for college.

There are hundreds of scholarships available out there, but many students just aren’t aware of them.

Scholarships equals free money, and a lot of that free money goes unclaimed, but why?

“Procrastination is somewhat of a problem. I think they just realize, or they think that they have you know, all year. It’s my senior year, but a lot of times, those deadlines are just December, January, February, you know, and you can’t wait until May to start looking for scholarships,” says New Hope Junior and Senior Counselor, Kendra Boyett.

The time is always ticking when you’re a senior, which is why New Hope Senior Katy Soule got ahead of the time.

“It was a few months ago, I started just looking and my mom just bought like two or three scholarship books, and I just went through and highlighted all of that. I mean, some of them are very daunting, just thinking you have to write this essay, but really it’s not that hard.”

Soule says she understands why many students let the scholarship clock run up, because she’s had the same worry when she applied for the Direct Insurance Scholarship.

“They’re going up against a bunch of people, and they’re like I’m not getting this scholarship, so why even apply. I know I felt that way with the scholarships that I actually won, so because I was in the top 3, and came in second out of over 600 people across 15 states.”

The ACT is another means of free money, which is why senior Noah Lawrence has been putting his penny and dimes into studying for the big test since his freshman year, but scoring a 29 only gets two thirds of his tuition payed for, which is why he’s just now scoping out scholarships.

“This scholarship from the University of Alabama, only covers the tuition part, so I’ve still got room, board, books, and food, and expenses of living to pay for, so in between now and December 15th, I’ve got a lot to do and a lot to apply for.”

Applying for scholarships can take time, effort, and researching, but Lawrence says it’s worth it.

“It can be very stressful, but what’s important to realize now is, in this month, it’d be better to be stressed out, and get these things done, then four, ten, twenty years down the line, still be paying student loans.”

For more information on applying for scholarships you can visit https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/