In an online forum for parents of college-bound high school students, someone recently posted, “… the biggest chunk of money that will help you pay for college comes from the colleges themselves.” This sentiment is just one of many misconceptions people have about private scholarships. My student is proof that this person’s statement is not always true. 70% of the money my student has won to date has been from private scholarships. If we had relied on this person’s bad advice, we would have had to pay nearly $14,000 out-of-pocket this past school year. Instead, we paid nothing because my student applied for and won private scholarships. Thanks to private scholarships, the coming school year will also cost us nothing.

That same person disparaged private scholarships because they are “low-dollar-value and non-renewable.” Again, my own student’s experience proves this wrong. One of his private scholarships is for $5000 per year, renewable for four years. I can’t speak for the person that made that comment, but $5000 isn’t small change to me. Neither is the $20,000 that my student will receive in total from this one private scholarship. Furthermore, every dollar adds up quickly. If that person isn’t interested in $1000 scholarships, that’s just more opportunity for the rest of us.

Another reason this person gave for not bothering to apply for private scholarships is that they reduce the amount of merit aid given by the college. This concern at least has more merit than the other two objections. Some schools do reduce the amount of aid they provide students by the dollar amount of private scholarships the student brings in. However, many schools still don’t have this (ridiculous) policy. Be sure to find out your college’s policy regarding “stacking” scholarships. And, if you haven’t committed to a college yet, consider schools that don’t penalize students that put in the extra effort to win private scholarships. However, no matter your college’s policy on scholarship stacking, there are still more reasons to apply for private scholarships.

How would you like extra cash in your student’s wallet or bank account? To date, my student has put over $10,000 into the bank directly from private scholarships. This money has covered college expenses that other scholarships don’t cover, such as travel expenses (college is 1000 miles from home), dorm items, etc. Those expenses would have come out of our pocket if my student hadn’t taken the time and effort to apply for private scholarships.

There are other non-monetary benefits to applying for private scholarships, as well. One of these is the improved writing skill that comes from the practice of writing scholarship essays. My student went from hating writing as a high school sophomore to winning more than 20 scholarships and awards for his writing to date. There is also the prestige and resume enhancement of winning a scholarship. Pointing to these private scholarship wins contributed to my student’s 100% college acceptance rate.

Should you rely solely on private scholarships to pay for college in full? Absolutely not. But don’t let anyone tell you that applying for private scholarships is not worth it. If you are (or the parent of) a rising high school senior (Class of 2023), and you want to put the power of private scholarships to work for you, check out this special limited offer.