Homeschool Scholarships

Competitive vs. Guaranteed Scholarships

For students in the early years of high school, it’s especially beneficial to recognize that there are two types of scholarships–competitive and guaranteed. Competitive scholarships are those limited to a small number of recipients, requiring you to compete against other students in order to win. You can’t plan your financial future based on these, as anything can happen in the selection process.

On the other hand, guaranteed scholarships do allow for some planning. These are scholarships that, provided you meet the criteria, you receive the scholarship. A good example of guaranteed scholarships is the majority of AWANA scholarships. Most colleges do not limit the number of recipients–if you hold the Citation award, for instance, you automatically get the scholarship. Another example is that of school scholarships–often called the Dean’s Scholarship, President’s Scholarship, etc. These depend on your GPA and SAT or ACT test scores. You automatically receive the scholarship that your grades and test scores dictate, although some schools have a limit as to how many are available.

Homeschool scholarships are a mixed bag. Some colleges automatically grant them to all who qualify; some have limits and require competition. Most will specify the requirements on their Web sites.

A word of caution: “guaranteed” doesn’t mean that a college guarantees they will still be offering the scholarship when you get ready to attend. Still, these scholarships are something to aim for, and you will likely be rewarded. Students willing to plan into the future may want to look for stackable guaranteed scholarships. For instance, if you find a college that offers a guaranteed homeschool scholarship, an AWANA scholarship and a Dean’s scholarship, and allows them to be stacked, you may be well on your way to paying for college if you plan your activities around the requirements.

Other guaranteed scholarships to look for include alumni grants (if you had a parent attend the college), denominational grants (for members of a particular religious denomination) and geographic scholarships.

Tags: AWANA Scholarships, competitive scholarships, guaranteed college scholarships, home school scholarships for college, homeschool scholarships

Writing lots of essays? Win this contest!

If you’ve spent the last year writing essays for scholarship competitions, you may have already won the contest we’ve just added to our Etc. category. The Homeschool Writer of the Year title is based on the number of essays you submitted, whether you won the competitions or not. The deadline is Nov. 30, 2010.

We also added a regional homeschool competition for those of you who live in the Fort Bragg, NC area. The Home School Spelling Bee has a category just for high schoolers. It will be held Oct. 22, 2010.

Winning either of these events would look good on college scholarship applications. For more information and links to the sponsoring organizations, visit our Contests page.

Tags: home school scholarships for college, homeschool competitions, homeschool contests, homeschool scholarships, homeschool writer of the year, homeschoolspelling bee