Financial planning for college can include many sources

Your senior year in high school can be one of the most enjoyable years of your entire school career. There are the joys of getting a first car, first job, new friends, new freedoms and the accomplishment of evolving from a teenager to a young adult. However, one dark cloud looms in the sunny days of senior-hood — college and how to pay for it.

At Houston High School, college-bound seniors receive an immense amount of support and help from counselors and teachers alike. Houston offers a multitude of opportunities to prepare for college, including encouraging seniors to apply for scholarships.

Scholarships, where students earn and are given money for college costs, are sometimes a student’s only way to afford college. At the beginning of the 2012-13 year, Houston seniors were given packets filled with more than 200 scholarships to apply for throughout the year. These scholarships have all sorts of different requirements. There are scholarships for low-income students, dyslexic, identified with a certain religion, good grades and musicians.

According to Houston counselor Lisa Campbell, most scholarships tend to be due between October and March of a student’s senior year, though there are exceptions.

“It’s important to start looking early and be organized,” Campbell said. “We have a lot of resources to help students find appropriate scholarships, and once students find scholarships to apply for, we can sit down with them and help with the process.”

Before students fill out scholarship applications, they first should complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. According to the FAFSA website, this form is used to determine the expected amount of money you or you and your parents may receive to pay for college based on income, assets and other household information. It gives colleges and universities an idea of about how much financial aid you will need.

According to the FAFSA website, this form is used by nearly all colleges and universities to determine students’ eligibility for federal, state and college-sponsored financial aid. This includes grants, education loans, work-study programs and some scholarships.

While it seems obvious to apply for scholarships, they are often overlooked. Students can become easily overwhelmed with the process, leading to them not applying.

Senior Rebecca Toms fell into the overwhelmed category when it came to scholarships.

“I’m stressed about scholarships already. I’m afraid I may not get them,” Toms said.

Senior Danielle Andrew, who wants to become a music teacher, said she feels there is a degree of stress when filling out scholarship applications, but she said she finds it a healthy stress.

“The staff at HHS, members of the community and many other people are all there to help all of the senior class complete scholarship forms,” Andrew said. “I’ve had issues with some scholarships, but if you do the legwork and get them in, it’s worth it.”

Laken Kleewein, who is UAA bound, applies for scholarships to keep her out of debt.

“I’ve found one scholarship for dyslexic students that will pay for most of my college, food and boarding,” Kleewein said. To reduce the costs of college even more, she said she plans to live with her parents for the first two years before living on campus at UAA.

To help with scholarship applications and other aspects of college life, HHS offers a college composition class taught by English teacher Scott Helle. In the first quarter of the class, students began gathering letters of recommendation to send in with scholarship applications. Students also wrote a multitude of essays to help enhance their skills and format when the time comes to write scholarship essays.

Senior Brett Cedros said he hopes to better his writing style through Helle’s class.

“I’m stressed about scholarships because most of them require a paragraph or essay and I’m not a good writer. I can’t quite get the writing style down for a good essay, but I hope I’ll eventually figure it out the longer I’m in that class,” he said.

“Helle gives us guidelines and ways to write essays not only for scholarships, but for the papers we will have to write in college as well,” Andrew said. “It’s very helpful.”

Toms said she also has benefited from the class.

“It’s helping me clear up my writing and improve where I need to; it’s actually very helpful,” she said.

Between the endless support of Houston staff and the beneficial college composition class, Houston also offers college fairs where students can explore different college booths and attend short seminars on scholarships, financial aid and other college transition aspects.

Other opportunities seniors should take advantage of are the ACT test at Houston in February and the SAT test at Houston in December.

Holly Brett is a three year journalism student and this is her second year writing for the Frontiersman’s School’s Page.