$3000 College Scholarship Essay Contest

I just received this information about a scholarship opportunity.

The scholarship is sponsored by Mig Vapor, a company that creates products designed to help people reduce their dependency on tobacco, and each semester they award $3,000 scholarships to students who help bring awareness to the dangers of smoking.

The scholarship recipients are selected through an essay contest with the winning essays to be selected on the basis of how well-written, compelling, and persuasive they are.

Applicants must be a full-time student at an accredited four-year or two-year university, community college or junior college, or a graduate degree program. There are no costs associated with submitting an application for this scholarship, and the application deadline for Fall 2017 semester scholarships is May 31st, 2017.

For more information, be sure to check out the MigVapor Scholarship Essay Contest page. Feel free to share this with anyone you know who might be interested.

Paying for School

I was eating lunch with one of my friends the other day.  Her nephew came by, and they started talking about how he was an expert in finding money for school.  He put himself through college and didn't have a huge loan to pay off when he was done.  He has a cousin who is a junior in high school and starting to think about college - applying and paying for it - and they're going to get together so he can share his knowledge.  I wish Cory had had some help in that area.  He is definitely going to have a loan to pay off when he gets out of college.

I wish he had spent more time researching scholarships and grants.  And he does have another year after this one, so he still could...

There are plenty of online resources to help with the search.  Scholarshipsonline.org is one such site.  Every year, hundreds of companies, foundations, non-profit organizations and government agencies give millions of dollars away in scholarships and education grants to needy students to help them pay for college, and Scholarshipsonline.org collect and list them on the site.  Students can search for available scholarships based on major, age group, ethnic background, geographic location, etc.  There is information about each opportunity and how to apply.  Definitely worth a look if you've got a young person in college or planning to go to college.

The Money is Running Out

Cory has finished his first two years of college.  So far we've been able to help him out so that he's only had to accept the subsidized federal loans - the ones he doesn't have to start paying back until after he graduates - figuring it will be better for him in the long run to pay us back than to pay some loan with interest.  (or maybe we could collect the interest?)  Fortunately Jeffrey has a job, and he makes enough to support us.  Unfortunately, that means Cory does not qualify for any of that free money 'less fortunate' students get.  When he gets out of school, he's going to be paying.  Yes, I know, that's true for a lot of young people, and he'll survive...

As his mom I would love to see him put some effort into finding scholarships to pay for at least some of his remaining school.  I would have loved to see him actively seeking those scholarships all along, but there's just so much you can do when your kids grow up.  While there are things you would love to see them do, you can't do it for them.  When he graduates and starts having to pay back those loans - and we'll probably work with our bank on some kind of home equity line of credit to pay for the rest, because the interest rate will be better than anything they offer through financial aid - he may wish he'd listened to me, but I can't make him do it.

All I can do is keep sending him links to sites like Scholarships Online where he can search through scholarships and grants and hopefully find some he might qualify for.  I used to send him links to specific scholarships I thought he'd be interested in or would qualify for, but they just didn't grab his attention, so I must've been picking wrong - so he's just going to have to do the searching.  Scholarships Online lists nearly every scholarship and educational grant available in the U.S. - so if he can't find it there, maybe it doesn't exist.

I don't know what's available, but they have a large database and the site is designed to make it as easy as possible for students to find relevant scholarships.  Every one is real, and many are sponsored by organizations you are probably already familiar with.  If you've got a high school student who's planning to go to college, or a college student who could use a little help paying for college, you'll want to check it out - or send the link so your student can start looking.  He'll thank you later when his college loans come due!

Apply Now for the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Woodrow Wilson. All opinions are 100% mine.

Good teachers are hard to find, and they are desperately needed. The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship is working to attract talented, committed individuals with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (the STEM fields) into teaching in high-need secondary schools in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.  Current undergraduates, recent college graduates (3.0 GPA or higher), midcareer professionals, and retirees who have majored in, or had careers in, STEM fields are all eligible to apply.

The fellowship includes a $30,000 stipend and admission into a specially designed master's degree program at one of 14 participating universities.  Fellows will complete a field-based master’s degree in teacher education and commit to teach for at least three years in a high-need school.  During this time they will also receive intensive support and mentoring in the classroom.  The belief is that high-quality preparation and the support that the Fellowship provides will position Fellows for a sustained and successful career in teaching. We get the kind of teachers all of our kids deserve!



The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships seeks to recruit, prepare and retain effective teachers for the students and schools who need them most.  Will you be one of them?  Visit www.wwteachingfellowship.org to get more information and apply. The application deadline is September 1, 2010.
 

Budget Cuts

Cory brought home a letter from the school superintendent today asking for input on upcoming budget cuts in the district.  It seems the budget is always being cut.  It's kind of surprising that they are able to have school at all!  And now, due to cutbacks in state aid coupled with a two year decrease in the state imposed revenue limits, the district is looking at having to trim $325,000 to $500,000 from next year's operating budget.  Pretty hard considering the district is already operating on a very tight budget. 

So, they're asking for input from district residents - things we value in our schools, and what things should be considered for reduction.  Now this won't really affect Cory, since he'll be graduating at the end of this year, but he's still worried that they'll decide to cut out the arts programs and no longer offer classes like art and choir and band.  That wouldn't be surprising, because that does seem to be what a lot of districts choose to cut.  After all, kids can live without music and art, right?  (Here's a whole list of resources that says otherwise - The Arts Improve Education) 

There's even talk around school that the foreign language classes will be cut.  I don't see how they can do that, considering that foreign language is required by many colleges.  Not offering a foreign language could make it extremely hard for students to go on to college.  They might be able to consider choosing just one language instead of the two currently offered.  French or Spanish?  How do you choose?

Instead of cutting Arts, maybe they should think about cutting the sports program down.  It's not like our teams are really any good, anyway.  And they could cut out classes like Automobile Ownership (seriously, do we really need a class to tell kids how to take care of a car?) and some of the agriculture, animal care, and shop classes.  Maybe if kids want to learn a skill like that, the district could partner with some local farmers, woodworkers, or garage owners and set up some kind of internship program.  That is if these kids are really looking to learn this stuff and not just looking for an easy class.

The same goes for the computer classes in our district.  In this day and age, computer skills are really important, so it's good that our school offers classes in web page design and computer programming.  However, the computer classes my kids have taken have been a total waste of time - basically a study hall with a credit.  So, the school either needs to get a decent teacher who will actually teach our students something, or they might as well cut the computer classes.  Boy, wouldn't that make our school district seem backward?  No computer classes.

The more I think about it, the more I realize what tough decisions the school district - not only ours but probably every one in the state and the country - has to make.  No matter what they do, they won't be able to make everyone happy and will probably make a lot of people very unhappy.  I'm sure the goal is to give the students the best education possible, and I think that means accepting that this is a small district and students are not necessarily entitled to a whole lot of choices and non-essential classes.  If they get a basic education of core classes, they can go on to college or technical school to learn the rest later.

But, like I said, my kid is graduating, so this won't really affect him.  I'll still have to send back the letter with my thoughts and suggestions, though.  If you've got kids in school, what do you think?  What classes are important?  Which ones less so?  How many times can a school district cut the budget and still educate students?

College *GASP!*

This week Cory got accepted to go UW-Whitewater next year.  He's not sure what he wants to do with his life besides become a famous actor or some such thing, so it's a good place to go, take some classes and figure out where to go from there.

We submitted his FAFSA online today, so hopefully he will qualify for some kind of financial aid.  Something.  Because it's looking like putting a kid through college is not going to be cheap.  Whitewater is supposed to be a lot better than some, but still, that's a big chunk of money.  I've told Cory that he needs to go into the guidance office at school and get every scholarship in there that he remotely qualifies for, and fill them all out.  Every little bit will help.

I'm just having a hard time believing my baby is going to college.  How did this happen?  How did he get old enough for college?  I feel like I should be looking for exit signs to get off this road and go back to when he was just a little guy.  I guess that's not possible, is it?

Finding Money for College

With one kid out of high school now and the other one graduating next year, you can believe we are thinking about how to pay for college. Ideally we should have started thinking, planning and saving years ago - back when they were babies - but we weren't in a position to do that then. Let me just stop and say: If you have young children, start saving NOW!

Anyway, since we don't have a huge account just waiting to pay for college for both kids, I'm always interested in learning about different ways to help pay for college. I was reading an article today that listed a few sources for school loans and sponsorships. According to the article, the best two are:

• GreenNote.com where students can post a profile, list their requested loan amount, and invite registered lenders to fund all or part of their loan.
• and CollegeDegreeFund.com which connects students with individuals and companies who are willing to sponsor their education. That's free money for college!
  

Both sites are free to register with and start building a profile. They're not just for students, either. Individuals and companies who would like to sponsor a student (or students) or become lenders are encouraged to sign up, too.

Cory, I know you read my blog - sign up for these, OK? Start building your profile and helping those sponsors understand why they want to help you.

Finding Scholarships for College

How are we going to pay for college? That's a question that comes up fairly often in this house. While it would have been nice if we had started planning for college and putting some money aside when the kids were little, we didn't. Yes, we'll be able to help them some, but we're going to need some help, and the kids are going to need to do their part.

I'm happy to find Scholarships.com, a site to help parents and students find money for college. We can register on the site and enter information like academic record, athletic and artistic interests and abilities, organizations the kids are members of, and their college choices. Scholarships.com will use that information to match them up with all the financial scholarships they are eligible for. The database is updated constantly so they always have the most relevant and accurate scholarship information.

Not only does Scholarships.com help find the scholarships that are available, they also offer an extensive collection of resources. We can get answers to some very important questions, like how to apply for the scholarships we find, and what the etiquette is for applying for a scholarship. I will definitely be spending some time on this site.

DonorsChoose.org

I saw this on 20/20 tonight. Unfortunately there are many teachers in this country who lack basic supplies in the classroom. A teacher featured on 20/20 had to use her old socks to erase the board in the classroom because she didn't even have erasers. While many teachers are creative and resourceful, this lack of supplies does affect the education their students receive. Now, what if there was a way to connect classrooms in need with people who want to help? There is! It's called DonorsChoose.org.

Teachers submit proposals for projects they want to do with their class. They detail the project and all the supplies needed. The projects are then listed on the website. People can search through the projects and choose to fund all or part of the projects that interest them. Once a project is funded, the people at Donors Choose package all the supplies and send them to the teacher, along with a disposable camera for him or her to document the project as the students learn. At the end of the project, donors who either give a partial donation of $100 or more or who made the final donation to complete a project receive a feedback package that contains thank you cards from the students, pictures, and an impact letter from the teacher, to see just how their donation helped that class.

It's sad that schools and teachers don't have all the supplies needed to provide their students the best education possible. I think this is a great idea that will hopefully make a difference. So far, 50.961 donors have funded 39,360 classroom projects and supported 892.775 students. (See Detailed Results)

We'll Have to Pay for College Somehow

Beth doesn't seem interested in going to college at all. In fact, she's not interested in school at all - no matter how hard we try to convince her that it is important. With the grades she has, she's going to have a hard time going to college if she ever decides she wants to. Cory, on the other hand, will surely go to college somewhere, though he still hasn't figured out what he wants to study. And his parents haven't figured how they're going to pay! A college education is very important, but it's also expensive, and we haven't been saving for it all along.

We keep telling Cory that he needs to find as many Scholarships as he can, so he can get a lot of his expenses covered. I don't know if it's too early to start looking at scholarships now, or not, but I signed up for an account on School Scholarships just to get an idea of what is out there. It's supposed to be a good resource for finding scholarships and financial aid. It might just lead us to the right scholarship for our son.

19 for School

19 - that's the number of box tops I collected yesterday and today, along with 5 milk caps, and a Campbell's soup label. For our local elementary school, that equals $2.15 - plus whatever the soup label is worth. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, but every little bit helps. It still really bothers me to see how people just throw away money that could be helping the school. Every week, on trash day, I collect whatever I see out of people's recycle bins. I just can't stand to see those box tops, milk caps, and labels going to waste. Why can't people just collect them? Even if they don't have kids in the school, I bet they have a neighbor who does. They wouldn't even have to drop them off at the school, just give them to the neighbor kid.

I'm just collecting things on my regular walking route, so I know there are so many more labels and such in the rest of the village. Imagine what we could do if our entire community saved everything. Why should it just be the families with kids in the school? It shouldn't. Really, it shouldn't, but I just don't know how to get people to care and participate. I think I got one lady, though. I was walking by her house as she was leaving for work yesterday, and I stopped to pull 3 box tops out of her recycle bin. This morning she was waiting for me with 2 more! She says her school doesn't collect them so she's going to start saving them for me. Maybe she just never thought of it before. Maybe most people just never thought of it before - the fact that they can help their local school in a big way, and it won't cost them anything. After all, they are already buying the products. All they have to do is remove the box top or label or milk cap and save it instead of throwing it away.

Perhaps if the school handed out a collection bag to every house in the community? Something. I mean, the kids are always expected to go out and raise funds by selling things that no one really needs anyway. People buy the stuff because 'it's for a good cause' and they want to support the kids. Why not go around, this time not selling anything, but just letting people know they can raise funds for the school without having to buy anything extra? Write down the names of the neighbors who agree to save things and set a date to collect them. It could really add up.

In our area, these are the items to save:

• BoxTops4Education
• Campbell's Label's for Education - take note that they want UPCs now instead of the labels.
• Kids, Caps & Cash (Golden Guernsey and Morning Glory)
• Nickels for Schools (Kemps)
• Nestlé Pure Life Go Play!

I admit that I don't collect all of the water labels because they do not come off the bottles very easily, so it's not very convenient to take them out of the recycle bins. I also hate to admit that one year I collected all the Campbell's labels the old way (just the front part of the label) only to find out that they wanted UPCs now. I felt really bad. At least I tried, but still - all those UPCs wasted.