What REAL GENIUS Can Teach About College Funding

One of my favorite (of many) ‘80s movies is Real Genius, a hilarious Val Kilmer vehicle that chronicles the lives of a group of geniuses at genius filled Cal Tech.  I was reminded of the movie the other day as I was speaking with students and families about college financing.  In particular, this scene jumped into my head (my apologies that I was only able to locate an audio clip!):

 In this scene, Lazlo Hollyfeld usurps the system by submitting a massive amount of entries to a contest, an amount that he estimates will net him 32.6% of the prizes, including the car. (An amusing joke at the end of the film is that he only runs away with 31.8% of the prizes, resulting in a need for him to reevaluate his calculations.)  What does this have to do with college financing?  Well, in today’s digital age, the reality is that you don’t have to be a genius to cash in on grants and scholarships if you are willing to exert a little time and effort.

As I’ve noted here before, college can be a significant investment.  As such, many students either look for an ‘all-in’ big scholarship to help cover the costs or give up on scholarships entirely.  The problem with this approach is that it ignores two truths: first, there aren’t an over abundance of big scholarships and, second, they are pretty competitive to get.  However, there are literally thousands of smaller scholarships out there to be had. 

Now, when I was in high school, it was difficult to identify scholarships sources.  There were scholarships in the community, but sitting through a typical graduation and awards ceremony would convince most of us that this small collection of scholarships are won by the same five kids.  The internet has made things easier today.  Scholarship aggregators allow students to identify multiple scholarships they may be eligible for, and do so with as little as a few mouse clicks.  The key is what you do with this information.

Here’s the deal: a $20,000 scholarship is great, but 20 $1,000 scholarships are just as good.  And, 25 is even better.  So, before you skip the application for the $500 or $1,000 scholarship because you think to yourself “what good will that do?”, think in terms of aggregation.  Check out this student’s story about how she turned multiple small scholarships into an almost entirely free college education to see what I mean: 

http://www.learnvest.com/2013/09/how-i-did-it-i-applied-for-100-college-scholarships/

There is another piece of the puzzle that students don’t always realize – scholarships don’t always go to top students.  There are so many scholarships out there, and each one is designed for someone different.  There is probably a scholarship out there for a left-handed, Harry Potter loving, redhead from Minnesota.  Scholarships can get that specific, so the key is to be broad in your search and be open to everything about yourself that you can bring to the table in the scholarship search.

So, where do you start?  The easiest place is online using one of the many scholarship aggregator sites or student search engines that also point to scholarships.  Here are a few suggestions:
 

www.scholarships.com
www.fastweb.com
www.collegeboard.com
www.zinch.com
www.nextstep.com

This is just a start.  A quick google search will find you many more.  Then, after you’ve identified scholarships, add applying for 1 scholarship a day to your regular homework regimen.  You can even take Friday and Saturday night off.  If you keep at it, you’ll find you’ve applied for 20 scholarships in a month, and 120 in 6 months.  If they are all $1000 scholarships, it means a potential of $120,000 towards your education.  If you get only 10% of those scholarships, that is $12,000 towards your education – a worthwhile investment.  If you figure it takes an hour to apply for each scholarship, that is like getting paid $100/hour to apply for scholarships.  Well worth it!

Don’t let the cost of college scare you away.  There is free money out there to help you pursue your higher education – all it takes is a little extra effort.  Be a real genius and go for it!

For more scholarship resources, follow the Dean Dean on twitter @DeanDean1865.