Scholarship Opportunities for High School Students

Feature
By Paige Rodgers
Husky Herald Reporter

  College is expensive; the average cost in Michigan for a student to go to college is $7,063 per year for in-state tuition and $16,131 for out-of-state tuition.

  Students are heavily encouraged to apply for scholarships that will lower the price of tuition. Scholarships help lessen the need for students to take out student loans that will hang over their heads for years to come. “Scholarships give you money to help pay for college,” Brady Esterline (‘16).  CeCe Sumter. Port Huron Northern’s college adviser, said, “Scholarships are grants of money that you don’t have to pay back. And they can be a lot of fun and it’s exciting to win one, it’s the coolest thing ever.”

  Port Huron Northern’s college adviser, CeCe Sumter,  is readily available for students if they need assistance or guidance when it come to scholarships and college in general. “Come see me! Me or your counsellor, but nine times out of ten, your counsellor will tell you to come see me,” Sumpter said.

  Scholarships are the grants or payments made to support a student’s education, awarded on the basis of academic, athletic, or other achievements. Students can apply to as many scholarships as they please, and scholarship amounts range anywhere from $50 to “full rides” that cover the cost of college completely.

  “Scholarships are beneficial because then I don’t have to spend all of my hard earned cash,” Madelyne Hubbard (‘16) said.

  There are plenty of websites available that offer scholarships regularly. “Unigo.com and university sitesare my two favorite sites for scholarships. I look at them all the time.” Sumter said.   

  Unigo.com is known for it’s creative and fun scholarships that are easy for students to apply to. For example, they offered the “zombie apocalypse” scholarship and the “if you were a ice cream flavor, what would you be and why?” scholarship, which provide essay topics relating to both fun subjects.

  A common myth about scholarships is that applications are all due by a certain date, but that is false. “Every month there are new scholarships. All year round. There is no scholarships season.” Sumter said.

  Scholarships are a very important part of the college application process. Students often spend hours searching for scholarships and applying for them in hopes that the expenses for such a pricy lifetime event would be partially covered.