Introduction
So you’ve been accepted to college, congratulations! But that doesn’t mean your financial troubles are over. There’s still the matter of getting enough money to pay for tuition, books, and living expenses while you’re there—and often, scholarships are a great way to help with that. If you’re thinking about applying for scholarships after being accepted into college, here are some things to know:
Yes, you can apply for scholarships after being accepted.
While it may be too late to apply for scholarships as a freshman, there are still plenty of opportunities available if you’re new to college.
Scholarships are not just given out to first-year students; many scholarships are available for transfer, non-traditional, and international students. Even though you’ve already been accepted into college, applying for some much-needed financial assistance is not too late!
If you’re interested in transferring from one institution or attending school part-time while working full time, many options are available to help cover tuition and living expenses. Whether your goal is graduate school or simply making ends meet until graduation day, these scholarships could help make that dream a reality!
The exception is if the scholarship is reserved for students who have submitted applications early in the year and been admitted under Early Decision or Early Action.
Some scholarships are only available if you are admitted to the school. These scholarships are reserved for students who applied early in the year and were admitted under Early Decision or Early Action. If you’re not eligible, your application was submitted after these dates, and there’s no way around it unless you can prove extenuating circumstances that prevented you from applying earlier.
If this is what happened to you, don’t worry! There are still plenty of ways to get money for college; make sure you know what scholarships you’re eligible for before applying so that there isn’t any confusion later on when it comes time to write your essay. Some examples include:
Many schools require students to have applied for admission before applying for institutional scholarships.
Many colleges and universities have deadlines for scholarships. These schools may also have a minimum GPA requirement, which you’ll want to meet before applying for a scholarship. But wait—isn’t it too late to apply for college now? Not if you follow these steps:
- Go to your current high school’s guidance counselor and ask about the school’s application date for admission. If you need help finding your counselor, call their office or go online and dial their extension number.
- Once you know this date, make sure that there are still seats open at that school to apply as early as possible (and therefore increase your chances of winning). Some schools might give preference in admissions decisions based on how quickly an applicant applied after being accepted by another school. If seats are limited or filled up before your transfer deadline passes, consider taking courses at a local community college until an opening becomes available at the four-year institution where you hope to attend once accepted into both programs simultaneously!
Look up the policies of the colleges you’re considering.
- Contact the financial aid office of the college you’re considering. When you contact them, ask specifically about scholarship opportunities if you have any questions.
- Check the school’s website for more information on scholarships and how to apply for them. Many colleges have a dedicated page on their site that lists all their available scholarships, so it may be helpful to check here before calling or emailing anyone at the college.
- Call or email an admissions counselor at your school of choice. Admissions counselors are generally there to help students get accepted into their schools, but we wouldn’t blame them if they had some advice about applying for scholarships too!
- Check with an online forum like Reddit or Quora—you may find someone who has been through this process before! There are many threads where people ask questions like “How do I get extra funding?” or “How do I pay my tuition?” so take advantage of these crowdsourced answers anytime they can provide some insight into what’s going on behind closed doors (i.e., at universities).
If you’re accepted after a school’s scholarship deadline, ask about continuing to apply anyway.
If you’re accepted after a school’s scholarship deadline, ask about continuing to apply anyway.
If accepted after the scholarship deadline, ask your school if they will consider making an exception and extending their application deadlines or developing new student programs that allow for late applications. You may successfully get them to accept your application as a new program, particular program, or exception because there is no harm done by accepting one more student.
Even with some restrictions, there are still plenty of chances to get scholarships after college.
After you have been accepted to a college, there are still plenty of opportunities for scholarship money.
- Apply for scholarships at your school. In addition to the scholarships and grants you may have applied for while applying to college, many schools offer additional awards specifically for incoming students. For example, Harvard offers $10 million annually in need-based aid to high school graduates who attend Harvard College as first-year or transfer students.
- Seek out other schools’ scholarships. Many universities across the country offer scholarships that are open only to their alums or incoming students from certain areas; some even offer them by major/minor or type of student organization (e.g., “pre-med” or “fraternity”). Check with your student affairs office and search online; don’t be afraid to go after specific awards!
- Try a state scholarship search engine like Scholarship America’s database of more than 1 million private sector scholarships worth more than $6 billion annually (note: this site charges a fee). Your state may also have a program that matches financial aid applicants with donors—checks with your state’s education department website for details on how you can apply for these funds!
You can always apply for scholarships when you’re admitted to college.
There are many reasons you should apply for scholarships when you are admitted to college.
- The first reason is that if your tuition and fees are covered, you’re more likely to go to college.
- Another reason is that the institution knows how much money they will have, which helps them plan their budgeting and spending.
- Lastly, it’s important to remember that even if you don’t get any scholarship money from the school, other scholarships may be available through outside organizations or businesses that want students with high GPAs (grade point averages) and good test scores. When writing an essay about why someone should give them a scholarship award based on these factors alone (rather than financial need), remember that most people aren’t going into debt so they can go party all weekend long instead–they’re trying hard!
Conclusion
You may have to wait a little bit for the scholarship money, but you can still get it if accepted into college. The important thing is to make sure you follow the rules and policies of the schools that are giving out these awards so that they will have enough time to review your application and decide before awarding scholarships.