There were a lot of things that came to my mind right away about what I wish I could have told my 16 year old self and nothing had to do with financing my college. :)
But as far as financing my college, the one thing that stands out to me more than any would be to tell my 16 year old self to work harder on researching/applying for scholarships.
I did not do this as a high school senior and wish I would have taken more time to do that. There are so many websites/apps that students can now use to search for scholarships. There are scholarships that juniors can apply for but definitely by the start of senior year, we would like to see students taking a few hours a week to search/apply for scholarships.
I encourage students in my presentations to think of it as a part time job. If you take one hour a week during your senior year for 20 weeks and you apply for 20 $500 scholarships and receive four of those scholarships that totals $2000. Even though you only had a 20% success rate, you received $2000 for 20 hours of work which equals to $100 per hour. How many high school seniors are going to find part time jobs for $100 per hour?
There are so many places to look for scholarships including parent’s work and places of worship. Your school counselors will receive many of the local scholarship info so visit their office or section of the school website to find out about them.
On-line is a great way to research too. We are linked to many free scholarship searches on our website as well as our own ICAN Scholarship database at www.icansucceed.org/scholarships
We also have some great advice and tips on applying for scholarships at: https://www.icansucceed.org/financial-aid/scholarships-and-grants/applying-for-scholarships-and-grants
I know I can’t go back and tell my 16 year old self but I have a 16 year old son going into his Junior year and at least I will be able to share it with him (whether he wants to hear it or not).
Erick - ICAN Ankeny and Des Moines Centers