Daughter's going to college -- scholorships?

Hiyas.

I just found out from my x husband that he's not going to help our daughter with college. If she has to take out loans for the next four years she will owe about 50,000.

Her grandparents saved up some money for her, and are contributing some, and I have some to give her, but because her dad isn't going to help we need to figure out a way to come up with some money.

She already did the FAFSA and got a small grant from the school. But I hear there are a lot of scholorships out there that no one applies for.

Does anyone know of any, or how to find them? She's an excellent writer and could whip up an essay in no time. I'm just trying to figure out a way she will not owe tons of money when she gets out.

Kalri...

Just the other day, I posted something down in my "Computer Tips and Tricks" thread down in the Computer forum...I'll copy and paste what I had. I recieved this in my email and was passing it along...I hope it helps...

Q. I can't believe it, but my son is heading off to college in the fall. Time goes by so fast. Anyway, can you point me in the direction of some Web sites where we could learn more about student loans and scholarships? And what about saving money on books?

A. I bet it seems like yesterday that you were teaching him how to pedal a bike. They do grow fast, eh?

The federal government provides a lot of money for students. It offers both grants and loans, usually based on need. The Federal Student Aid Information Center is a good place to start. It's at:
http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/index.html

Be sure to check on private scholarships and loans, too. Reportedly, many go unclaimed year after year. Some places to search include:
FastWeb -- http://www.fastweb.com
Scholarships.com -- http://www.scholarships.com
College Scholarships -- http://www.college-scholarships.com

Prepare for a shock when you price textbooks. You can easily spend $100 or more per book. So price your books on the Internet. They may well be cheaper than at the campus bookstore. Sites to price new and used textbooks are:
Barnes & Noble -- http://www.barnesandnoble.com
Amazon -- http://www.amazon.com
TextbookX.com -- http://www.textbookx.com

I was going to recommend that you check out fastweb.com that Dan has listed. It was the website my son's school most recommended when we began applying two years ago. She fills out a profile and can have instant access to all sorts of available scholarships. And they'll email her reminders about deadlines and also about new ones, too.

Make sure you check with the school itself. Sometimes they have scholarship money available, you just have to apply for it.

I hope everything works out for her and that this snag doesn't keep her from being able to attend.

EDIT: Oh! One more thing. Be ware of websites that want to charge you for scholarship information. Fastweb is free. But, there are loads of sites out there that are charging people for information. It's just a scam.

Thanks everyone. I checked out several of the sites and like it how they send scholorships taylored to the individual.

Now I just have to get her to sit down at the computer and do some of them. :)

K

best of luck! i was in the same boat with my daughter and her father. do check with the school...

Kalri - - -

Try National Scholarship Research Service -------- 1-800-432-3782. Hope that's still a good number. :)

20/20 did a good story on them a few years ago.

Keep me updated on this. My son will be a senior next year. We are trying to go totally with scholarships. My son is 1/2 American Indian, and that helped scholarship wise. He even got a small ($500, I think) scholarship for being left-handed go figure. Mainly he is going on a vocal scholarship.

Please let me know if any of these resources listed helped you out. I want to start getting together a list myself!

Kalri-my daughters both received wonderful financial aid packages...mostly grants from FAFSA. They both researched the college website to find private scholarships they were able to apply for also. Call the college of choice and tell them your individual circumstances....make sure that you DO NOT include your ex-husbands financial info. on the FAFSA form IF he is not going to contribute to college expenses. My daughter just graduated and is going to attend a 20,000 a yr. college (Eureka College...college of our late:( President Ronald Reagan)...and my total financial contribution is only going to be around 1064...that includes two semesters, on-campus housing/food, AND books.