Scholarships

Colleges are the biggest source of scholarship money

Scholarship information that comes through the Counseling Office is available to students and parents on the OCS website. Scholarship money comes from a variety of sources, outlined below. Students can also get to a National Scholarship search through many of the college planning websites.
 

COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS

These are the largest sources of scholarship money available to students. Colleges will decide based on your GPA and/or SAT scores whether or not you qualify for a scholarship. Many times, this is done without a separate application, although there may be a separate application. Check the college website for information and application procedures.

 

These are scholarships through state and national organizations and companies such as Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, etc. Some of these require high schools to select one candidate. A scholarship committee reviews the applications and makes a decision. Consult with your counselor if you have a question about one of these opportunities.
 

There are sources of state and local money available to our students. Some of these include scholarships from credit unions, firefighter associations, unions, veteran groups, NYS Lottery, etc. In addition, there are school-based scholarships which consider a variety of criteria. The scholarship committee decides the school-based scholarships and some local scholarships. This committee is comprised of administrators, teachers and counselors. The committee will be asking you to complete a survey in the spring of your senior year to give them more information about you and your interests.
 

Many times students will find scholarship opportunities on their own. We caution families not to pay for a company to find scholarships for your student. This information is available to families simply by using the Internet or researching options through your place of employment. Our experience has been that when you have to pay for a scholarship opportunity, it usually is not worth your while.

Scholarship money is available for some people. However, it may not be as easy to obtain or as much as you had expected. Generally strong academic performance, high SAT scores or special talents or strengths will earn students scholarships.