Scholarships for Younger Children (2024)

FAQs

What is the youngest age you can get a scholarship? ›

You don't have to wait until high school to start applying for college scholarships. There are scholarships available to legal US residents from ages 5-21 years old. It's never too early to begin planning and saving for college tuition.

That depends on each scholarship's deadline. Some deadlines are as early as a year before college starts, so if you're in high school now, you should be researching and applying for scholarships during the summer between your junior and senior years.

Encourage your child to participate in activities outside the classroom. Participation in extracurricular activities, part-time employment, and community service may lead to more scholarship opportunities for your child. And admissions staff look favorably on such well-rounded interests.

A micro-scholarship is a small grant that you can earn during high school or community college and put towards tuition at a four-year college or university. The micro-scholarships you earn represent the minimum amount of institutional aid you will receive once you apply to a school, are accepted, and enroll.

The Coolidge Scholarship is an annually awarded, full-ride, presidential scholarship that covers a student's tuition, room, board, and expenses for four years of undergraduate study. This one-of-a-kind scholarship may be used at any accredited college or university in the U.S.

Most applications open August 1, but students don't have to wait until that date to get started. Deadlines and requirements for college applications vary, so experts advise high school students to begin the process by the start of their senior year.

Therefore, it is best to start looking for scholarships for high school students as early as freshman year. Prior to senior year, many of these opportunities will be merit-based, require an essay, or ask you to submit specialized work like an art portfolio, film, or entrepreneurial idea.

The federal student aid office recommends students begin applying to scholarships at least the summer break before their final academic year of high school, but applying even earlier can make you eligible for many scholarships.

Trustworthy sources for scholarship and financial aid information include your school's financial aid office, government websites like FAFSA and reputable scholarship databases such as Scholarships360!

Demonstrated passion and commitment to a specific area of study may make a student deserving of a scholarship, especially if they intend to contribute significantly to their field. Scholarships can help break the cycle of low educational attainment in some families.

Who decides who gets a scholarship? ›

Finally, some scholarships are awarded by the school itself. To apply for these types of scholarships, you will usually have to submit an application, and the school will determine who is most deserving of the funds. The amount of money that you receive from a scholarship can vary greatly.

Down in the nitty gritty, judges will compare GPAs, test scores, experiences, essays, in order to see which candidate is most suited for their scholarship award. After this step, they'll pick their winner—or winners, depending—and send out notifications to the lucky and deserving student.

Some colleges, especially private schools, automatically consider each applicant for a merit-based scholarship, which is awarded during the acceptance process. These types of scholarships are often the easiest to obtain, since they do not require a separate application.

Every year through the Remarkable Futures™ Scholarship initiative, Chick-fil-A offers two scholarship opportunities — the True Inspiration™ Scholarship ($25,000) and the Remarkable Futures Scholarship ($1,000 or $2,500) — to Team Members who work at a franchised, company-owned and/or affiliated restaurant.

As part of our service to people with dwarfism and the community at large, LPA offers educational scholarships to prospective and current students attending college or vocational school in the United States. Awards can range from $250 to $1000 (sometimes more).

Isaiah Marshall is a 7th grade quarterback at MacArthur Academy in Southfield & was just offered a scholarship to UofM for football. Reportedly Coach Harbaugh saw video of the football phenom while he was scouting high school players!

Scholarships aren't just for recent high school graduates—there are millions of dollars worth of scholarships and grants for anyone that wants to go to college, no matter your age. As an adult student, you're eligible for a lot more financial aid than you might think.

The summer of 11th grade is typically the optimal time to launch the formal application process, with the month of May being a great starting point. However, early college planning can begin well beforehand with campus visits, list and portfolio development, resume audits, and more.

Each year, the state of California allocates funding for the Middle Class Scholarship program. For UC students, this funding covers a portion of the cost of attending.