The acceptance letters and the financial aid award letters have been read, analyzed, re-read and crunch time is upon those college seniors making decisions on where they will attend college this fall. We all know that this decision, however, is only the beginning of the process as students and their families devise strategies to pay for college.

For those students still looking to capture some of those free dollars, this activity “Finding College Scholarships” will come in handy.  The activity opens with students watching a brief CBS News video that provides strategies for securing scholarships.  Students reflect on the video and identify the strategies that will work for them.  The next step in the lesson is to have the students develop a personal profile which will come in handy as they are perusing scholarship options.  The final steps in the lesson have students completing a webquest to find at least ten scholarships that they would be eligible, in addition to a plan of action in which they commit to applying to a number of these.

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Looking for a lesson to provide a more comprehensive view of the college finance picture?  Check out the NGPF lesson on Paying For College Basics!

With college costs continuing to rise, the need for scholarships is greater than ever.  This activity provides students with the skills to hunt down those free dollars.  Enjoy!

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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