My commitment has always been to provide parents with the best information available to help with the college process. I recently listened to two podcasts on How to Pay for College HQ about scholarships. The guest was Elizabeth Hartley, owner of Scholarship Gold Consulting. I thought the information was so valuable, I wanted to share some of the excerpts with you. Make a point to listen to both complete interviews (you won’t regret it and you will save money paying for college) via the podcasts.

Q. Is the PSAT important?

The goal is not really pursuing the National Merit Scholarship itself. If your child finds out in December after taking the test that he scored above the National Merit Cutoff for your state, then there is much rejoicing. It won’t be until September of the Senior year (almost a year since he took the two hour test his Junior year) that your student will then get notified by National Merit Scholarship Corporation that he/she has been named a Semi-Finalist. The goal is to shoot for your state’s merit index cutoff–the student doesn’t have to be perfect.

Once your student meets that goal, they will become a semi-finalist for the National Merit Scholarship. 96% of students move on to the finalist category if they complete the paperwork.

The $2,500 comes out of the pocket of the National Merit Corporation. THE BIG MONEY COMES FROM JUST MAKING FINALIST.

There is a benign little question where the student is asked to please indicate their school of choice when completing the Semi-Finalist paperwork. There are a lot of schools that care that you put their name down. Schools care so much about you putting their name down that instantly the student will get full tuition, room and board, books and fees, free lap top, study abroad, spending money, automatic entrance into the honors college, best housing and the ability to register first for all of your classes until you graduate. All they had to do was perform well on a two hour test and mark that school down on the application paperwork.

Q. What are your favorite online resources for parents and students to find scholarships?

• Scholarships.com
• Schoolsoup.com

They each track about $19 billion of independent scholarship money. Parents and students start as early as 7th grade looking for scholarships. It’s like eHarmony for scholarships where they set up a profile and then it helps connect to the scholarships best suited that can be pursued independently. They are one time awards that can vary from $500 to $2500.

Q. How do the universities distribute money?

The Admissions office has control over Merit money, which is their way of saying your student is awesome and they really want your student to attend. The University likes something about your student and by them attending it will make the University look better, which helps their national ranking. They like your child, but they really like their numbers. Even athletic scholarships are a form of Merit money. Money not based on need, but something that the college wants to help benefit them.

Financial Aid department has the need based bucket, which is based on the families assets and income.

Q. Where can you get the most money–state schools or private universities?

The most expensive schools are often the cheapest schools even for the middle income family because they have the deepest pockets.

State Schools operate under a state budget and operate under tax dollars. State schools are not being mean by not offering as much Merit Aid, they just don’t have the deep pocket endowments like most private colleges. For a strong student a state school can end up being more expensive that a private college. For an above average student the private schools will come in on par with state schools if not less.

Q. What makes a top student?

It is all relative to the school they are pursuing.  Check each school of choice for their average SATs scores and GPA requirements and it will help to rank your student as an average student or above average student for that particular school.

Don’t spend your high school trying to check off every box so that is looks good on your resume. Go find your passions and be good at those.  Find what you are great and follow those to great success! Challenge students to find out if the are a fish or a squirrel and then go be great at that special gift.

 To get all the detailed information and understand the entire financial aid process, be sure to listen to the podcasts.

You can listen on the website, via iTunes, or with Stitcher.

Sign up for my FREE parent tips email and get my FREE Ebook on college financing!

What could be easier than winning a scholarship and you didn’t even have to write an essay and/or fill out a long application? There isn’t. The rewards may not be as big as those long, involved essay scholarships, but 10 $1000 scholarship add up to $10,000. That’s not chump change! Most of them just take a few minutes to enter:

Zinch Weekly Scholarship

Every week, Zinch gives away $1000 to one high school or college student. Zinch believes strongly in education and works hard to connect students with their best-fit colleges. But they also know that it can be expensive which is they award this scholarship this easy to enter scholarship. Just a short form and answering a question in three sentences and you could add $1000 to your college fund.

College Week Live Monthly Scholarship

There are two requirements for entering this $1000 scholarship program:

1. Apply online by registering at College Week Live’s website (http://www.collegeweeklive.com). Limit one (1) Application per person. Application includes complete name, contact, and high school information as required on the CollegeWeekLive registration form.
2. Additionally, applicants must login and participate in a CollegeWeekLive virtual event held between the first and last day of the month by no later than the last day of any given month at 11:59 PM EST to be eligible for that month’s scholarship. Participation requires visiting at least 3 college booths.

College Prowler $2000 No Essay Scholarship

The $2,000 “No Essay” Scholarship is open to all students and those planning on enrolling within 12 months. The monthly winner will be determined by random drawing and then contacted directly and announced on our Facebook page. One entry per person, but you can come back each month to try again. High schoolers, adults looking to head back to school, current college students and anyone else looking to attend college or graduate school within 12 months.

Scholarship Points

The ScholarshipPoints program is free to join and provides you with the opportunity to win thousands of dollars in scholarships each month. Members earn points by doing what they already do online: shopping, reading, gaming, searching, quizzes, polls, and more. The more you do – the more you earn – the better your chance to win a scholarship! Register today and you could be the next $10,000 scholarship winner!

Do Something Scholarships

If you’re ready to hop on your phone and start applying, one of your first stops should be DoSomething.org’s scholarship listing. The long-standing youth activism organization offers a rotating array of scholarship competitions that usually require nothing more than a text message to enter. Deadlines and programs vary, so it’s worth following @DoSomething on Twitter for updates.

University Language $500 Scholarship

What could be easier than uploading your favorite photo? What does college look like through your camera lens? Show University Language Services for a chance to win a $500.00 college scholarship! As a prospective student making college campus visits, you have a lot to take in: the dorms, the classrooms, the cafeteria, the football stadium … not to mention the atmosphere! Whatever it is, submit a photo you’ve taken, along with a description of between 100-200 words on why that photo represents what college means to you.

$1000 GPA Isn’t Everything Monthly Scholarship

Tell Cappex about yourself and don’t hold back in a simple form to be eligible for the $1,000 A GPA Isn’t Everything Scholarship. This scholarship opportunity will be available at any college or university. Applications accepted for a limited time so apply now.

Got Chosen $1000 Monthly Scholarship

GotChosen is offering a recurring monthly scholarship to help college students. The GotChosen $1000 Every Month Scholarship is easy and free to enter. The scholarship is not awarded based on academic achievement or financial need. Instead, a new winner is selected every month by a random drawing.

Open to all fields of study, the $1,000 must be used for educational expenses, this includes: tuition, fees, books, supplies, equipment required for study, or towards repayment of outstanding student loans. Virtually anyone 18 years old or older is eligible to participate.

Frame My Future Scholarship

Students are asked to submit an original “creation” through an image which expressed what they hope to achieve in their personal and professional life after college. Entries include photographs, poems. essays. collages, drawings, paintings and other imaginative pieces. The entry needs to communicate: This is how I “Frame My Future”, and include a brief accompanying description. Four winners will receive a  $1000 scholarship.

Scholarship Detective $1500 Scholarship

ScholarshipDetective is a free scholarship search engine. To celebrate their launch we are awarding two $1,500 college scholarships. To enter just complete this application including a 140 character or less statement on how you plan to use the scholarship money. Deadline for entry is December 31, 2013.

Don’t delay. Many of these entry deadlines are within the next few months. 10 entries mean 10 chances to win. And remember: you can’t win if you don’t enter!