Math and STEM Scholarships To Help Your Student Stay Out of Debt

Unfortunately, student loan debt is at an all-time high. Many more students are attending college, and opening up their pocketbooks to do so. High school graduation is such an exciting time of year for seniors, but, understanding the mound of debt that can come from college education can be daunting for students and their parents.

The positive news is that there are options to help keep college students out of dept, especially those that excel in math and science. Students who are good in these areas can apply for math and STEM scholarships, which can really help with the stress of transitioning into and out of college.

We want to make the process of finding scholarships and applying for them a little easier. We’ve done some research to help you and your student understand the process of applying for financial assistance and compiled ideas of where to start in your search.

Fill Out the FAFSA

This is the first step that every student should do, regardless of whether they need assistance or not. The FAFSA is a free application for financial aid and it accepted by most colleges in the United States. There are a number of factors that are used to determine eligibility, and parent income is one of them, but, regardless of whether students think they may quality or not, they should still apply. Most merit-based scholarships will require a FAFSA.

Start Researching Early and Apply to Multiple Scholarships

Working on and completing scholarships applications is time consuming, which is a good reason to get started now! Having your student record deadlines somewhere that are easily accessible will ensure that they don’t miss good opportunities. They will need proper time to write essays, garner transcripts and request letters of recommendations. Students can start applying for many scholarships in their junior year of high school and some can even be applied for as early as sophomore year.

Know Where to Look

Online searches for financial assistance are very temping and can be easy, but, there’s so much content out there that it can also be exhausting. Students are far more likely to receive scholarships and financial aid from sources closer to home. Communities want to invest in the futures of youth, students just need to reach out.

• Churches, Synagogues and Temples – religious communities can be very supportive of youth endeavors, particularly ones that are education related for their members. 
• Non-profit/Volunteer Organizations – many students have volunteered time with organizations, some of which might offer scholarships. Encourage your student to reach out to organizations they’ve volunteered time with to inquire about offerings.
• Corporations – businesses are often looking for opportunities for community goodwill and some of them have foundations set up specifically for giving grants and scholarships. As you can see from this link, corporations of all sorts offer scholarships to students with potential.
• Private Organizations – The Elks Club, Rotary Club and the AAUW are some of the most notable types of these organizations, and many are willing to give financial aid to local students.
• Colleges and Universities – schools want students who have been accepted to their institutions to enroll, and they often offer incentives to do so. They have money available through grants, scholarships and financial assistance and your student can apply by sending in the required documents with their school application. Students generally have the most success receiving financial assistance with in-state schools

Help with finding everything available to your student is very easy to find. Your student just needs to make an appointment with their school counselor. Most high schools have easy access to lists of financial assistance opportunities. Be sure your student takes advantage of such a great free resource!  

Play to Your Strengths

Exceling in math and science can give your student a great advantage when it comes to scholarships. Math scholarships and STEM scholarshipsare being given out now more than ever, especially in comparison to other types of scholarships. Your student should be applying for math and STEM scholarships if they do very well in those subjects.

Does your student get good grades and they’re an athlete? There’s a scholarship for that. Do they participate and place in science fairs? There’s a scholarship for that too. Do they live for theater? Maybe a drama scholarship (including scholarships for technical theater, for those math-minded drama members) is for them. 

Your student must have interests and likely strengths. Let those help them get through college with less debt. Encourage them make the most of their passions and possibly find money for college in doing so. Those awarding financial assistance will see how passionate your student is about their favorite subjects in their application and they will find them an attractive candidate.

Be Organized

It will be easier for your student to accomplish more in the realm of applying for scholarships, if they stay organized. Creating folders, both physically and digitally will help with this, as well as filing the folders with the right content. Here are some things that are good to keep readily available: 

1. School transcripts
2. Letters of recommendation from teachers.
3. Letters of recommendation from community members.
4. Essays. These will likely be different for every application, but the body might be able to remain the same, so your student could create one or a couple for templates.
5. Resume. A resume may seem strange for high school students to have, but schools look for students with drive. Tracking past jobs, community service awards and activities all shows ambition, which can be something that sets the student apart when applying for scholarships and grants.

Please let us know if you have any STEM or scholarship recommendations for students. We wish all of our high school students the very best of luck!