Our older son is heading to college this week. A while back I posted about how he is finishing his last semester of high school in dual enrollment - one class at the high school and 9 hours of college courses at the local college. He goes to public school but he would still encounter the same things we're going through if he were homeschooled. By the way, they are including ways in the instructions now for homeschooled individuals to be able to enter college. This used to be a nightmare for homeschooling families. Many simply require that you keep records of the child's grades (there are online sites that will do this for you) and make the required scores on the ACT, SAT or Compass tests to enter. Hopefully I'll remember all of this when it's time to send our younger one to college.
It's still a bit of a nightmare as I'm learning as I reach each new step. The college courses the older son is taking are payed for by the state. Many states have this type of enrollment. It takes a few phone calls both to college and high school, your child has to make a B average, fill out registration papers, etc. and your child has a free semester of college. I'm just finding out from my husband that there are 2 summer courses our son can take free of charge also. That will be the next thing to check into.
Anyway, I need to start applying for scholarships for him to continue his college education after this semester. You have to re-apply before each semester; there isn't a scholarship that will take them all the way through college. There's a very tight window in which you can apply and very many processes to go through. You can only apply for fall semester after you have your income tax return. You need to apply with FAFSA before you can apply for any other scholarships. Many scholarships aren't available for summer classes.
In a nutshell, to apply for a fall semester scholarship that has to be turned in by March 2nd:
- He signed up for Selective Service (all males have to do this to be eligible for financial aid, receive grades, transcripts, etc.). Rules are that they have to be 17 years and 3 months to sign up but won't be officially registered until 30 days before their 18th birtdays and will receive their number within two weeks of that. This number has to be turned into the college.
- We are waiting for W-2 forms to arrive so we can fill out the income tax returns.
- We will fill out a FAFSA application.
- We will fill out Hope, State Lottery and other financial aid applications offered from the FAFSA site.
- We will fill out the college's financial aid applications.
- Check and double check to make sure all i's are dotted and t's are crossed and that all documents that are required go with the application are with the application. You won't even be considered for the scholarship if anything has been overlooked or is missing.
- Some of these scholarships require a cover letter and resume of school performance, work history, extracurricular activities, etc. to be considered for a scholarship. That's what we're working on right now while we're waiting on those W-2 forms.
Wish us luck.
