When you’re looking at colleges to find your best-fit school, chances are you’ll get lots of family members recommending their alma maters. While it’s tempting to discount the schools your parents, uncles and grandparents have attended, don’t ignore their ideas entirely.
Not only could you find some great colleges and universities you previously may not have considered, you could qualify for a scholarship.
A scholarship just for being related to an alumnus isn’t too good to be true — these are real financial awards, known as legacy scholarships.
[Learn how to start your scholarship search early.]
If your relatives attended college, it’s possible you qualify for a legacy scholarship. First, you’ll need to identify which schools your family members graduated from and see if they would be good for you. If you like the sound of the programs and feel like the institution would be a fit, it’s time to see if the school offers a legacy scholarship.
Next, prospective students need to figure out if they qualify for these awards. The following are some common requirements for legacy scholarships.
— Immediate family alumni: Some schools will only give legacy scholarships to students with a parent who attended the school. However, this isn’t the case everywhere. Other colleges will accept your application if you have an aunt, uncle, stepparent, grandparent and so forth who graduated from the institution.
— Active alumni participation: Your parent or grandparent may need to be an active member of your chosen college’s alumni association for you to qualify for an award. The legacy scholarship at Indiana’s Ball State University, for example, requires your parent, guardian or grandparent to be an active member of the school’s alumni organization.
— Grades: Certain colleges will mandate legacy scholarship recipients have a certain GPA or strong academic credentials.
[Make time to invest in applying for these generous scholarships.]
— Residency: You may need to meet residential qualifications for a legacy scholarship. Students attending the University of Arkansas, for example, qualify for a legacy scholarship only if they’re from out of state.
— Financial need: Like some other scholarships, certain schools, such as the University of Virginia, may give preference to students with demonstrated financial need.
— Full-time or first-year students: Double-check the requirements if you’re not attending school full time or if you’re a transfer student. Different schools may require you to take a full class load or be a first-year student to apply for a legacy award.
[Check out other high-dollar scholarship opportunities.]
These awards can be great news for students whose parents or grandparents went to college. But what about first-generation students or teens who aren’t interested in the schools their family members attended?
If you have a teacher, counselor, family friend or other acquaintance who graduated from the school you’re set on, you still have a chance to win money for your education. Many colleges offer alumni recommendation programs that allow graduates to nominate a student for a scholarship. Schools like North Central College in Illinois, Western State Colorado University and Medaille College in New York allocate money for these types of awards.
They may not be traditional legacy scholarships, but they’ll certainly give you a boost if you’re searching for money for college and know a graduate of your chosen school.
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Figure Out if You Qualify for a Legacy College Scholarship originally appeared on usnews.com
