By Lauren Jackson/reporter
Once students locate an area where they can find free monies, they have to be like a pit bull: grab hold till you are blue in the face and get that help, a South Campus counselor said Oct. 23.
In the Free Money—Applying for Scholarships seminar last week, part of Student Success Seminars on South Campus, Sandra Johnson, a South Campus counselor, explained how and where to find scholarships and gave tips on writing a winning essay.
Johnson stressed the importance of being diligent and self-motivated when searching for free monies.
“ There isn’t any mystery about what we are doing here today; you just have to do it and be willing to look high and low to find those free monies out there,” she said.
“ For TCC students, the search can begin right here on campus. All TCC financial aid offices have the TCC Scholarship Guide, and it is a good place to start,” she said.
The guide provides a list and brief description of scholarships offered to TCC students.
In addition, bulletin boards throughout TCC campuses have available scholarships posted.
Students also can go online to search for scholarships.
During the seminar, one of the students said she had difficulty receiving scholarship help at the financial aid office.
“ If you run into a problem with receiving help in financial aid, go to the director or come to the counseling office and we will start the scholarship search there,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s daughter, Love Johnson, gave tips from her scholarship experience.
“ It’s a pretty easy formula: the more education you have, the more money you can make,” she said.
Love Johnson said students should look for long-term scholarships.
“ I was able to get scholarships to cover both of my bachelor’s degrees, my master’s degree and beyond,” she said. “To get more bang for your buck, it’s time consuming, but you want to find monies that are renewable and transferable.”
Love Johnson recommended looking in the public library to find lists of scholarships and grants available.
Sandra Johnson gave a brief overview of the guide to writing a winning scholarship created by Altheria Gaston, English instructor on South Campus, all students at the seminar received the guide.
The guide provides a list of suggested topics for scholarship essays and 12 tips on writing an effective essay.
“ Put into it who you really are,” she said.
Johnson recommended saving time on essays.
“ Write a generic scholarship essay, save it as a template,” she said. “Then you can tailor and re-tailor it to fit many different scholarships.”
The presentation also included resources for scholarship searching. TCC resources include the financial aid office, foundation office, transfer center, library, faculty and staff members and clubs or organizations.
Students can also look for scholarships outside TCC such as through local clubs, local organizations, businesses/employers, private donors and online scholarship search engines.
“ Put your name in as many hats as you can,” she said.
Johnson said it is important to make the effort to find scholarships and apply for them.
