10 easy ways to get your share of the $50 billion scholarship bonanza - includes directory of scholarships and grants

Ebony, Oct, 1997 by Kelly Starling

Some experts call it sticker shock. It's the moment parents and students peek at the price tag attached to four years' tuition at a college or university. Like buyers longing for that high-priced dream car shining on the lot, they sigh but walk away.

But before parents and students call this whole college-thing off, they should know about the $50 billion in scholarships, grants and loans that is available if they follow these 10 easy rules recommended by almost all experts.

1. Star Now

Author Erlene B. Wilson advises young people to start thinking about financial aid their first of high school. Even middle school, she says, is not too early for students and parents to start thinking about money.

"They should understand that college costs something," says Wilson, author of Money for College -- A Guide to Financial Aid for African-American Students. "Everyone is expected to make a contribution. Start planning earlier and figure out ways to save money."

Pensal McCray and her husband, Christophe, started talking to their five children about college as soon as they entered preschool and kindergarten.

"We visited colleges and universities each year as we traveled across the country," says McCray, a Denver woman whose Ethnic College Counseling Center helps Black students each year win acceptance and financial aid to college. "We started telling them young to keep their GPA up and get ready to go to college."

McCray encourages her students to do the same thing. She tells them to start researching now and save themselves frustration.

"I have a student who called me in August who wants to go to college for August entry," says McCray. "The trick is starting early."

2. Make The Grade

Experts agree no amount of research and digging will substitute for the basics -- quality grades and good scores on standardized tests.

"Let me be very clear." says Henry Ponder, president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, "across the board the most important thing is scholarship. If you can score high with that, you have a very good chance of receiving a scholarship to perhaps the school of your choice."

McCray says students should work extra hard in freshman and sophomore years of high school. Those grades make up the bulk of the GPA colleges will consider, she says.

"Many students come to us when they are seniors and their GPA is set," says McCray, who has helped 720 students find money for college. "It's much harder to raise to their grades."

That doesn't mean students should relax as juniors and seniors. Ponder said students should take challenging courses their entire high school career.

"Too often, students take the easy road through high school," says Ponder, former president of Fisk University and Benedict College. "They need to know what the college prep courses are and make sure they take them."

Standardized tests come in a close second to grades for scholarship committees, McCray says. She advices her students to take the SAT or ACT more than once. Many White children, she says already know that. Some have taken preparatory courses and practiced the test maybe three or four times.

"Counselors tell our children. `You don't have to worry about it until senior year.' But the more they take it, the more I've found their scores go up."

3. Give Back

Volunteering to help a cause is a way, experts says, to make your application stand out from the stack.

"Scholarship committees want to give their money to students who give back to the community," says McCray, who has sat on scholarship boards.

"If you can be an `A' or `B' student plus do something like helping in a nursing home or helping first- or second-graders read, it will really impress the board," she says. "The people we give our money to are those who do well academically, but also care about their fellow man."

4. Market Yourself

Erlene Wilson says winning scholarships takes some marketing savvy.

"Schools are not just looking for the most talented students," she says. "They are looking for those who will be successful...in life."

Did you have a summer job? Are you in the church choir? Do you sing? Wilson said presenting these experiences and talents can pull some applications from the slush pile to the A-list.

5. Look Everywhere

It sounds simple, but a lot of people overlook what's right around them. There are people who can help you find scholarships in every community -- librarians, college financial aid directors, high school guidance counselors.

McCray says parents and students should think creatively. She advices the young people in her program to do what she calls "grocery shopping."

"We send them down the aisles in grocery stores," she says. "They'll see Pepsi Cola, Coca-Cola, Tylenol; many of those companies will have tags they can fill out for scholarship."

Check with sororities, fraternities, your job. Call the university president, the department chairperson. These people may have money financial aid offices don't know about. McCray says.