Whether you applied to colleges for the first time or you are currently enrolled at a university, remember to apply for scholarships.
After helping students apply for scholarships for the past 17+ years I’ve learned that many students don’t apply for scholarships because they don’t know where to look or they don’t think they would qualify. However, there are tons of scholarships out there; you just have to make an effort to search for them. *In fact, the number of scholarships awarded has increased by over 45% in the last 10 years.
Here are some helpful tips for finding college scholarships in Los Angeles County:
- Make yourself known to the College Counselor at your high school. Having worked in several college offices throughout Los Angeles County, I saw first-hand that students who regularly visited their school’s College Office were always the first to apply to scholarship opportunities (as well as free summer programs, leadership programs, internships, etc.). Ask your high school College Counselor (or the Scholarship Advisor at your college) if there is a listserv, website, or bulletin board where your school shares a list of scholarships with upcoming deadlines. For example, at Cal State LA students can self-enroll with the The National & International Scholarships and Fellowships Program to receive a list of scholarships and other funding opportunities.
- Check your local Women’s Clubs. For example, The Ebell of Los Angeles offers $3,000-$5,000 scholarships to male and female students who attend 2 or 4-year colleges within Los Angeles County. Other women’s club scholarship checks I’ve processed in the past have included scholarships awarded by Comisión Femenil of the San Fernando Valley, the El Monte Women’s Club, Encino Woman’s Club, La Canada Thursday Club, and San Gabriel Women’s Club.
- Your parent’s union through their membership or your parent’s employer may offer scholarships. Many unions offer scholarships to the children, grandchildren, or dependents of union members. For example, Laborers Int. Union of North America Local 300, California State Employees Association, California Teachers Association, and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) offer scholarships. AT&T’s Hispanic/Latino employee resource group, HACEMOS has a Los Angeles County chapter. The HACEMOS Scholarship Foundation provides scholarships to children of active HACEMOS members, age 25 and under. The Jonathan Club with locations in Santa Monica and Los Angeles awards annual scholarships to spouses, children, and grandchildren of Jonathan Club employees.
- Inquire with your college Financial Aid Office and with the department for your major. Scholarships are decentralized at some colleges – meaning that the Financial Aid Office may not manage the scholarship application process for all the scholarships offered within the university. Faculty within each academic department or division for your major may be responsible for the application and selection process. Alumni Associations connected with your college may also run their own separate application process. Start researching internal scholarship opportunities early on, before you’ve been accepted to the college of your choice. At some colleges the financial aid process may run on a different timeline than the admissions process, therefore the application deadline might pass before you’ve been admitted. At one university where I worked, our scholarship application deadline was before Open House. By the time students visited the campus and decided to attend the scholarship application deadline had passed and they had to wait until after their first semester to apply for scholarships. It is also important to note that some colleges do not have a scholarship application process. Some private institutions may obtain financial need data from your responses on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act Application (CADAA). For this reason, it is imperative that you complete the FAFSA or CADAA by California’s financial aid priority deadline, March 2nd, if you qualify to apply.
- Check for scholarship and fellowship opportunities with companies and organizations in your local region. For example, Warner Bros. offers the annual Los Angeles County Honorship for up to three graduating seniors attending high school in Los Angeles County. Edison International offers The Edison Scholars Program to high school seniors who want to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering or math. TELACU offers a College Success Program + financial support in partnership with several LA County-based colleges, including Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State LA, Cal State Northridge, Cal Tech, Claremont McKenna College, East LA College, Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, UCLA, Whittier College, and more.
To stay up-to-date with local scholarship opportunities, follow me on Instagram @scholarshipexpertise
A version of this article was published in the February 2022 issue of Glendale Hills Living community magazine.
*percentage data obtained from scholarshproviders.org.